Healdsburg Jazz Festival pays off $30,000 debt

Now the festival is not only back on schedule for June, but its $30,000 debt is paid off.

"We are now debt-free," Jessica Felix, the festival's founder and artistic director, said Thursday.

The 13th annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival will be held June 3-12.

So far the lineup, musicians' schedules permitting, features more than two dozen top jazz performers including saxophonist Charles Lloyd, pianist George Cables, guitarist Julian Lage and drummer Babatunde Lea. And the majority of them are donating their time this year.

"They're coming because they believe in this festival," Felix said.

"This year's festival itself will be a benefit for future years' festivals," she added. "And we're looking for new major sponsors and patrons."

Fundraising to help support this year's festival will continue, with two events planned for February, Felix said.

On Feb. 3, a dozen restaurants from the Healdsburg and Geyserville area will participate in a dinner and music fundraiser. A benefit concert for the festival is planned Feb. 23 at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts.

The annual operating budget for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival is approximately $350,000.

Late last July, the former festival board put the festival on hiatus and

removed Felix by eliminating her

position.

After a monthlong outpouring of protest from the festival's fans and professional jazz musicians across the country, the board reinstated Felix in early September. Then all five board members resigned, leaving Felix free to recruit a reconstituted board and make plans for the 2011 festival.

Felix immediately launched a fundraising campaign to retire the festival's debt and cover ongoing costs. That $50,000 goal was reached during the last days of December.

"The constituents for this festival talked it up, but they also put the money up," Felix said.

Details and updates on the festival are available on its website, healdsburgjazzfestival.org.

You can reach Staff Writer

Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.

See his ARTS blog at http://arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.