by Susan Piercey – Festival Director
After much consultation and very careful consideration of the many variables involved, the decision has been made to officially cancel the presentation of a live edition of MJF 2020. The decision to cancel was not taken lightly; it was an extremely difficult one for us to make. But given the many ongoing challenges of COVID-19, the uncertainty of what’s to come regarding the presentation of live music events in the near future, and our commitment to make health and safety a priority, we feel it is the right one at this time.
Although up until quite recently we had hoped to present our live festival in some way, we are no longer confident that we would have sufficient resources to be able to deliver our MJF concert series safely and in ways that would engage, benefit, and protect the Merrickville community, as well as our jazz artists, volunteers, and audiences.
Like so many of you, we at MJF eagerly look forward to a time when we can safely reunite to enjoy live music. For now, we will look to 2021, in the hope that everything will be in place to allow us to safely present the festival in-person. Until then, we will continue to closely follow developments and recommendations as they are communicated.
We’re going to take a little break and then resume planning discussions in early August for a potential live MJF next year, as well as to consider the possibility of developing and presenting some limited virtual programming in the Fall so that we may still celebrate the 10th Anniversary Season of MJF in 2020.
Thank you for your ongoing interest and support and best regards to everyone.
