[JPL] Newport Jazz and FOLK Festivals

[TomtheJazzman]

GEORGE WEIN TO NEGOTIATE TO PRODUCE
2009 JAZZ AND FOLK FESTIVALS
IN NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
 
 
NEW YORK, NY, March 3, 2009 - George Wein, producer of the seminal 
Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the first Newport Folk Festival in 
1959, announced that his application to negotiate a license with the 
Department of Environmental Management to produce a jazz festival and a 
folk festival has been approved by the Rhode Island State Properties 
Committee.  Wein will negotiate a contract to produce a gala Jazz 
Festival on August 7 - 9 celebrating 55 years of jazz in Newport, as 
well as a celebration of 50 years of folk music on July 31 - August 2. 
Both festivals will take place at Fort Adams State Park.
 
Wein recently learned that the license to produce the festivals at Fort 
Adams State Park in 2009 was available.
 
"When I was informed that the festivals, which have been the most 
important part of my life since 1954 and 1959, might be lost forever, I 
realized that it was necessary for me to come back and apply for the 
rights to produce jazz and folk festivals in 2009 and beyond," said 
Wein.  "Whatever success I have had as a national and international 
music impresario can be traced directly to my beginnings in Newport. The 
traditions we have established there mean everything to me."
 
Information on performers and tickets for the festivals will be 
announced in early April and will feature world-class artists with the 
renowned production stamp of Wein and his seven decades of expertise.