LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT/CEO
with rising talent costs in particular for Labor Day Experience
headline artists. This trend is expected to continue in the
coming years in an industry where touring is the primary
source of consistent revenue for artists, and JAS will need to
continue to grow its contributed income to stay competitive in
the marketplace.
In 2017, Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) celebrated its 27th season
with critically acclaimed programs across all core programming
areas. A significant organizational turnaround first achieved in
2012 continued again in the fiscal year 2017, with the organization
posting a net operating surplus of $340k. The most important trends
of 2017 can be summarized as follows:
• JAS fundraising from individual donors continued to
grow steadily through growth in Patron and National Council
underwriting support across all major JAS programs. Increased
sales of Gold Patron Passes for the JAS Labor Day Experience,
fueled by the 5th consecutive year with an advance sell-out
of the entire Patron enclave. Plus, a third consecutive year
with 20%+ growth in National Council Members over fiscal
year 2016. JAS’ expanded National Council & Board Member
Hospitality Tent at Labor Day was a big hit with Donors.
JAS continued to experience strong support from its leading
supporters for Hospitality Tents, a unique program in the concert
industry, that affords Donors a prime vantage point near the
stage. Separately, the JAS Café continues to attract new concert
host underwriters enabling the series to further expand the level
of talent across the series, with multiple Grammy winning artists
now a regular occurrence.
• Healthy Balance between Earned & Contributed Revenue:
JAS’ overall mix of income from all sources remains a very
healthy 50/50, split between Earned Income (principally
Concert Tickets & Corporate Sponsorship), and, Individual
Contributed Income (Patron & National Council contributions
and Host Sponsorships). The significant growth in individual
contributions in recent years has enabled JAS to keep up
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• Labor Day Experience Advance Sellouts: For the first
time in its history JAS sold out 2 of 3 days well in advance,
a watershed moment for the organization. Historically, JAS’
10,000 capacity Town Park venue sells out closer to the date
of the performance. JAS’ earliest ever announcement of two
headline artists, Maroon 5 & Keith Urban, in December of 2016
(vs. the historical norm of a March announcement) helped fuel
advance sellouts in early July & early August, respectively.
The momentum created by the advance sales was reflected in
increases in all memberships for 2018, which are purchased in
last quarter of 2017.
• Corporate Sponsorship: 2017 saw the growth of overall
corporate sponsorship dollars to JAS, with particularly
important contributions from Compass, The Denver Post,
Entertainment Cruise Productions (The Jazz Cruise),
D’Angelico Guitars, Alpine Bank, Corona, Tito’s Vodka,
Patrón, Elijah Craig, Audi, and Liaison.
• Expanding JAS Café Season: The program achieved steady
growth in 2017 with the addition of bigger artists and more
performances, continuing its trend of sold-out shows in both
winter and summer. JAS Cafe’s presence at the rooftop of the
Aspen Art Museum has grown into 12 nights of performances.
JAS Café also added more summer and winter performances
Downstairs @ the Cooking School of Aspen. Annual attendance
at JAS Café performances exceeded 7,000 persons in 2017 with
most shows sold out. The JAS Café has dramatically increased
JAS’ year-round presence and helped introduce new audiences
and donors to the organization, giving JAS a real and ongoing
home for the programming of jazz, blues, world music and other
related genres. The JAS Café has also given JAS an ongoing
platform for “educating adult audiences,” one of our principal
Mission objectives, through broad exposure to a wide variety of
jazz related music, from around the world. In 2017 JAS launched
a new Listen Up! series of talks with performing artists prior to
their show. Artist