In the fall season 2023, Finnish Jazz Federation produces two tours as inhouse productions, on September 11–24, 2023 and October 9–22, 2023, and supports the production costs of two externally produced tours. The call is also out for artists to perform at the Jazz-Espa concert series in Helsinki in July–August 2023! The application opens on October 10, and closes on November 7, 2022.
You may apply with your band to the Jazz Federation tours that take place on Sept 11–24 and Oct 9–22, 2023, or to perform at the week-long Jazz-Espa concert series in the turn of July–August. As a producer who has a registered company, you may apply to receive production support for a tour in the fall season 2023.
The inhouse tour productions are fully produced by the Jazz Federation, and the concerts are mainly organized by our member associations. The co-production tours are produced by the applicant company and supported by the Jazz Federation.
You can only leave one application. If you have several ensembles, select the one that is the most active and topical. By applying, you commit to the band members being available for touring during the whole two-week period. NB! The grant sums and criteria of the co-produced tours have been updated!
The application opens at 10 am on October 10, and closes at 4 pm on November 7, 2022.
Late applications will not be considered.
The decisions will be made by the Board of Jazz Finland, and the selected applicants will be contacted personally by December 9, 2022.
All the applicants will be informed of the selection before December 23, 2022.
NB! The Jazz-Espa selections will be due in January 2023, and the applicants will be notified of them by February 28, 2023.
LINK TO THE WEBROPOL ELECTRONIC FORM BELOW. The text continues after the link with application instructions. The same instructions can be found on the form itself.
THE CALL IS CLOSED. Thank you for submitting your application!
Instructions:
1. FINNISH JAZZ FEDERATION INHOUSE PRODUCTIONS
The Jazz Federation commits to organise 5 to 8 concerts by the selected band within a period of two weeks, primarily through its member associations. In case of an exceptionally large ensemble, the total number of concerts might be smaller.
Dates:
Tour 1: September 11–24, 2023
Tour 2: October 9–22, 2023
Finnish Jazz Federation will produce the tour and thus pay the
– concert fee of 235 € / musician / concert (incl. vacation comp.)
– per diems
– fee of the sound engineer
– travels and accommodation (primarily in twin rooms).
The starting and finishing location of the tour is Helsinki. The band members’ travel expenses to Helsinki and home from another location in Finland will be compensated by the Jazz Federation. Travels from abroad will not be compensated. The primary form of travel on tour is the Jazz Federation’s minibus (8+1 seats). The sound engineer operates as tour driver and manager if not otherwise negotiated. The band may use their own technician.
PROMOTIONAL READINESS
The band must have quality promotional material ready by the time of application. That includes also music available in an online streaming service. The Finnish Jazz Federation does not provide photos or any other marketing material for the selected bands. The media communications services are outsourced. The services include a general press release, contacting local jazz medias and reporting all media hits. The Jazz Federation promotes the tours on Jazz Finland website and the federation’s social media channels.
APPLICATION REVIEW
The application is reviewed especially regarding the following:
– High jazz-musical quality and originality
– Professionality of the band (established status, releases and promo materials of good quality)
– Topicality in 2023 (new releases, tours, accolades)
– Majority of the musicians are Finnish
– The band or band leader has not been on Finnish Jazz Federation tour in 3 previous years.
In artistic programming, Finnish Jazz Federation pays special attention to representation and diversity, regarding e.g. gender, age, physical ability, cultural and educational background.
2. CO-PRODUCTIONS
Finnish Jazz Federation supports two externally produced tours in the fall season 2023. The applicant must operate a registered business. Companies (agencies, production houses, managements, entrepreneurs) may apply for a production grant. The support is max. 50% of the total costs or the maximum sum according to the number of musicians on tour (see the chart below). The producer and the artist must show a level of professionality, and present a tour plan and budget that can be considered both responsible and realizable.
The tours should contain at least five concerts in the course of max. two weeks. The tours must take place between August and December, 2023.
The applicant company is responsible for the whole production of the tour, and therefore, responsible for:
– the economy of the tour (and taking care of possible employer responsibilities)
– selling the concerts
– promotion of the tour
– logistics and accommodation
– management on tour.
Finnish Jazz Federation will support each of the two selected producers with 50% of the total costs of the tour, up to a maximum sum of:
– 1500,00 € per a solo tour
– 2500,00 € per a duo tour
– 3500,00 € per a trio tour
– 5000,00 € per a quartet tour
– 6000,00 € per a quintet tour, or a larger ensemble.
The grant may be freely divided to cover e.g.:
– musicians’ fees
– sound technician’s fees
– rental equipment (if Jazz Finland’s PA gear is not sufficient)
– travel expenses (petrol, or traveling with other measures than Jazz Finland’s minibus)
– accommodation costs
– marketing and promotion expenses
– producer’s fee.
The Jazz Federation requires that all the professionals in the working group get a fair compensation for their work. According the Finnish Musicians’ Union, the minimum fee of a musician is 200 €/gross, and that should be the average concert fee on this tour too. It is required that all exceptions to this minimum fee, such as ticket income deals, should be thoroughly negotiated with all the participants when planning the tour.
The Jazz Federation is not the employer on the co-production tours. The production company is responsible for the possible employer’s duties. They may apply for financial support from the Finnish Music Foundation and other funding sources; however, any funding applied or received should be stated in the application form and reported later. The co-producing party will be in charge of the execution of the tour.
In addition to the financial support, the Jazz Federation provides the band with sound equipment and a tour bus (8 + 1 seats). The bus and the PA are not available during the federation’s inhouse tours, on September 11–24, and October 9–22, 2023. The producer may book accommodation using the Jazz Federation’s discount prices.
3. JAZZ-ESPA CONCERT SERIES, JULY–AUGUST 2023
In co-operation with Savoy Theatre, Finnish Jazz Federation produces the annual Jazz-Espa series of free open air concerts on the Espa stage next summer for the 24th time. The concerts feature topical Finnish jazz acts, representing a great variety of genres and career stages.
You may apply to perform at Jazz-Espa with your band, if the band or any other band that you lead, was not featured at Jazz-Espa in 2021 or 2022. The majority of the musicians should be Finnish, or reside in Finland permanently. The Jazz Federation produces the concerts and covers the musicians’ fees (200,00 € gross, + vacation compensation 13,5 %) and meals at restaurant Kappeli.
We encourage all professional ensembles to apply! On stage we hope to see musicians of many ages, appearances and gender identities, as well as of various educational and cultural backgrounds. The stage is accessible, but the backstage area with the facilities, is not. For those ensembles which include members who use a wheelchair or otherwise are challenged by stairs, we will modify the backstage accordingly.
All the applicants will be notified of the selections by the end of February 2023.