Jazz exports in the Coronavirus era
This topic feels challenging to write about now when there is hardly any movement from Finland to abroad. The second season of Jazz Finland International, a project administered by Jazz Finland and designed to improve the export skills of Finnish jazz enterprises, was launched with positive expectations last year, but has ground to a halt this spring due to the worsening Coronavirus maelstrom. Jazz professionals still have their sights set internationally, but opportunities remain far and few between, despite many solid plans and available export support funds. Finland is far away from continental Europe, let alone the Americas or Asia, which remain effectively out of reach due to various restrictions regarding travel and size of gatherings. The situation would be very different if we were located in an area such as the south of Germany, just a few hours’ easy drive from a range of other European countries where, like in Finland, small events are still organised – although mostly programmed with local acts.
