Josh Grossman's blog

This time of year is always busy here at jazz fest headquarters, as we aim to lock in the Festival's remaining ticketed shows and finalize the budgets required to unleash a serious programming campaign (I'll have over 130 free shows to book - at least - over the next eight weeks). It's bound to be an action-packed month as we announce more shows, ramp up our publicity and figure out the substantial jigsaw puzzle that is the free show lineups.

As I mentioned in my post last week, in addition to the eight shows we've announced for this year's Festival, we have four outstanding TD Discovery Series Special Projects presentations coming up - and the first is next week!

We still have a long way to go, but I'm excited that we've now announced eight shows for the 2018 TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Add to the mix the four TD Discovery Series Special Projects previously announced and we've got what I think is an interesting variety of offerings on...um...offer over the next five months.

Oh hi there. It’s been a little while.

It's a little hard for me to sit still as I write this post because WE ARE FINALLY MAKING SOME MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS NEXT WEEK. There have been more 'i's to dot and 't's to cross this year, so it's taken a bit longer to get everything ready to announce...but we're almost ready to go. Stay tuned!

I could think of no better title for this post than what appears above - and what happens to be the title of the third in our series of four TD Discovery Series Special Projects presentations. This Wednesday, March 8 at The Rex Hotel, an expanded Jazz Money (usually a trio, they'll be a sextet on Wednesday) takes the stage with three of their favourite MCs for an exploration of jazz and hip-hop. If the three tracks submitted with their application are any indication, this is going to be awesome.

When selecting each year's Special Projects, the panel does its best to choose projects which are well-spaced-out, so that there is time to build the marketing strategy for each show. Usually, it works; sometimes, less so. While the next two Special Projects are separated by just a few days, they are two very different events.

I didn't get the grant.

Having worked in the arts for twenty years, I've gotten used to rejection in various forms. Smaller audiences than expected. Fewer donations than required. Submissions ignored or turned down. And as a staff member for multiple organizations over the years, I have written - and have been turned down for - too many grants to count. That said, I've also had what I would call moderate success - on behalf of organizations and as an individual - with granting bodies at all three levels of government and with some private foundations.

It's taken me a few weeks, but I wanted to finally share with you a bit about my trip to New York at the beginning of January. I was there, as I am almost annually, to meet with agents and check out Winter Jazzfest. And, as is often the case, I came back to Toronto with my head spinning, wanting to book everything I saw and slightly envious of so many New York things. (The subway system really is great. Except the L line. I came to dislike the L line.)

Well, 2017, you're not wasting any time, are you?

After a whirl-wind Toronto-Winnipeg-Toronto-New York trip, it's already time to launch in to the first TD Discovery Series Special Project presentation, this Sunday, January 15 at Lula Lounge. And I think this one show will feature more musicians than the rest of the Special Projects shows combined.