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Montavilla Jazz Festival Artist Application

The 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival Artist Application will open at Noon on Friday, November 17, 2023. The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

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Guidelines for applicants

Thank you for your interest in applying to perform at the 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival. With our newly revamped Artist Application, we aim to provide an accessible, equitable, and transparent process for artists in our community to participate in Montavilla Jazz Festival. We hope to improve the process every year, and welcome your feedback.

The 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival Artist Application will open at Noon on Friday, November 17, 2023.

The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

Applicants will be notified of the results of the Panel Review Process and subsequent artist selections no later than Friday, March 29, 2024.

The 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival lineup will be announced on Monday, May 20, 2024.

. Applicants are encouraged to attend a video conference information session in early January.

Montavilla Jazz Festival programming values

The most competitive entries will align with the following Montavilla Jazz programming values:

We serve Portland’s diverse jazz community.

Montavilla Jazz Festival was created explicitly to feature artists who are active in the Portland  jazz scene and who represent a diversity of musical and personal backgrounds. In some cases we feature artists with a strong Portland connection, usually meaning someone who lived in Portland for a significant amount of time and contributed to our jazz scene but may currently live elsewhere.

We prioritize original music.

A proposal featuring original music by the applying artist or members of their band is most competitive. Creative arrangements of music by other composers could be acceptable in a set of mostly original music.  We also value the performance of original music written by Portland artists who are no longer alive who were significant contributors to our community. A set of non-original music (covers), no matter how creatively treated, would not be competitive.

We value excellent craft paired with a creative sensibility.

We are looking for creative music that is performed with great skill. There is no single technical approach that we’re looking for, rather we’re looking for technique that is matched to each artist’s creative vision. The way you perform your music should be as well developed as the musical ideas that you are presenting.

We have a broad view of what jazz can be.

The musical values set in motion by jazz’s Black American originators have spread throughout the world and informed many musical communities in many different ways. Competitive proposals will demonstrate a connection to at least one of the many branches of that tradition. We value a diverse range of stylistic approaches and try to represent a broad cross-section of what’s happening today in jazz.

We value deep creative inquiry.

The most competitive applications will bring together unexpected concepts through music, synthesize ideas across genres or disciplines, and create engaging experiences for our audiences. A set of music that you’ve performed many times before in club settings would be less competitive. We understand that this approach demands more time and expense for the artist. We are open to projects that might require additional support or a longer timeline, including the possibility of programming the proposal on the 2025 festival.

How the process works

Artists will provide written answers to a set of questions as well as a detailed biography and samples of their work. Artists must agree to be willing to be available for all required dates and times. Artists may submit a video application addressing the application questions instead of written answers.

The entries will be reviewed by a panel of local artists who have been MJF lead artists in the past that will make recommendations to Montavilla Jazz Staff. Reviewers will not be eligible to be lead artists on the festival, and will recuse themselves from scoring any application with which they would be a supporting artist. Applications will receive averaged scores so that recusals don’t impact the final rankings.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any artist may apply who is:

  1. A Portland resident or someone who demonstrates a strong connection to the Portland jazz community. Portland-based artists can apply with non-Portland-based collaborators.
  2. Available to perform on the Montavilla Jazz Festival in 2024 (August 30 to September 1, 2024) and willing to make themselves available for promotional activities by arrangement in the weeks preceding the festival, and to sign a contract with Montavilla Jazz. In general, artists are responsible for rehearsing their own ensembles, though some accommodations can be made as needed.
  3. Eighteen years of age or older.

Montavilla Jazz Festival 2024 - Artist Application

The 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival Artist Application will open at Noon on Friday, November 17, 2023.

The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

Applicants will be notified of the results of the Panel Review Process and subsequent artist selections no later than Friday, March 29, 2024.

. Applicants are encouraged to attend a video conference information session in early January.

"*" indicates required fields

Your Name*
Address*
Email*
Please provide your artist biography. (1500 characters)
Your response may address how the Portland community has shaped you as an artist, and/or how you have contributed to the community. (500 characters)

Project Proposal

We encourage you to answer these questions meaningfully but briefly. Using all of the allowed text is not required, and the length of your answer will not affect your score.
If you would like to submit your responses to the following four questions in a recorded video format, please provide a link to your video below. Video responses should not exceed 5 minutes in duration. Note to video submitters: Because the application fields for the questions below are set to "required" you must enter at least one character in each question to submit the form.
Your response may include the inspiration for your project, your creative process, who will perform it, and/or any other important details. (500 characters)
In the past certain MJF performances have included screen projections, spoken word, or other elements that enhance the concert experience for the audience. Your answer could describe the experience you would like to create for the audience, what support you might need, how you are qualified to execute your plan, and/or any other important details. If you do not plan to include additional elements use this space to describe how your performance will impact the audience and your qualifications for achieving that end. (500 characters)
Your answer might include what makes this project unique or special, how this opportunity may impact your career, or what you hope that the audience will find intriguing, uplifting, or stimulating about your performance. (500 characters)
You could talk about the people who are involved, the focus of the music or subject matter, or how the project relates to the diverse history, culture, or practice of jazz. (500 characters)

Work Samples

Please provide web links for one to three audio or video work samples. Panelists will review up to 10 minutes of work samples. Please provide start and end time indications for the reviewers if submitting a work sample that is longer than 2-3 minutes. The total length of your combined work samples should not exceed 10 minutes. Recordings can be edited, but should demonstrate the applicant’s performance in a live setting. We recommend submitting examples of past live performances or studio recordings. We discourage MIDI representations of work that would otherwise be performed by live musicians. Applicants are not required to create new compositions or recordings solely for the purpose of this application, but may do so if they wish. For each piece in the work sample please provide a brief description of up to 250 characters and identify the composer and performers. We encourage applicants to use this space to discuss how the piece relates to their proposal. For example, how is the work sample similar to the music you’re proposing to play, and how is it different.

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