MEDFORD, OR — The Britt Music & Arts Festival has finished an outstanding season filled with wonderful weather and lots of big artists, and is thanking its patrons, members, business partners, media partners, artists and fans for a successful season. Ticket sales started slightly slow before the season began, but caught up and surpassed 2018 ticket sales by the end of the season. During the season, Britt presented 29 popular Music & Comedy concerts, nine Britt Festival Orchestra concerts and 10 BrittKids Koncerts. Nine popular Music & Comedy concerts sold out.
“2019 will be remembered as one of the best seasons in recent memory for all the right reasons,” says Britt President & CEO Donna Briggs. “The line-up offered something for everyone and the weather provided perfect conditions for concert goers. Our patrons responded with strong attendance and enthusiastic support for Britt’s diverse programming.”
Overall attendance was over 58,000, with an average attendance of 1,533 patrons per concert. Attendance numbers were up compared to 2018 and ticket prices remained flat.
Ticket sales cover just 60% of Britt’s operating expenses on average for the Music & Comedy season and 33% for the Britt Festival Orchestra Season. As a non-profit organization, Britt relies on contributed income to cover the gap. Membership numbers were 13% lower than in 2018, likely due to changes in tax laws that impact non-profit donation deductions. Business Partner contributions saw a 13% increase over 2018, totaling $390,700, and broke the record for the eighth year in a row. Grant funding through foundations continues to grow and support our operations and expanding education programs. General operating grants are up 10% to a total of $193,850.
The 2019 Music & Comedy series provided a wide variety of musical styles for patrons. The season began and ended with tribute bands, featuring the mop-tops of RAIN – A Tribute to the Beatles and an amazing light show presented by The Australian Pink Floyd Show. Britt was able to offer more country acts in 2019, including new country acts Chase Rice and Brett Young, along with the more traditional country sounds of Britt fan favorites Lyle Lovett, Kris Kristofferson and Dwight Yoakam. Both reggae tours, headlined by Sublime With Rome and Iration respectively, sold out. The season also highlighted several folk/Americana bands plus a strong line-up of rock classics from the 1960s through the 2000s. Highlights included Jackson Browne, Little River Band, Chicago, Trampled By Turtles and Cake.
During the 2019 Britt Festival Orchestra (BFO) Season, Music Director and Conductor Teddy Abrams led Britt’s world-class orchestra in nine performances, including the six standard BFO concerts plus a new series designed for families and new patrons – Teddy’s Discovery Tuesdays. Abrams welcomed BFO fans back to the Britt hill at the beginning of the orchestra season and was excited to perform all but two concerts at our historic outdoor venue. Two concerts were moved indoors to North Medford High School and Bigham Knoll due to a short period of wildfire smoke. This season, the BFO co-commissioned and performed a work created by 2018 Composer/Conductor Fellow, Christopher Cerrone, entitled “Meander, Spiral, Explode,” a piece specifically written for and performed by guest artists Third Coast Percussion. Other guest artists featured were cellist Oliver Herbert, pianist George Li, and violinist Augustin Hadelich. The Teddy’s Discovery Tuesdays series kicked off the season to a full hill, delighting children and adults alike with two works featuring film and TV star Bruce Campbell as narrator: “The Mountain That Loved a Bird” by Britt’s 2020 Composer/Conductor Fellow, Caroline Shaw, and “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev. Shaw also conducted a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Overture to the Magic Flute during the first regular concert on July 26. The Britt Festival Orchestra also continued the Pub Crawl tradition. After their concert on July 30th, the orchestra took their instruments into Jacksonville and performed Beethoven’s 5th Symphony at the Boomtown Saloon and the Bella Union before descending on the Jacksonville Tavern for the annual funk jam. In addition to classical music, the arts were supported through a call to artists, who created visual art that was used to illustrate the orchestra program book with the original works on display during orchestra concerts and at the Rogue Gallery after the season. It was a memorable BFO season.
Britt Education and Engagement is wrapping up a very successful season of Residencies, Britt Festival Orchestral Fellowships, BrittKids Klub, and BrittKids Koncerts. The free BrittKids Koncerts, held from mid-June to mid-August, brought such entertaining artists as Synths for Kids, The Meriwethers, Ballet Folklorico, and members of the Britt Festival Orchestra to over 2000 attendees. The BFO Fellowship program continues to provide many free string quartet concerts to the community each summer, as well as rehearsing and performing with our BFO. The audition process for the 2020 Fellows will begin in January. The Residency program brought 11 different ensembles and individual teaching artists to schools in Jackson and Josephine counties, working with pre-school through graduate-level students. Fall residencies began this week with the acclaimed Kassia Ensemble (September 16-20) and continue with the Dmitri Matheny Quartet (October 7-10). We will also be bringing Teddy Abrams back into classrooms to share his expertise with high school bands and orchestras, rounding out our 2019 calendar. Our free education programs occur throughout the year, and the community will continue to see a variety of offerings every month. For more information about upcoming education events visit the Education pages on the Britt website, and join the BrittKids Klub for monthly emails about Britt Education & Engagement programs and schedules.
The Britt Membership drive for 2020 is scheduled to begin October 1st. The public can learn more about supporting Britt at http://www.brittfest.org/supportbritt.
Inspired by its intimate and scenic hillside venue, Britt Music & Arts Festival provides diverse live performances, an incomparable classical festival and dynamic education programs that create a sense of discovery and community. Since its grassroots beginnings in 1963, the non-profit organization has grown from a two-week chamber music festival to a summer-long series of concerts in a variety of genres, including a three-week orchestra season, and year-round education and engagement programs. For more information, visit www.brittfest.org.