Old Town’s Michigan JazzFest Goes Virtual for 2020

Festival’s producer Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art announced that the annual Michigan JazzFest will be a week-long interactive on-line experience held from the 13th to the 20th of September. It will be conducted in tandem with Michigan BluesFest.

“Our festival’s team felt that it is in the best interests of fans, volunteers and musicians to host virtual concerts this year”, said Marcus Sigh, MICA’s new Operations Manager.

Although there will be no public street performances, programming will be expanded with live streaming from sound stages in Old Town, Lansing plus live performances from across the US, Europe and South America.

JazzFest 2020 will also feature newly recorded live performances, video highlights from last 20+ years, music workshops, KidzBeat activities, ability to virtually meet with musicians and much more.

Schedule, musicians, how to participate, registration, and sponsor opportunities will be announced soon at micharts.org.

Volunteers will be needed prior and at the event. Let me know if you have an interest!

Our Contact Information

MICA – Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art
1210 Turner St
Lansing, MI 48906

mica@micharts.org

517 371 4600

MICA Informational Brochure

Click here to download / view the MICA Informational brochure for Sponsors.

We would really appreciate the help of our patrons and past participants in disseminating this information and encouraging others to make  donations in support of our efforts.

MICA’s mission – to create open spaces where people can come together, meet old friends, make new friends, and in the context of the arts take action to bring about positive community transformation.

Coronavirus effecting Gallery Events and Exhibits

MICA had  great plans for this year to seek out new artists using a Themed format with our Call For Artists as shown on our page here:

http://www.micagallery.org/events/calls-for-artists-mica-gallery-2020

This was slated to begin in May but due to the Coronavirus State of Emergency restrictions we’ve had to put things on hold. We are still seeking to develop a list of artists so that we may pursue this plan in the future. So by all means, if you are an artist, consider filling out the form and submitting your information.

Moving Forward

We are looking at the feasibility of doing online virtual events.  Especially as an alternative for our local JazzFest and BluesFest performers that have taken part in these favorite summer festival events over the years.

Meanwhile we are in the process of submitting grants and developing new promotional brochures and booklets to use in seeking sponsors to support MICA operations.  We would really appreciate the help of our patrons and past participants in disseminating this information and encouraging others to make  donations in support of our efforts.

MICA’s mission – to create open spaces where people can come together, meet old friends, make new friends, and in the context of the arts take action to bring about positive community transformation.

We are also working on our websites to update them to meet the new Internet security requirements that have evolved over the last 2 years. The Michigan BluesFest and JazzFest sights require a complete rebuild. We are seeking volunteers to assist us in the project of collecting in an organized manner as much as possible of the catalog of information and images of the many artistic works and performances that have occurred over the years. If you or someone you know is willing to volunteer and gain experience in working on a major web design project please have them contact us at mica@micharts.org

When will MICA Gallery Reopen?

Michigan Governor Whitmer has issued 102 executive orders so far. Buried in the latest orders are details about which sectors can reopen – with new precautions.

The MI Safe Start plan – A plan to Re-Engage Michigan’s Economy  is a 15 page PDF file  which can be found here:

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/whitmer/MI_SAFE_START_PLAN_689875_7.pdf

On page 2 you will find an outline that shows 6 phases.  Conditions will likely need to be in the 5th phase with good potential to reach phase 6 for opening to the public.  At the time of this publication we are in phase 3.

Following is a link to an interactive web page that is tracking the risk phases of COVID-19 indicators called the MI Safe Start Map

https://www.mistartmap.info/

We can use this to monitor what is going on in various regions of the state to help determine when we are on the path to open for the public thou keep in mind that there will likely be new limitations on the number of people that can attend events.