Darryl Mar would have had a very busy summer, were it not for the total dissolution of the live event industry. But the pandemic didn鈥檛 leave the executive/artistic director of the Victoria Jazz Society 鈥� which runs the TD Victoria International Jazz Festival and 91原创 Island Blues Bash 鈥� with an entirely empty schedule.
The longtime producer, whose festivals are among the city鈥檚 best-loved and longest-running, stayed active with a series of live pop-up performances the society presented free of charge. The decision to stage sets around the city was not financial 鈥� at least where the Victoria Jazz Society was concerned. Many of the acts that perform at his festivals are local, and he looked at hiring them for the summer as a form of paying it forward. 鈥淭hat was a way of keeping some of our local musicians employed,鈥� Mar said.
Mar is back with another round of free jazz and blues performances starting tonight under the TD Victoria International JazzFest Resilience Series banner. The John Lee Trio 鈥� with Lee on piano, Kosma Busheikin on bass, and Ethan Olynyk on drums 鈥� opens the online series at 7 p.m. with an hour-long performance that was recorded during the last week of October.
New entries in the Resilience Series will be rolled out each Tuesday through Jan. 12. Other acts scheduled to appear in the 91原创 Island-centric series include Michael Kaeshammer (Nov. 24), Kelby MacNayr Quintet (Dec. 1), Maureen Washington (Dec. 8), Wes Carroll Confabulation (Dec. 15), Pablo Cardenas & Sara Marreiros (Jan. 5), and the Andrew Greenwood Quintet (Jan. 12).
All seven concerts recorded last month at the Victoria Event Centre will be broadcast through video streaming platform Gign.ca. As with his summer concerts, the Resilience Series will be presented free of charge. However, a tip option will be available during the upcoming performances, if patrons wish to contribute. If everyone shares in the rebuilding process, the arts and culture community on 91原创 Island will endure long after the pandemic passes, Mar said.
鈥淸Shows like this] put a little bit of money back into the community. From renting the Victoria Event Centre to paying the technicians, it鈥檚 very important to us. We don鈥檛 know which of our suppliers that we normally use for our festivals are going to be around in a year if there isn鈥檛 help for them now.鈥�
Like the majority of arts organizations, the Victoria Jazz Society was hard hit over the summer. Mar had dozens of concerts cancelled as a result of the pandemic, and with no sure sign of return on the horizon, he鈥檚 looking at initiatives like the Resilience Series as the way forward for now. 鈥淭his gives us visibility. It says: 鈥榃e鈥檙e alive, we鈥檙e well.鈥� And it demonstrates to musicians that anything they do for us will not be on a volunteer basis.鈥�
