Jumpers and Jazz in July festival 2017
- 12 Jun 2018
Since 2004, Warwick’s annual Jazz & Jumpers in July festival has engaged the local community and attracted increasing numbers of tourists to the region. The 2017 festival was the largest yet.
What
Warwick’s annual Jumpers & Jazz festival began in 2004, inspired by a Warwick Art Gallery initiative to enliven winter streets with textile art wrapped round bare trees. The 10-day festival, with its mix of jazz, brightly dressed trees, quirky yarn bombing, art and fine food, quickly became a magnet for visitors, boosting the local economy through cultural tourism and increasing local participation in the arts.
In 2017, the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) supported the festival’s musical line-up: Girl Friday, Freud Squad, River City Access, The O’Brien Quartet, Mal Wood Band and Well Swung Daddies.
The 2017 festival also presented Bach to Bush in partnership with Queensland Music Festival. This concert featured internationally renowned cellist Louise King and legendary percussionist John Morrison.
When and where
Annually in July, Warwick, Queensland
Key Stats
- 30,000 people attended Jumpers & Jazz activities and events in 2017
- 10 bands and 4 artists were employed in 2017
- 96% of people surveyed rated the 2017 festival as “good” or “excellent”
Arts Queensland investment
- $27,000 (for the 2017 festival) - Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF)
- Annual funding support for the Queensland Music Festival
RADF is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Southern Downs Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland. In 2017-18, Arts Queensland invested $2.08 million to the RADF partnership across 59 councils statewide to support local talent and arts experiences.
The Queensland Music Festival is a state-wide biennial celebration of music supported with annual funding from the Queensland Government.
Outcomes
- More than a decade after Jumpers & Jazz was established, the festival has cultivated solid community ownership and participation. 2017 marked the first time the festival was organised entirely by the community, led by a committee of dedicated volunteers.
- The number of visitors to Jumpers & Jazz continues to increase with more than 30,000 visitors attending in 2017, making it the largest festival yet. This is more than double the resident population of Warwick which is approximately 13,500 people.
- Tourism operators and local businesses reported increased demand for services due to the influx of visitors during the 2017 festival.
- The Warwick Art Gallery’s yarnbombing team becomes more motivated each year. In 2017, the group worked for nine months to create a large yarn installation along with nearly 2000 lovebombs to give away as random acts of kindness.
- The Queensland Music Festival partnership provided additional music experiences for 2017 festival goers along with a well-received workshop.
Reflections and learnings
In 2017, the committee trialed putting a live jazz event inside the historic town hall and charging a small fee. In 2018, the festival will offer a mix of free jazz on the street stage and town hall paid events.
Artist comments
It is the most wonderful exciting event in July anywhere in Australia, and brings endless joy to so many, builds strength, inspires creativity and self-belief that anything is possible – and certainly brings brightness to a dark and grey winter. Honoured to call Warwick home. Julie Harris, Tree Jumper artist
Jumpers and Jazz in July is crafting nirvana! Jacqui Fink, textile designer, 2017 tree jumper judge
Feedback
Trees get better every year!! – Festival attendee
Just so pleasing to the soul and spirit - From survey
Connectiveness, creativity, fun and pleasure, plus the economic benefit for many of our small businesses. Kathy Payne, sponsor, Southern Downs Wellbeing Support Service
What next?
In 2018 Jumpers & Jazz will mark 15 years. The committee is revisiting the street party concept and increasing the opportunities for visitors to enjoy free live jazz with a second jazz stage.
[Update as at November 2018: The 2018 Jumpers and Jazz in July festival was officially the biggest ever, with crowd numbers exceeding previous years by thousands.
In the president's report prepared by outgoing president Dan Noble, crowd numbers were estimated to have reached 58,500 people. This is a huge jump compared to the 2017 and 2016 totals of 35,000.
Local attendee numbers also made a huge jump, with 11,312 people this year compared to 3345 people last year. There was also almost double the amount of interstate visitors, with 1284 people this year compared to 737 last year.
Mr Noble said social media played a large part in raising crowd numbers this year.
"We had a very targeted expanded social media strategy this year, which had a huge impact,” he said.
"We got some grant funding from Tourism and Events Queensland to have a strategy developed and we had some excellent people on the team.”
Mr Noble said the feature done by Better Homes and Gardens last year also helped keep the festival in people's minds.
But the response from the local community also had a major impact on the overall success of the festival.
"The whole town was just so brilliant this year in terms of getting involved and being enthusiastic about it and I think that has a big impact on visitor impressions,” Mr Noble said. "When people come into town and are happy and buzzing and talking about it that has an impression.”
Mr Noble said it was also incredible to see how many people offered their time to volunteer at the festival to ensure it was a success.
"One of the most pleasing aspects is just seeing how the different individuals and community groups get involved,” he said.
"It is great to see us all working together to make the best possible festival.”
Find out more
E: jumpersandjazzinjuly@gmail.com
Ph: 0491 070 017
Banner image: Courage Flower yarnbomb, Tree jumper.
A pdf version (PDF) (535.85 KB) of this case study is available.