Brecon Jazz Festival

Brecon Jazz Festival is a music festival held on an annual basis in the rural surroundings of Brecon, in south Powys, Mid Wales. Normally staged in early August, it plays host to a range of jazz musicians who travel from across the world to take part and to many visiting tourists who are attracted by the music, the social scene and the other leisure opportunities on offer in and around the Brecon Beacons. From June 2009 until December 2011 it has been produced by the Hay Festival and funded by the Arts Council of Wales. Orchard, a Cardiff-based events and media group, are the new operators of the Brecon Jazz Festival as from 2012. The new promoters hope to bring colour and atmosphere to the streets of Brecon whilst acknowledging the fact that "Brecon Jazz is a heritage brand with a worldwide reputation."

The Festival was organized by Jed Williams, owner of The Four Bars Inn in 1983 and first staged in 1984 and on a budget of £100. It was a local initiative by the people of Brecon to increase the "ARTS" for this small Welsh Market Town. Liz Elston was a member of the Brycheiniog Association for the Arts which had formed in 1981 and became the first Chair of the Jazz Festival. A local antique dealer's enthusiasm for the Breda Jazz Festival in Holland provided the necessary link to jazz and the decision was made to hold a festival in Brecon. George Melly, who had a house close by, was invited to perform. Despite its high profile and the high calibre of many of the acts, its finances were always precarious. Brecon International Festival of Jazz Ltd., the most recent company managing the festival, was the third such company to have to 'rescue' the event. The 2008 festival, Brecon's 25th anniversary, had a promising start: some major starts such as Joan Armatrading, Courtney Pine and Cerys Matthews drew advance bookings, but when the weekend of the festival started bad weather kept the crowds away. There were also problems with sponsorship and other revenue streams. In December 2008 the company went into creditors' voluntary liquidation.

A number of organizations came forward with bids to continue staging the event. In March 2009 Arts Council Wales agreed to support a bid from Hay Festival to run Brecon Jazz from August 2009.

The 2009 event tackled the issues of social disorder head-on, and was commended locally for staging a popular carnival parade and returning Brecon to its musical roots. The festival has been strongly supported by Rhodri Morgan, the former First Minister of Wales. Apart from the main festival, in the recent past a Brecon Fringe Festival, with its own website www.breconfringe.co.uk has sprung up, encompassing alternative acts in pubs, hotels, galleries, cafes and other venues in the town. A free guide to Fringe events is available throughout Brecon over the festival and Brecon Fringe Festival now attracts visitors in its own right. The Fringe was actively involved in promoting the 2009 event and promoted and advertised nationally in the media and on www.gigall.co.uk which is also based within Brecon.