On Friday, February 21, the first edition of the Mexican Jazz Encounter took place at the Parker & Lenox jazz club in Mexico City, an event co-produced by Conexiones Culturales de Latinoamérica and Not a Bot (Festival M Jazz, Parker & Lenox, and Jazz en las Rocas).
The meeting brought together 66 jazz professionals from Mexico City, 15 Mexican states and 7 international profiles. Among these, 14 concert halls, 12 festivals, 10 artists, 8 production companies, 6 press media, 2 educational institutions and 1 music conference were represented. A total of 14 representatives of public cultural institutions and 49 private initiatives were present.
During the event, 3 activities were carried out with the objective of making a first approach and putting on the table relevant topics for Mexican jazz. The first consisted of 8 rounds of 5-minute pitches where experiences in audience development were shared. In order to get to know different points of view from the productive chain, as well as from various generations, the voices of communicators, managers, agents, programmers, artists and digital creators were heard. The experience was moderated by Óscar Adad with the participation of Sara Valenzuela, Producer of Jalisco Radio and Director of the Konsulta Cultural Foundation; Ana Rodríguez, former manager of Troker and current Director of Fíjate qué Suave; Ilse Rodarte, Programmer of Zinco Jazz Club; Stephanie Villalobos, President of the Board of the Armando Núñez International
Jazz Festival (Chihuahua); Kunt Vargas, musician and PR of Los Pream (Oaxaca); Emi Hernández, digital creator (@emi_hdzz); Dru Lojero, co-founder of Jazz Is Dead; and Jordi Funtanet, CEO of Not a Bot.
This was followed by a round table moderated by Ariadna Reyes, programmer of the Lunario del Auditorio Nacional and Senior Project Manager of The MET Live in HD, with the theme “Circulation: Alliances and collaboration models”, where the speakers talked about the creation of circuits and their participation in collaborations at a national or international level as public or private organizations. The speakers were Alejandro Zúñiga, Director of the Institute of Culture of Aguascalientes; Daniel Espinosa, Deputy Director of Circuits of the Cervantino International Festival; Gerry Rosado, Music Producer and Content Director of the Intolerancia label and co-founder of Relatable; and Pablo Solís, Director of the Cultural Connections Latin America network.
At the end of the two activities, there was time for discussion and networking, a space that was extended during Saturday at the M Jazz festival, to which professionals were also invited, to meet the scheduled artists, continue networking and enjoy the festival.
From CCLA, we thank all the participants for their confidence in participating in this type of event, and their commitment to continue strengthening jazz and music in Mexico.
Consult the event’s memoir here.
