Large ensemble touring. Sweden edition.

Vilnius MAMA JAZZ Showcase

In the age of podcasts I'm going old school and continue this jazz music manager's blog/internal monologue/therapy session with the hope that someone finds it useful. I make a distinction and underline that I am a jazz music manager. I've been on both, mainstream music industry and jazz music industry sides, it's not the same. The slices of pie are not of an equal side. Far from it. This changes a lot in terms of management, but I'm steering off a bit, let's get back to touring.

I think it is really necessary to draw a line between a small/medium size band and a large ensemble. Especially when it comes to touring. Not because one is better or worse. I would love to manage a trio. I would love love love it. I sometimes even dream of it... Whether you fit in one car or not is a big change. And if you cannot fit in two cars it's even a bigger change. And when you cannot fit in three...

Travelling becomes tough. Logistically, accomodation and finance wise. Festival and jazz clubs programmers know that, which means that no matter how much they love your music, which by some miracle has reached their ears,

they will be reluctant to invite you, because of money and and riders. Co-financing becomes a must.

But even co-financing comes after catching someones attention. And we caught someone's ear.

Photo by Rytis Šeškaitis

In 2024 we performed on Vilnius MAMA Jazz festival showcase stage. Since touring in a large ensemble is hard, through the years we came up with a very distinct program named RAVENJAZZ which can be performed by three people. And so we did. People liked it and one super amazing Swedish programmer asked if we would like to perform is Sweden and could we share our programs that could suit Swedish audiences.

And so we did.

And they chose ODD NUMBERS, which cannot be performed by three people... Thus our co-financing journey began.

A first "friend" in this is the network of cultural attaches and Lithuanian Culture Institute. They have very limited resources and have to be contacted very much in advance, before their budgets are done and done. They also won't be able to finance every request and project (but no one can do that) so it is a gamble based on project strength, time and amount of money needed. Oh, and your country has to have an attache in that other country. But I guess this one was clear.

I realized that playing one concert in Sweden will not be sustainable and won't be financed by anyone, because well... It doesn't make sense for 10 people to buy plane tickets, play one gig and come back. So we need a tour...

Here things become tricky. With the tour the amount of money needed just grows.

So you're trying to save money by expanding the budget?

Photo by Domas Rimeika

Yes, but what happens is you reshape your concert into a cultural export and integration strategy. With one concert, the reach is too small to make even a little dent. With seven gigs in different cities and educational program attached you can at least hope to leave that nice dent.

But... How do you make the shift from once concert to seven?

One way is DIY. If you already have a concert booked, booking around it becomes easier, due the fact that clubs don't have to cover your travel expenses. However, miss Dorotėja (aka me), means either very little or nothing to most clubs in Sweden. We've never been there before, we haven't toured there, we haven't collaborated so... That's why they might not even open my letter, which means this DIY thing has some moments. Actually, they most likely won't open my letter because they get tons of them and the message is the same "book me please".

Another way is through partnerships and contacts. It takes much longer and it's a two way street. You first give and then you might get a gift yourself.

Photo by Gabriele Witter

Luckily enough, through me being in various networks and organizations (such as Europe Jazz Network, jazzahead! and so on...) I am fortunate to have the ability to build my own little network. Knowing people is key, but not in the sense I was taught.

"You are what you network is"; "Collect people not stamps"; "People is the only commodity"...

What the F??? This is horrible. So if I don't know someone, am I useless? And I should get to know them because of how I get to use them later?

Well, I choose to do it differently. I like people for who they are not for the position they have. I know it sounds naive, then I am naive, I'm fine with it. Alongside this naivety of mine, I also am getting better at developing projects, building budgets, filling forms and entering competitions.

This led me to partnering with Knutpunkt and Green Pilots Touring which alongside a grant from Vilnius Municipality, financial support from Cultural Attaché of the Republic of Lithuania in the Kingdom of Sweden, to the Republic of Finland and to the Kingdom of Denmark and associacion LATGA allowed to build a week length tour in Sweden. So, yeah, it takes a lot of support and partnerships to tour with a large ensemble but it also brings a lot of meaning and possibilities and just how Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble takes it to another level I'll tell you quite soon.

Yours,

Dorotėja