PRESS

Official New Release
March 3, 2009
Contact:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
Carolyn@georgewein.com

GEORGE WEIN’S FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS, INC. TO PRODUCE 2009
JAZZ AND FOLK FESTIVALS IN NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND

NEW YORK, NY, March 3, 2009 – George Wein, producer of the seminal Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959, announced that his application to negotiate a license with the Department of Environmental Management to produce a jazz festival and a folk festival has been approved by the Rhode Island State Properties Committee. Wein will negotiate a contract to produce a gala Jazz Festival on August 7 – 9 celebrating 55 years of jazz in Newport, as well as a celebration of 50 years of folk music on August 1 - 2. Both festivals will take place at Fort Adams State Park.

Wein recently learned that the license to produce the festivals at Fort Adams State Park in 2009 was available.

“When I was informed that the festivals, which have been the most important part of my life since 1954 and 1959, might be lost forever, I realized that it was necessary for me to come back and apply for the rights to produce jazz and folk festivals in 2009 and beyond,” said Wein. “Whatever success I have had as a national and international music impresario can be traced directly to my beginnings in Newport. The traditions we have established there mean everything to me.”

Information on performers and tickets for the festivals will be announced in early April and will feature world-class artists with the renowned production stamp of Wein and his seven decades of expertise.