The Festival criss-crosses the continent…all the way to Mexico!

Montreal, Thursday, May 1, 2008 — First, Paris… then Mexico! In an unprecedented promotional coup, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal opened a global press tour in Paris this past March, held a series of press conferences in major American markets, and completed its cross-continental sweep with a first-ever stop in the Mexican capital. Last night, the Festival not only hosted a press conference with Mexico's major media outlets, but also presented a concert by one of our musical ambassadresses, Susie Arioli, which was broadcast live by Mexican radio's Horizonte.

For this important promotional tour, the world's largest Festival was represented by senior director of media relations, Marie‑Eve Boisvert, artistic director and co-founder André Ménard on the east coast, and vice-president of programming Laurent Saulnier on the west coast. These latter two Festival ambassadors met journalists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago and Miami, promoting the city of Montreal and its preeminent Festival, as well as jazz and its related musics, and our own local artists. The promotional tour wound up in Mexico City with a press conference addressing the issue of facilitating cross-border traffic for our musicians and artists. This effort followed on the heels by visiting the Toronto and London media and even treated journalists from Paris to a concert from Susie Arioli accompanied by Ghislain Poirier, as part of the Bose Blue Note Festival.

It is important to underline the efforts of Normand Paquette, consultant for tourism development and promotion, and Hugo Leclerc for international and travel media relations, as well as the press and publicity agencies which represent the Festival in their respective cities.

Start with a team this impressive—then add in the considerable media potential generated by brilliant names on this year's Festival marquee, from Leonard Cohen and Woody Allen to Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Steely Dan and Return To Forever; as well as the burgeoning popularity of the Montreal Musical Instrument Show (SIMM) and the Montreal Guitar Show (SGM)—and it's small wonder the tour was so warmly received, as is made clear by a slew of articles in North America's major newspapers. All this can only generate positive spinoffs and superb media coverage for Montreal. In fact, we can easily forecast a significant increase in the number of accredited journalists flocking here from the four corners of the globe this summer, a genuine coup for Montreal when it must rely more than ever on major events to consolidate its position as the City of Festivals.

These press initiatives are accompanied by a publicity campaign that enhances the Festival's tourist trade, attracting the multitude of foreign tourists who pump an annual $100 million into our economy. On that note, Festival organizers thank Canada Economic Development, the ministère du Tourisme, the ministère des Affaires municipales et des Régions and Tourisme Montréal, whose support made such a promotional tour possible.

The complete indoor program of this 29h edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal will be unveiled on May 6. The program of free outdoor concerts will be released on June 3. To stay in tune with all the necessary info, please visit montrealjazzfest.com

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