Jazz Festival turning to online fundraising tool

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is the latest area non-profit and cultural organization that is employing the Internet for income through a popular “crowdfunding” site.
The local non-profit has launched a  $20,000 campaign at Indiegogo, a Bay Area-based web site that supports hundreds of similar campaigns for music, arts, film and educational pursuits and projects.
The project is called “Celebrating the Blues” and features local resident and blues legend Charlie Musselwhite.  
Musselwhite will open the 2014 Healdsburg Jazz Festival with a two-day performance. Visitors to indiegogo.com (healdsburg jazz) can donate from $10 to more than $1,000 for special Festival packages, CDs, Musselwhite souvenirs and more.
It will mark the first time that blues – seen by many as an early relative if not parent of jazz – has had an overt role in the annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival. The on-line campaign features brief videos of Musselwhite and festival founder Jessica Felix.
“We need to continue raising money year-round to keep our organization healthy,” said Felix. “That’s why we need to reach out now through Indiegogo for funding to make sure we can continue to build towards next year’s Festival.”
“You might know that jazz evolved from blues,” says Musselwhite in the video. “So it’s only fitting to have blues at the jazz festival.” The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is a non-profit organization that is now booking its 16th Festival for May-June 2014. The organization also presents many musical education programs in local schools, as well as other jazz performances throughout the year in Healdsburg and beyond.
For more information on these and other upcoming events and campaigns, visit www.healdsburgjazz.com.