Thanks Letter from the President

Letter from David M.J. Lee - President of TUJF

June 1st 2015, the first jazz festival featuring young musicians had opened up its initiative. With almost no monetary sponsors, no website, no followers on Facebook or Instagram, all we had were 20 of the undergraduate bands, 42 volunteers, 5 masterclasses and 3 JUNO winning artists who believed in us.

With such small yet huge support, this year we just wrapped up another successful year of 4th annual “T.U. Jazz Fest”. Different from our concerns, there was thankfully no rain but many people smiling and laughing while listening to Jazz in the Now.

There were many hiccups and mistakes, but also several strokes of luck. The biggest fortune we have had were our pleasant musicians across North America who understood all the delays and errors, the audience who came to support these young musicians, all sponsors, grants and donors who made our mandates and last but not the least, our volunteers and members who devoted their time and energy not only during the festival days, but throughout the year. A big round of applause not only for the musicians, but also for the members and volunteers as they were the ones working hard to wrap it all up. Truly deserving indeed!

As you have given us lots of love with your comments, next year, we hope to make changes for the better. Maybe not only the size of the festival, venues, stages, staff members or venue map itself but I can promise that it will be better and most importantly, be the starting point of being an international young music festival in jazz.

On behalf of those who believe the future of music, Jazz in the Now, I’d like to give my thanks and also ask you to keep supporting us, following us and believing the fact that your support on this festival will affect the better future in music, arts and culture.

I know there are countless things that need to be changed and improved, but nothing could be done without your interest, consideration and concern about it.

Please stay tuned for our next steps and feel free to give us any feedback whether positive, negative or any sort of personal suggestion of any kind.

Thanks again for this year and we all see you all at T.U. Jazz Fest 2019!