Jazz Services has released the following statement in response to the announcement today of the withdrawal of its National Portfolio Organisation status from the end of March 2015. Reproduced here in full:

The Arts Council England today released its funding portfolio for the period 2015-2018, and unfortunately Jazz Services has not been selected to receive NPO funding from April 2015 onwards.

Jazz Services is obviously extremely disappointed with the decision. This is a huge blow to the UK’s jazz artists, promoters and audiences, as without Jazz Services’ extremely popular and successful funding schemes – the National and Rural Touring Support Schemes and the Jazz Promoter Awards among them – it leaves large portions of the country without provisions for funding and support for grass-roots jazz music.

One has only to look to the fantastic support we’ve received from the jazz scene itself to appreciate the worth of what Jazz Services offers. We are the only independent, impartial national organisation representing the interests of jazz across the whole of the UK, and we strongly believe that to cut our funding jeopardises the wellbeing of the music.

We will be in talks with the Arts Council to appeal the decision and address a number of factors relating to their response to our bid, as well as continuing to explore alternative funding options as we have always done.

In the meantime, we have just accepted the latest round of National Touring applications for the October-December 2014 period, completed another brilliantly successful Made In The UK series in North America and Canada, and look forward to the latest crop of new artists releasing their debut albums funded through our Recording Support Scheme.

With our current funding agreement confirmed until March 2015 we will keep providing for the music while we assess the situation, and Jazz Services will continue to do everything it can to ensure the entire jazz scene is fully and fairly represented on the UK’s musical landscape.

Link: Musicians Love Jazz Services Facebook Page