It is with tremendous disappointment and heavy heart that I have to announce the postponement of the Ballydehob Jazz Festival 2020.

The 14th edition of the festival had been due to take place on the weekend of May 1st to 4th. However, given the changing landscape and continuing fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic its now obviously impossible to even consider the festival going ahead in this time frame or in the immediate future.

Our thoughts are with those artists who on the best days struggle to make a living but today now struggle for existence. Please support them over the coming months and years in whatever way you possibly can. They are the lifeblood of community and bring colour to the grey every day. As a festival we will endeavour to support them in as many ways as possible.

Ballydehob Jazz Festival is a community driven and volunteer run festival.It is local people wanting the arts to thrive, our families to thrive and our businesses to thrive. This postponement will come at a tremendous cost to the community it supports.

I would like to thank the artistic community, businesses and sponsors, patrons and partners and of course the volunteers for your help in supporting and growing the Ballydehob Jazz Festival over the last 6 years that I’ve been proud to be involved in. And I hope that ye all survive so that the Ballydehob Jazz Festival can return to what it does best :engaging, developing, producing and presenting world class jazz ,dance and spectacle. We need you to survive and thrive so that the amazing cultural and social canvas that is Ballydehob and The Mizen survives. Beir Bua.

For now, we are working towards streaming some online performances from our artists located worldwide during the usual timeframe of Ballydehob Jazz festival this May bank holiday and with hope we plan on rearranging the festival for the end of October. Please keep in touch for updates. We need your support now more than ever before. 

I hope that in time when we begin to come out from under this Covid cloud that we all can reflect on the true worth of art and culture to society and rearrange a lot of the priorities of this country in favour of all its citizens in particular the artistic and creative, the poor and the vulnerable .But for now please stay safe ,sane and may great art rise up from the chaos

I want to send a special thank you to all at the Cork County Council and The Arts Council of Ireland as well as all of our sponsors for their understanding, compassion and support in this time of difficulty. Art needs your support now more than ever before in the history of Ireland 
Ní neart go chur le chéile 
Yours in hope 
May we all rise again together 

Joseph O Leary 
Ballydehob Jazz Festival Comittee