MUSICIANS are celebrating the long-awaited arrival of signs advertising the UK’s home of jazz music after eight years in Southend’s city centre.
The Jazz Centre UK opened in 2016 at the Beecroft Art Gallery in Victoria Avenue, and is one of the country’s leading jazz hubs, boasting Jools Holland and Sir Van Morrison as patrons.
The centre has occupied the Beecroft’s basement area for the past eight years and has largely been reliant on online advertising to draw in visitors.
Now, a new promotional sign is being displayed next to the entrance of the building, and bosses of The Jazz Centre UK hope the increased visibility will help boost visitor numbers.
Chairman of the centre’s board of trustees, Mathew Fisher, said: “For the last eight years, we have used online advertising to attract a diverse, music-loving audience from all areas of the UK to Southend.
“Now, we can finally advertise to passing trade and show further benefit to the local community in music education, heritage, and performance.”
The Jazz Centre UK started out as a one-room archive in 2016 and has since evolved into a much larger cultural institution. It now offers the chance to explore information, books and exhibitions on some of history’s most important jazz pioneers.
Digby Fairweather is a leading jazz cornetist from Southend and a founding member of The Jazz Centre UK.
He said: ”It’s wonderful news that at last we have signage to tell everyone about The Jazz Centre UK’s presence in the Beecroft Gallery.
“We are the first-ever cultural centre for jazz music in the UK and now many more people will know about us – and, I’m sure, visit us too."
Fears grew in January last year the Jazz Centre would be moved from its home in the gallery for Southend Council to use the space to store and display artefacts, however a decision to serve notice was reversed just months later.
In recent months, the centre had been working collaboratively with the council to increase the promotion of it’s projects and programmes.
One of those closely involved in the securing of the centre’s lease was Southend councillor Kevin Buck, who said: “With a secure future ahead and working in partnership with the council and the Beecroft staff, the Jazz Centre is a must visit place for anyone interested in music."
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