Council forced to cancel Xàbia Jazz 2023

Friday 28th July 2023
Mike Smith

The new local government tripartite PP-CpJ-Vox has admitted that it has been forced to cancel the popular international music festival XÀBIA JAZZ due to what it claims to be an embargo on the municipal budget which has meant that millions of euros of public money are unavailable.

The government board announced the cancellation of the event, which has been a well-attended festival for 22 years, at the plenary session on Thursday with councillor Mavi Perez (Culture) claiming that a modest budget had been put aside which would not have covered the whole cost however could have been used, but that “at some point in May, it disappeared”.

She claimed that it had not been an easy decision and that her department had waited until the last moment to seek a solution, adding that the municipal auditor assured her that an amount of money would be available but it would not be enough. She claimed that the situation of the local council was “not good” and that “difficult decisions” had to be made.

Ximo Segarra (PSPV-PSOE, the former councillor for the Treasury, admitted that during the last plenary sessions of the previous legislature, he had warned of the embargo and how it would affect the next government board. He claimed that the socialist-led council had not stopped programming and had worked hard to seek funding from elsewhere. And with regards to the allegations that an allocated budget has disappeared in May, he claimed that it happened “because a series of unforeseen events arose”.

The Xàbia Històrica trade association responded to the news of the cancellation by considering it to be “irresponsible” to have programmed an event which has been advertised on municipal billboards since April when there was no funding put aside to pay for it, asking why such a prestigious music festival didn’t have its own budget.

The cancellation of Xàbia Jazz particular affects the hospitality sector as it was a great incentive for people to visit the historic centre in the middle of the summer season. Many bars and restaurants had been taking reservations for the scheduled festival dates and most were already full to capacity. The trade association considers the cancellation a “disaster” which will harm the Xàbia brand by removing one of the big attractions that meets the demand for quality tourism.

Councillor Juanlu Cardona (Economic Development) said, once he had learned of the certainty of cancellation, his department had joined with Culture and the trade association to seek alternatives that would allow such an event to be hosted.

The cancellation of Xàbia Jazz is not the only event in the cultural agenda that will be affected and the Joaquin Sorolla exhibition planned for the summer at the municipal museum has been postponed until funding is available.

However, the ESCACS VIVENTS “Living Chess” will be staged as normal on Saturday 29th July because the funding made available by the local council to pay for the stands and seating as well as the sound equipment and lighting had already been contracted whilst the rest is paid for by the Comissió de Festes Mare de Déu de Loreto.