Portland Jazz Festival will go on, with Alaska Airlines sponsorship

About a month after canceling the Portland Jazz Festival, organizers have secured enough funding to keep the prestigious festival alive.

Organizers will hold a news conference this afternoon to announce that Seattle-based Alaska Airlines will donate $50,000 annually for the next two years.

The large donation has also helped the festival raise tens of thousands of dollars from other donors, who were originally skeptical that organizers could raise enough to save the festival, staffers said.

The sixth annual Portland Jazz Festival was canceled after Qwest, its lead sponsor, pulled out this spring, and other sponsors and donors soon followed. Organizers foresaw a $100,000 shortfall of its $686,000 annual budget and decided to pull the plug rather than get into financial trouble.

Now, organizers are scrambling to rebook musicians and get the word out that the 2009 festival, set for Feb. 13-22, is back on. To guide the festival, a new advisory committee, led by Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish and businessman Sho Dozono, has also been formed.

"We are putting on our track shoes," said Sarah Bailen Smith, the festival's co-founder, who has returned temporarily. She said she'll stay with the organization until it can find a permanent managing director. The position had been vacant because the nonprofit festival didn't have the money to hire a full-time director.

In the meantime, Smith will help raise money and get next year's festival back on track. The 2009 fest will celebrate the 70th anniversary of seminal jazz label Blue Note Records. The Portland Jazz Festival includes about 150 concerts, films and interviews with artists, and is considered one of the top jazz venues in North America.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com