At the ACIM conference of music librarians in Orleans in March 2024, I saw a librarian share their programming idea – a live music concert with an artist doing live illustration simultaneously. I found that idea genius and decided to reproduce it. :)
We named the event Concert Jazz Desinée. The objective of the event was to attract adults to the EMC by merging art and music, fostering interaction, and inspiring creativity. Since we don’t have any money left in the 2024 music programming budget, I had to find artists who would be willing to come and perform for free.
First I searched for the musician. I went on the website where musicians search for bands to play in. There I found an ad from a jazz saxophonists and flutist, Mr. Jasmin, who calls himself « amateur with 20 years of experience». He even has a website that I visited and truly enjoyed. He plays saxophone and flûte traversière. I contacted Mr. Jasmin via email and he responded, and we had a phone call. He accepted to come and play!
Then I contacted my friend Louise Damiano, who is an artist, explained the concept of the event to her, and asked if she wanted to do live drawing inspired by the jazz music. She kindly accepted, even though she had never done this before! This is going to be such jazz! :)
For marketing, we used the library's newsletter, printed large A3 posters, and small A5 handouts that we distributed in various institutions in Les Mureaux. This time, I also went to the Espace Seniors across the street, hoping that some of their clientele would come to the event.
Saturday, October 5th, 2024, was the D-day! The Jazz Concert with François Jasmin and Louise Damiano happened, and it was amazing!
Louise arrived, and we set up her station. We used the painting stand to hold her paper and set up her pastels and crayons. Mr. Jasmin arrived and set up his equipment – flute and saxophone. Everything was connected to the amplifier via a microphone.
As they were setting up, we organized the space and arranged the chairs in a semicircle. Louise made a test illustration while Mr. Jasmin played his instruments, and it looked amazing! Posters were everywhere, and I even created a screen for the TNI, announcing that today was the concert.
We decided to leave a paper where people could write their emails if they wanted to receive news from ECM about future music and cinema events. We are trying hard to keep in contact with adults, to remind them about our events, so they can come regularly.
I prepared a small speech, but since it was in French, it was good that I wrote it on a piece of paper, because otherwise, I would have forgotten—I was so pumped up! :D I tried to be metaphorical, funky, and exciting, and I presented the artists who were coming on stage one by one.
The concert started at 3 PM, and it was amazing! Mr. Jasmin played jazz standards on the flute and saxophone while sharing the story and context of each piece with the audience. Inspired by these stories and melodies, Louise Damiano created two large-scale live artworks, capturing the essence of each musical composition through her drawings. It was inspiring to watch an artwork coming to life, in front of our eyes! Mr. Jasmin also played some of his own compositions! Awesome! He is an amazing musician. It was a pleasure to listen to the flute and saxophone! And people enjoyed it! It was fun but also educational.
We had 54 people attending! It was about 70% adults! The concert was a success, and the audience greatly appreciated the event. A colleague shared an email from a member of the media library, who expressed his enthusiasm for the event and asked if there would be more concerts of this kind in the future. Additionally, nine people left their emails to stay informed about future events. We also had the joy of welcoming users from our partner MAS Ecquevilly, which further enriched the collective experience.
The artists greatly appreciated the event. Not knowing each other beforehand, it was the first time they met, which made the experience unique for them. Louise mentioned that she wishes to participate in more events of this kind in the future. Mr. Jasmin expressed his pleasure at having a large and attentive audience, and he particularly enjoyed the opportunity to talk about the context of each piece he performed.
I felt fulfilled and successful. We achieved our main objective by attracting a large number of adults, which shows the public’s interest in this type of unique event. In addition, we reached new populations, including disabled people from the MAS and perhaps seniors from the Espace Seniors. Some friends came, and I met some new people, and new ideas and possibilities are coming our way.
