Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

After months of wrangling and negotiating, the jazz and folk festivals of Newport, each celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, passed their final hurdle Thursday, as the Newport City Council approved a city permit for the shows at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Fort Adams.

Longtime festival impresario George Wein announced his lineup shortly after the council met in special session to grant on a 5-to-0 vote his request for a permit. George Wein's Folk Festival 50, set for July 31-Aug. 2, will include a mix of classic folk giants in the 50-year history of folk in Newport and the more modern, rock-influenced singer-songwriter types who have been staples of the lineup in the past few years.

"Now the work starts," said Wein, who was on hand for the session. "We can start selling tickets."

Wein said the folk festival will be a mix of younger and older performers. All of them want to perform with Pete Seeger, so he is going to schedule Seeger for both days.

However, the exact schedule, including which acts will perform on which days, is still being worked out, festival organizers said, but tickets will go on sale for the jazz festival Thursday, April 23, at 10 a.m. at jazzfestival55.com. Tickets for the folk festival go on sale May 6 at 10 a.m. at folkfestival50.com.

Wein sold his original company, Festival Productions, to Festival Network in 2007. Festival Network ran the festivals in 2007 and 2008, but their license was terminated by the state Department of Environmental Management, which operates Fort Adams, in February for late payments of the state's share of festival revenues.

In March, Wein announced that he was looking to return to running the Newport festivals. Wein was kept on as an employee of Festival Network when he sold his company to them, but says he hasn't been paid since November and considers himself a free agent. He was granted a license by DEM earlier this month.

Also in March, JVC announced that they would no longer back the jazz festival, leaving the festival without a titular sponsor. Dunkin' Donuts, the main sponsor of the folk festival the last few years, did not renew their contract. At the time, Wein said the lack of sponsorship wouldn't deter him: "If I'm on the hook, I'm on the hook."

-- with reports from Richard Dujardin, Journal staff writer

 Tags  music Newport RI

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