By Hannah Edgar
Photo By Anastasia Busby
Horrible as it was, Kate Dumbleton saw it coming.Like so many arts administrators, the executive director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival kept a watchful eye on the news after President Trump announced his intent to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. A glimmer of hope arrived in January, when the agency reaffirmed that the $30,000 promised to the festival would, indeed, be coming through.
It turned out to be false hope. A second letter, in May, announced that the festival’s offer letter had been withdrawn. By now already booked, the festival was left to figure out the shortfall on its own.
“It was a gut punch,” says Dumbleton.
Photo By Michael Jackson
You’d think I’d have learned by now not to underestimate the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Despite the loss of that NEA money, the lineup for the 19th HPJF was more intriguing than the one in Monterey. I decided to stay in Chicago. And on a radiantly sunny weekend, the HPJF had by some metrics its best year ever. The crowd was huge—the festival can’t provide exact numbers because it’s free, partly outdoors, and unfenced, but this was possibly the biggest yet. Donations from the public totaled more than $40,000, increasing by roughly 30 percent over 2024 and hitting an all-time high. The people spoke—or rather, the people took action.
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Hyde Park Herald
By James Porter
Photo By Spencer Bibbs
If the Hyde Park Jazz Festival was ever a secret, the word has gotten around by now.
While no attendance records have been revealed, established jazz veterans were almost drawing rock star numbers on Saturday, which was centered on the Midway Plaisance, but spread across 12 venues throughout the neighborhood. The gospel-infused sounds of the Soul Message Trio, featuring Chris Foreman on organ, packed them in at the Augustana Lutheran Church on 55th Street. The Paul Giallorenzo Trio played a set at the Logan Center Penthouse that was literally standing room only. This may or may not have been one of the last warm weekends of the year, but if we must say farewell to summer, this was a grand way to do it.