Due to the Covid-19 coronavirus, the Swiss Federal Council has imposed a temporary ban on all large events with more than 1000 people, which includes The Cully Jazz Festival. Mantwa’s research trip will therefore be postponed to later in the year.  

Mantwa Chinoamadi, CEO of T-Musicman, the implementing producer of the acclaimed Joy of Jazz Festival in Johannesburg, will undertake a professional exchange trip to Switzerland in the context of the Cully Jazz Festival at the end of March 2020.

The main musical event of spring in French-speaking Switzerland, the festival takes place over nine days in the village of Cully, located on the shores of Lake Geneva in the heart of Lavaux – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – with more than 150 concerts and twenty events dedicated to jazz and its associated genres.

During her research trip, Mantwa will connect with festival programmers, directors, and artists. These industry peer-to-peer, platform-to-platform interactions enable the possibilities for partnerships and artistic programming to emanate from relationships and synergies developed directly between in-person and context-specific interactions.

Swiss Jazz Days takes place within the Cully Jazz Festival, presenting a showcase of Swiss artists including Julie Campiche Quartet, District Five and Kali. In addition to participating in this gathering, Mantwa will also join the European Jazz Network’ Artistic Exchange Platform (AEP) to network and engage in discussions shaping the sector. The AEP aims to support promoters in Europe to exchange ideas and information about their bookings to create new projects and commissions that can be programmed in their venues and festivals and to support the mobility of exceptional artists and their presentation to new audiences.