Britt Festival Soars to New Heights!
By Mollie Smith, Marketing Manager Britt Music & Arts Festival
Britt Music & Arts Festival’s mission as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is to share extraordinary live music performances and arts education experiences that inspire discovery and build community, anchored at the Britt hill amphitheater in downtown Jacksonville. Since 1963, Britt has built a legacy of artistic achievement and community engagement. What began as a 3-week orchestra festival has evolved into a robust season of
orchestral and popular music, comedy, children’s events, and more.
Throughout the year, Britt maintains the Upper Britt Gardens park and presents admission-free education programming in over 70 schools in Southern Oregon. Britt serves an estimated 100,000+ people each year through its ticketed events, admission-free programs, and the use of the park. But, as it approaches its 65th anniversary, Britt is excited to step into its next chapter with a vision to further increase its impact on Southern Oregon.
In 2025, Britt will continue working to grow the community they serve, provide diverse opportunities for creativity, and further steward and conserve the land they occupy for future generations. Britt is dedicated to ensuring access for elders, people with disabilities, and low-income residents, as well as building partnerships to serve communities who do not typically attend Britt events. Britt is also creating additional free and low-cost programs to expand offerings for teens and tweens.
For 2025, Britt is working to sustain and build on their current Education & Engagement programming. There will be an exciting roster of Kids Concert artists in some new and familiar spaces plus small-group workshops for more hands-on experiences with these amazing artists.
This year, Britt is also bringing back their popular Britt Rock Camp for tweens and teens, presenting Master Classes with some of their BFO guest soloists, providing an Artist Residency for Medford School District’s Migrant Summer School, and many more exciting programs in the works.
To stay engaged with the community all year round, Britt plans to increase admission-free and community-driven programs on the hill, create more indoor off-season programs, and work with the City of Jacksonville and their neighbors to negotiate mutually beneficial uses of the Britt hill in the off-season.
Last year, Britt also purchased the historic United States Hotel building in Jacksonville. Britt will finally be headquartered at a hub of our community, and will be renovating the building to accommodate small-scale performances during the winter months, workshops, community events, and more.
Britt’s box office and administrative offices will finally be accessible right downtown, and there will also be a small merchandise and record store for those browsing our downtown shops. While this is a large project that will involve a huge amount of fundraising and a couple of years of renovations, Britt will be providing even more activation of our downtown corridor and economy.
If you are interested in supporting Britt Music & Arts Festival, they are always looking for volunteers. Last season, hundreds of volunteers hiked up and down the hill nightly, renting out cushions, picking up trash, directing traffic and selling merchandise, and so much more. You can also support Britt financially by donating or becoming a Britt Member; which also comes with incredible perks! Learn more at brittfest.org/membership
