The appointment was set for 1:15 PM at Place Masséna in the presence of Christian Estrosi. On the agenda: a visit to the site of the Nice Jazz Festival, 2014 edition.
The Mayor arrived calm, on time, smiling, and happy to show us behind the scenes one day before the much-anticipated event by jazz lovers, and not just them.
The NJF hosts several thousand people over six days, featuring well-known, renowned, and up-and-coming artists on two stages (Masséna and the Théâtre de Verdure), with an average of six concerts per evening. It involves hundreds of municipal employees, 32 partners, and above all, significant logistics managed expertly by the city.
This year is the second edition within our much-envied green corridor, except that this year, construction is complete, and the public will be welcomed in the finished green corridor. Its facilities are integrated into the structure of the Nice Jazz Festival, offering the public a friendly, pleasant place.
The public welcome area has been expanded, allowing more people to attend each evening. It’s easy to stroll through this space, and everything is designed for people with reduced mobility, including the loan of wheelchairs. The Nice City Hall, organizer of this Festival, a rarity in the French landscape, planned the NJF without leaving anything to chance. Everything is precise, carefully thought out. From sorting stations to public toilets, from the open-to-all dining space (Jardins Albert 1er) with more than reasonable prices to the public-artist meeting area with a photo spot, not to mention the live Azur TV broadcast platform.
On the Massena side, about six thousand people are expected to form the audience each evening, with several hundred people behind the scenes, including artists, municipal staff, and technicians. Therefore, the largest movement is expected at the Massena space, with very comfortable dressing rooms, a dining area reserved for artists, and all in the open air—a refuge of peace.
The press area, where I’ll be spending my evenings, is set up on the fountain of the gardens. It’s a flowery, pleasant place and a work area where everything has been designed for journalists to be happy to work: Wi-Fi connections, interview space, meeting area. Let’s admit that the working conditions are more than pleasant. It’s a privilege.
It’s time for us to continue the visit, and we head to the “Théâtre de Verdure” area. It has two thousand five hundred seats (both seated and standing) to come and applaud talented artists. Mr. Bodino is the stage manager, freshly promoted to this position. Some chairs are already in place. Let’s also highlight that the access for people with reduced mobility is very well thought out.
Right next to it, we discover the Village. A place carefully arranged and very aesthetically pleasing by Caroline Constantin, with the indispensable help of the municipal Green Spaces service. Three colors: red for energy, represented by a multitude of flowers that point either up or down, red reminiscent of the saxophone on the NJF poster; black and white. Three skillfully staged colors that give this village a chic but not ostentatious ambiance, inviting relaxation. A village that will host no less than four thousand people. Caroline Constatin has managed to create an inviting village, and her feminine touch is evident.
This visit will conclude with a stop at the HQ, meaning the production area, the festival’s nerve center. We exit via Rue de Verdun to discover the four artists tasked with decorating the panels. Four street artists. This journey along Rue de Verdun is a tribute to Matisse, a path that shares the thoughts of this great artist, an ode to his intellectual journey, who loved jazz as it inspired him for his artistic creations. Therefore, it’s about integrating street art into the NJF. Four artists, four colors, four different works. Anthony, Jennifer, Benjamin, and Samuel are there with their spray cans, their creativity. Each is responsible for some letters and tags them according to their “specialty.” A must-see.
Thus ends our “press” visit behind the scenes of the Nice Jazz Festival, 2014 edition. A place you must come to discover for several reasons: the programming is excellent, the location is unique as pleasant as the old arenas of Cimiez, and you’ll have everything on site to spend open-air evenings lulled by the jazzy decibels of this festival opening its doors tomorrow evening.
Bérangère BERRIAUX
