The Guelph Jazz Festival is pleased to announce the hiring of Alex Ricci and Karen Ng as the Interim Executive staff for 2024.
Alex Ricci takes on the role of Interim General Director, bringing 6 years of experience as the festival’s Market Square Manager and Festival Logistics Assistant. “Guelph has a singular history with live music and arts, in which the Guelph Jazz Festival has played an extremely important role,” Ricci says. “It is important to nurture the beautiful community that has come together around experimental expression throughout the last three decades, as well as dreaming colourfully about how this event can adapt to a changing future.” He is also a music producer, audiovisual installation artist, and educator known for multidisciplinary projects such as Versa, Static Channel, Luxonus, X-Practice Project and Alex Iso.
Karen Ng returns to the festival’s staff as Interim Artistic Director after previously holding the position of Assistant Artistic and General Director from 2019-2022. “I’m very honoured to be given this opportunity, to help the festival at a crucial juncture, as it plans for its future in a cultural landscape that is forever shifting,” says Ng. “This festival holds such a special place for so many people in so many ways, I look forward to working with the Guelph community and wider improvising community to keep the spirit going after 30 years of making space for distinctive experiences.” Known primarily as a touring musician and improviser, she also brings 15 years of curating experience at various establishments in Toronto including monthly programming at the Tranzac, the Canadian Music Centre and is co-founder of TONE Festival.
Board President Brian Lefresne said, “Alex and Karen bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, both with the Guelph Jazz Festival and improvised and experimental music in general, to the table. I have no doubt that they will curate and present programming that will honour the festival’s past, but also continue to push the boundaries of who we hear at a jazz festival.”
The 2024 Guelph Jazz Festival will take place the 12th to 15th of September. Visit guelphjazzfestival.com for updates and announcements.
