PORT ANGELES — The live concerts are booked, the passes are flexible and the launch party is on, Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts Executive Director Kayla Oakes announced this past week.
JFFA wrapped its annual festival, a hybrid of in-person and virtual shows, over Memorial Day weekend. Now Oakes has released the lineup of nine events — all planned for live audiences — in the annual Season Concerts series.
“It was a hopeful weekend, and a great way to get our feet wet again,” she said of the festival, held replete with safety protocols. The event was the first presentation of live performances at the Vern Burton Community Center in more than a year, and the performers, who included local and out-of-town bands, “did a beautiful job.”
Virtual Experience passes, which include more than two dozen videos of festival concerts, are still available at JFFA.org/festival.
As for the Season Concerts, information about those awaits at JFFA.org/season-concerts.
Here are the basics.
• Sept. 10 —Season Launch Party with food and drink, local live music and celebration of the new season for JFFA members, Elks Naval Lodge ballroom, 5 p.m.
• Sept. 19—The Small Glories, rootsy soul duo from the Canadian prairies, Elks Naval Lodge ballroom, 6 p.m.
• Oct. 10 —Collision of Rhythm, starring tap dancer-marimba player Aaron Williams and multi-instrumentalist-juggler Bronkar Lee at the Port Angeles High School (PAHS) Performing Arts Center, 4 p.m.
• Dec. 4 —The Ballet Workshop presents “The Nutcracker,” PAHS Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
• Dec. 5 —“The Nutcracker” matinee, 2 p.m.
• Dec. 18 —The Broadway Boys, six singers in harmony, performing classic show tunes with pop, funk, gospel, jazz, and folk flavor, PAHS Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
• Feb. 26 —Blues Is a Woman, starring San Francisco vocalist Pamela Rose and her all-woman band spotlighting female artists from Ma Rainey to Bonnie Raitt, PAHS Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
• March 12 —The Jim Byrnes Band with St. Louis-born Byrnes, who raises up the music of Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray and their blues siblings, PAHS Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
• April 27 —Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, all-female, stereotype-blasting mariachi band, PAHS Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
This time around, JFFA is offering a “flex pass:” a set of either six or 10 tickets the buyer can use at any of the Season Concerts.
“If you want to use all 10 at Collision of Rhythm, go for it,” said Oakes, adding that music and dance lovers can curate their own seasons. They might use a few of their flex pass tickets for a show this fall, for example, and save the rest for shows in winter and spring 2022.
Chance noted that the Collision of Rhythm duo’s October show is a family-oriented one. She was wowed by the performers at the Northwest Booking Conference.
“Having younger kids, I know they’re totally geared toward them — and me,” she said.
Supporters of JFFA will also be invited to the Sept. 10 launch party, free to members and sponsors. Information about membership is on the website or from the office at contact@jffa.org or 360-457-5411.
Individual tickets to Season Concerts shows — $20 to $40 for adults and always $10 for children — will go on sale 60 days before each concert date, as COVID safety precautions evolve.
Flex passes, though, are available now. They range from $120 for six standard seats to $180 for six premium seats. The 10-ticket passes range from $180 for standard seats to $280 for premium.
“I have such great anticipation for this season,” Oakes said; “I’ve been waiting to present these artists for over a year and a half now. It’s really exciting to see them on the plate again.
“Collision of Rhythm is so unique and fresh and different,” she added. The pair’s show is “just one of those uplifting experiences. They just have this positive energy between them.
“They’re just going to blow people’s minds.”
Oakes, who announced several weeks ago she was stepping down, will have her last day as director June 15. The foundation board had received a handful of applications by last Friday’s deadline, she said, and will be vetting them in the coming weeks during JFFA’s summer down time.
Oakes also has just finished booking the Concerts on the Pier series in Port Angeles. For these free concerts on City Pier, the featured bands will be announced this month; shows will start at 6 p.m. each Wednesday from July 7 through Aug. 25.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
