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Britt Festivals score record year By BILL VARBLE For the Peter Britt Festivals in Jacksonville, 1999 was the biggest season ever. Although numbers are still estimates (Britt's fiscal year doesn't end until Thursday), this much is clear: Attendance set a record. Revenue set a record. Thirteen shows sold out. "We're pretty happy," Britt spokesman Arthur Waitt said Tuesday. "We were neck and neck with 1997 for most of the summer. It turned out we did very well." Total attendance for the year was 62,130. That's up about 1 percent from last year and almost 8 percent over the record set in 1997. Average attendance was 1,381 per show, also a record. The season opened June 11 with jazz great Chick Corea and wound up Sept. 5 with vintage rockers Chicago, for a total of 45 events. Estimated revenue for the season was $2.3 million. About $1.4 million of that came from ticket sales, with the remaining $900,000 coming from memberships, grants, gifts and sponsorships. Britt's estimated expenses for the year were $2.1 million. Britt is a nonprofit festival, so any earnings go to funds for buildings, endowments, capital expenses and so on. "There's a lot of maintenance," Waitt said. "We're starting to feel the age out there." Britt officials attribute the season's success to several factors. "(Britt program manager) Mike Sturgill did a good job getting some big names," Waitt said. "To a certain extent it's luck. Who's touring? Are they on the West Coast? Do they have an open date?" The 13 shows that sold out were John Lee Hooker on June 24, Wynonna (June 25), Bill Cosby (June 27, twice), Keb' Mo' (July 3), Cowboy Junkies (July 7), Dan Fogelberg (July 16), Manhattan Transfer (July 17), Boz Scaggs (July 30), Kenny Rogers (Aug. 1), Steve Winwood (Sept. 2), BeauSoleil/Beau Jocque (Sept. 4) and Chicago (Sept. 5). "We're comfortable spending bigger dollars to get those bigger names," Waitt said. "That's been an evolution that will probably continue. He said Festival officials aren't insensitive to complaints about rising prices. "But we have to balance that with the fact the highest priced tickets sell the best," he said. Attendance by genre varied widely. The classical festival sold 8,836 tickets for 12 performances, an average of 736 per show. That's down about 20 percent from last year, when there were two more shows and the numbers were skewed by the appearance of the popular Bobby McFerrin. Musical theater sold 3,943 tickets in four shows, up 23 percent from last year. Three dance shows sold 2,845 tickets (down 57 percent from four 1998 shows). Comedy tallied 3,053 tickets for superstar Bill Cosby versus none last year. The rest of the performances -- the bulk of the season, comprising jazz, pop, country, rock, new age and folk -- racked up 43,453 tickets sold, up 18.5 percent from 1998. Does that mean dance and musical theater could be threatened? "Classical is the only thing we're obligated to do," Waitt said. "Everything else is decided on a yearly basis." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA