{"id":256679,"date":"2026-07-31T21:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256679\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T21:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:13:11","slug":"boscovs-berks-jazz-fest-saved-after-parent-organization-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256679\/","title":{"rendered":"Boscov&#8217;s Berks Jazz Fest Saved After Parent Organization Closes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week, the Berks Arts Council suddenly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdiy.org\/wdiy-headlines\/2026-07-28\/berks-arts-council-to-suddenly-cease-operations-wdiy-local-news\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">announced it would cease operations<\/a>. No explanation or timeline was given for the shutdown. The arts and culture education and advocacy organization had served the Greater Reading community for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement raised questions about the future of the large regional festivals the organization was known for, like the Reading Blues Fest and Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest.<\/p>\n<p>Jazz lovers can fear no more. New partners are now stepping in to save Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest. A press release Friday morning announced that a new management organization, Berks Jazz Fest, has been established to ensure the festival continues.<\/p>\n<p>Berks Jazz Fest has become one of the region\u2019s premier jazz festivals over its 35 years, earning a national reputation and generating significant economic and cultural impact on the surrounding community.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders in the new effort include John Ernesto, a key figure in the festival since its inception, and Jim Boscov, CEO of Boscov\u2019s. In a statement, Boscov thanked the Berks Arts Council for its years of stewardship and said they\u2019re excited to serve as a new home for the festival.<\/p>\n<p>The transition will allow the festival to continue without interruption. The 36th annual Boscov\u2019s Berks Jazz Fest is scheduled for April 1-11, 2027. Thousands of visitors will again flock to Berks County for concerts, special events, and educational programming from internationally renowned performers.<\/p>\n<p>The future of the Reading Blues Fest, another product of the Berks Arts Council, is still uncertain, with no rescue plans announced for that festival at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, the Berks Arts Council suddenly announced it would cease operations. No explanation or timeline was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-256679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}