The Festival’s portrait

Every year, jazz is celebrated in the village of Cully, with prestigious concerts attracting substantial crowds. Festival-goers wishing to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the place wander as they please in a constellation of wine-cellars constituting the scene for the OFF Festival. It is undoubtedly this combination between paying and free concerts in the IN and OFF Festivals respectively that seduces a dedicated audience.

The OFF Festival, spanning fifteen cafés, ephemeral scenes and wine-cellars scattered throughout the village, is in itself a springboard for the new generation of jazz in Switzerland.

On its three stages – Chapiteau, Next Step and Temple – the IN Festival can pride itself on having welcomed prestigious artists such as Bobby Mc Ferrin, Wayne Shorter, Gilberto Gil, McCoy Tyner, Stephan Eicher, Madeleine Peyroux, Marianne Faithfull, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Charles Lloyd, Ibrahim Maalouf, Jan Garbarek, Carla Bley, Marcus Miller, Manu Dibango, Thomas Dutronc, Michel Petrucciani, Manu Katché, John Scofield, Ahmad Jamal, Randy Weston, Seun Kuti, Monty Alexander, Gregory Porter, Avishai Cohen and Lisa Simone.

The OFF Festival consists of around fifteen cafés and wine cellars spread throughout the village. It provides a springboard for many young Swiss Jazz musicians; artists playing in the OFF Festival often find themselves on the line-up for the IN Festival a couple of years later. However, sometimes the opposite happens, and an artist having played at the IN decides to come back to Cully for a residency during the OFF.

A festival in the heart of Lavaux, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A Festival in the heart of a village cannot forget those who live there. Many measures have been undertaken to ensure minimal disruption to the residents of Cully. To limit waste, there is a deposit on dishes and utensils which ensures they are disposed of properly. At the end of the Festival there is a sweep of the entire area to collect any remaining garbage.

Moreover, the organizers and performers prioritize local shops and local procurement, not only during the Festival but also throughout the year.

The Festival would not exist without the force of its volunteers supporting it. Led by an association of passionate people, the organising team is composed of a permanent office of two to eight people during the year and a dozen volunteer members. During the nine days of the festival, this permanent team is supported by 600 volunteers spread across all sectors of the organisation.

Environmental Protection

Conscious of its impact on the environment, the Cully Jazz Festival tirelessly works to reduce its ecological footprint and preserve this magnificent site where the Festival takes place.

Every year new goals to reduce the impact on the environment are formulated, an effort that is recognized and appreciated by both cultural and political figures.

In the past ten years, actions taken to reduce the Festival’s footprint have included establishing a deposit system for cups & glasses, favoring the consumption of energy that is local and renewable, recycling, and prioritizing the use of public transport.

Mission

The main mission of the Festival is to promote jazz and its artists through a high quality event open to all audiences. Cully looks to the future in its promotion of jazz, and quality, accessibility, and exploration are the main characteristics that we wish to promote. Showcasing the Lavaux area and its extraordinary heritage is one of the Festival’s key values.

Overview 2024

• 41st edition
• 70,000 attendees
• 11,888 tickets sold
• CHF 2.7 million budget
• 8 days of the festival
• 39% of artists from Switzerland at Festival IN
• 51 employees (including 6 year-round), equivalent to 6.26 full-time positions
• 582 volunteers

2024 IN Festival

35 ticketed concerts dispatched between 3 stages

• Chapiteau
  1,100 seated, 1,600 standing
• Next Step
  480 standing
• Temple
  270 seated

2024 OFF Festival

• 85 free concerts
• 15 ephemeral scenes and wine cellars

Connectivity

Figures as of June 1, 2024:

• 242,455 visits to cullyjazz.ch from January to early May 2024
• 704,323 page views on the site, including 561,522 unique pages from January to April 2024
• 42,410 newsletter subscribers
• 24.5K Facebook fans
• 15.6K Instagram followers
• 8.2K Twitter followers

Around wine

• 17,952 bottles of wine
• 45 winemakers from Lavaux represented in the festival’s beverage offerings
• 1 partnership with the Terravin label