Sumfest not hurting from going all-J'can

This year will mark the third since Reggae Sumfest's organisers decided to pull the plug on International Night at the annual festival. When the news was first announced, many were sceptical, with some going as far as to say the decision would impact the show on an economic level. But with the show continuing to pull record numbers of visitors to the island, CEO of Sumfest, Joe Bogdanovich says not having international night has not put a dent in the festival's earnings.

He was speaking at the 2018 festival's Kingston launch, held on Wednesday evening at Usain Bolt's Tracks & Records, Constant Spring Road.

"I'd have to say, with the fans that we are seeing internationally, with the live stream, we have record numbers that compete with the biggest festivals in the world, and that, for me, is more important than how much money we make. We in Jamaica look good, and we are international," he said "We have something that people love all over the world, and when it comes from the rock, it's different from when it comes from some European country or California. We are pushing the envelope with this festival, and I think we've done that pretty well, and we're satisfied with what we're doing. So when you ask, 'Does it hurt your pocket book?' production costs a lot. But this is our third year with Sumfest, and I think it will be even bigger and we'll be in the black. So that's pretty good. I think the future looks bright."

Just as good

Bogdanovich says since his team decided to pull the plug on International Night, the Jamaican audience has begun to see that home-grown talents are just as good - or even better - than their foreign counterparts. "I know that we do great entertainment, great production. The artistes are great. This year, we have Beres Hammond, Maxi Priest and Junior Gong. It doesn't get more international than that," he said. "These acts here cost a lot of money, too, you know, so don't think that they're cheaper or anything."

Reshima Kelly, assistant brand manager for Red Stripe, explained that her company bought into Bogdanovich's 'Our Music, Our Festival' theme from the get-go. "Red Stripe continues to support Sumfest because it continues to support music, which is synonymous with our brand. It's also important to us because they support local talent, and, as a local brand that's growing globally, Sumfest is also growing, and we've been with them since the inception and will continue to grow with them," she said.

"For me, I've always thought that we had very good home-grown talent and we can do a very good show. These same local artistes go overseas and give international performances, so I don't see why we can't have that at home. We were never worried that having local acts only would negatively impact the festival. If you were at Sumfest for 2017, Catherine Hall was packed to capacity, and numbers are expected to be bigger this year, so I don't know what they're going to do next year to accommodate everyone. I can tell you that people are coming out, and they're coming out to see their very own," Kelly said.