Sign the Petition: Help Britt Grow Our Season
Published: June 15, 2020
Please sign our Petition
Jacksonville will be without the Britt Music and Arts Festival (Britt) for the first time in 58 years due to COVID-19. Though Jacksonville businesses and citizens crave a sense of normalcy, it is clear that we will not be able to simply return to “business as usual,” and it will take significant time to recover.
Over the past seven years, Britt has struggled with smoke, weather and now a pandemic. Britt operates under a Conditional Use Permit that allows Britt to have shows spanning from mid-June to mid-September.
The smoke, climate change and this pandemic are conditions our previous community leaders never could have foreseen. Today, we know our new norms will have long-lasting implications for our region, particularly with regard to local businesses and the quality of life for our citizens.
Because of the new reality, Britt has applied to the City of Jacksonville’s Planning Commission to amend our current CUP to allow Britt to operate mid-May through mid-October. This extension would offer significant programming opportunities and revenue creation for our entire community. The addition of two extra months could serve as unifying and stabilizing forces for our region, both culturally and economically.
In this spirit, we hope that you will support extending the time frame of the Britt Music and Arts Festival’s season by signing this petition.