–Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, January 12, 2012

9th Annual Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival Announces Line-Up

By Catherine Krantz

9th Annual Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival, March 5 – 11, 2012, in beautiful Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

A week of guitar music in paradise, Zihuatanejo’s popular music festival that has been gathering enthusiastic fans among artists and audiences alike for eight years, comes back in 2012 with more great music for a good cause.  The non-profit festival has become known for showcasing world class music in intimate venues in a lovely seaside location. The internationally acclaimed musicians come to beautiful Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, from all across the globe.  This year, as usual, some very exciting musicians will be coming: blues, classical, flamenco, rock, rockabilly, Gypsy jazz and swing guitarists from Brazil, Turkey, Mexico and across the US and Canada.  They will be performing for a week of concerts and live shows in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo.

A great vacation destination for the entire family, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo has two championship golf courses, is ranked second in the world for sailfishing, and has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.  There are a wide array of accommodations from budget to five star, and culinary delights from traditional and authentic Mexican to inspired international fare that is second to none.  Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo is a wonderful beach destination and there is no more perfect time to visit than when the streets are full of music.  Event cover charges are from $100 – 250 pesos ($8-20 USD) per person, events are in Ixtapa, and Zihuatanejo, in the center of town and on the beach, nightly from March 5 – 11, 2012.

The ZIGF is a non-profit community sponsored festival, all organizers are volunteers and the musicians perform for free. A percentage of proceeds each year go to support local arts and culture projects in the community.

Tickets available at the door of each event.

More information can be found at www.zihuafest.info or on www.facebook.com/zguitarfest

or email info@zihuafest.info .

Visit the You Tube Channel to see Videos of 2012 Selected Artists and Past Festival Performances: www.youtube.com/zguitarfest

For more information about Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo see www.visitiz.com

click here to see the 2012 Artists

ZIGF is very proud to announce that ZIGF 2012 will be the recipient of an Arts and Culture grant from the Mexican federal government, increasing our budget and insuring we can continue.

The money was requested to help improve the quality of the production of the festival, its infrastructure, and to bring in international artists from further away.   After 9 years of struggling with a tiny budget, getting this grant from CONACULTA is an honor and a real milestone for us!  Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our success over the years!  We will be sending out Press Releases and announcing 2012 artists very soon.

Thank you Mexico for supporting the arts in your communities!

ZIGF Artist Submissions for 2012 close December 1.  2012 artists will be announced in December.

We are still looking for air miles, if you have any you would like to donate, please let us know Info@zihuafest.info.  Airfare is by far our largest expense each year,  we bring artists in from all across the globe on airlines such as Continental airlines, Alaska airlines, Aeromexico, Air Canada, West Jet, US airways, among others, talk to us soon if you’d like to donate your miles, we buy airline tickets in early January.

Be a Sponsor!

Sponsors are still needed and deadlines are fast approaching.  ZIGF is a community funded festival supported by a handful of small business owners in Zihuatanejo.  We receive little or no financial support from local, state, or federal authorities and rely on cover charges collected and the out pouring of generosity from within our small community to continue each year.

One of the easiest ways to promote your business in ZIhuatanejo is by being a ZIGF sponsor.  We have advertising packages from as low as $2,500 pesos a year, and that puts your logo on all of our promotional materials: T-shirts, Posters, Programs, and website.

If you are interested in being an advertising sponsor, go to the advertising section of our website http://zihuafest.adip.info/?page_id=32, and click where it says:

For information on Advertising packages, click here.

This will open the advertising contract in a WORD document.  Download it, fill it out, and submit it to info@zihuafest.info.

**Deadlines have been moved up this year ! Deadlines for materials (your logo in a jpg file, in 300 dpi) and payments (USD or pesos in check, cash, or transfer –contact us for payment details) are December 15.**

We also have a variety of more personalized options to promote your business with sponsor packages ranging from 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000+ pesos.  Or we can devise a package to suit your needs.  Talk to us about ways to promote your business to Zihuatanejo’s local community of 100,000+ residents, the 300,000+ international tourists who visit here annually, and 1,000 – 2,000 annual ZIGF attendees.

Felling really generous, Sponsor an Artist!

Each year we receive submissions from talented artists across the globe that we cannot afford to invite because of the cost of the airfare to bring them to Zhuatanejo.  Our very small budget usually limits us to focusing on artists from North America, if you’d  like to help us change that, consider sponsoring an artist!

ZIGF 2012 has received submissions from artists as close as Mexico City and as far away as Australia, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and more.  If you like to sponsor an artist’s airfare, prices usually start around 700-1000 USD for North America, 1000 -1500 USD for Europe, and 1500+ USD, for further away.

Don’t have a business to promote (and don’t have a thousand or dollars to give), but want to support music, culture, and Zihuatanejo!  Be a ZIGF Donor, we happily accept any amount of pesos or dollars, via check, cash, bank deposit, wire transfer or Paypal, and can give you a receipt from our Mexican Registered non-profit association.  Contact us or go to our website www.zihuafest.info  for more information.

Have more time than money? Volunteer!

ZIGF is completely run by volunteers, even the artists donate their time.   If you are in Zihuatanejo during high season and would like to volunteer, contact us, we always need help hanging posters, passing out flyers, running errands, or a variety of other administrative tasks.  We especially need volunteers with excellent computer skills, and business and accounting backgrounds.  If you are community minded, love music and Zihuatanejo, we would love to put you to work.

ZIGF is a volunteer-run, community funded event, the organizers are volunteers and the artists donate their time.  Now in its ninth year, ZIGF continues to bring a high quality international music festival to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo — as high a quality as resources and enthusiasm allow, and always needs your help.    Help us spread the word, and we hope to see you in March for a week of live music in paradise!

To keep up with ZIGF news, go to our ZIGF Facebook page, www.facebook.com/zguitarfest, go to our website www.zihuafest.info to sign up for our newsletter

Zihuatanejo Bay, Photo by Gordon Krantz

The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival is a non-profit festival governed by ZI-Guitarfest A.C., a Mexican registered non-profit association, whose function is to generate tourism in beautiful Zihuatanejo, Mexico, raise cultural awareness within the community and raise money for art and cultural endeavors in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival is a guitar festival for GUITARISTS ONLY. Submissions by musicians other than guitarists will not be considered.

Therefore, full bands, even if they have 1 or more guitarists, and/or singers, or other artists who wish to accompany a guitarist but that do not play guitar themselves, will not be considered.

Invited artists are solo, duo, or trio guitarists specializing in any genre – flamenco, classical, blues, folk, jazz, rock, … from all across the globe.

For more information about submissions, see our MUSICIANS page

To everyone who participated or attended, thanks for helping us make 2011 another great year for the Zihuatanejo International Guitar festival!

The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival held its 8^th annual event March 8 – 13, 2011, in beautiful Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, delighting international visitors with a week of live music in paradise.

As in year’s past, invited international artists came from across Mexico, the United States and Canada, and this year we were very pleased to host a duo from South Africa.  ZIGF 2011 hosted a total of sixteen critically acclaimed international artists, all of whom donated their time and talent in exchange for airfare, room and board, and a chance to have a music filled vacation on the beautiful pacific coast of Mexico.  The genres represented were blues, pop, rock, classical, flamenco, jazz, Latin and more.  ZIGF 2011 had over 2000 attendees to festival events during the week at four concerts, one gala dinner show, six bar shows and two free to the public events, one of which was a children’s concert for the school children of Zihuatanejo.   Offering packed house audiences of visiting tourists and Zihuatanejo locals a chance to hear world class music in intimate bar and concert venues, and in beautiful beach front settings.

The Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival is a non-profit festival held every year the second week of March in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, a percentage of proceeds go towards supporting art & culture projects in the community.  Our mission is to promote tourism to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, create a world class music event and raise funds to support community projects.  Our primary function is creating a tourism generating event to bring world class music and appreciative audiences to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, and our resources are small, but 25% of proceeds each year are set aside to support community projects.  In year’s past we have purchased text books, furniture and musical instruments, in support of a local music school and Zihuatanejo’s cultural community center, La Casa de la Cultura de Zihuatanejo, which offers free classes to citizens in art, music, dance, theater and more.  25% of proceeds from ZIGF 2011 will go towards paying the salary of a music teacher at La Casa de la Cultura for their guitar workshop, and purchasing a printer and computer equipment for their offices.  The Casa de la Cultura hopes to be in a new building by mid-summer where music classes and performances can be held, the Casa de la Cultura is partially city-funded and has been trying to get a bigger space for many years from the city, they have now received word they will be able to move to a new location in downtown Zihuatanejo this summer.   We hope to have photos and updates when that occurs.

By all accounts the 8^th annual Zihuatanejo International Guitar festival was another success, pleasing local business owners by filing restaurants and hotels despite Mexico’s slow tourism season this year, delighting audiences with incredible music and offering visiting artists an unforgettable vacation.

Work is already underway on the 2012 festival:  artists’ submissions open September 1 and close December 1, patrons and sponsors are actively being sought for 2012, and a Frequent Flyer mile donation project is underway.  Airfare is by far our largest expense each year, if you have frequent flyer miles you would like to donate, please get in touch with us at info@zihuafest.info

To stay abreast of Guitar Fest goings-on, go to our website to join our mailing list www.zihuafest.info or keep up with us online via our Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/ZGuitarFest

On behalf of the organizing committee of the Zihuatanejo International Guitar festival (Rafael Arias, Jose Luis Cobo, Linda Fox, Frank Aiello, Eloisa Rodriguez and Catherine Krantz), thanks to everyone for your continued support,

Catherine Krantz, President Zi Guitar Fest AC