by Harold McMillan

Welcome to the Clarksville-West End Jazz and Arts Festival issue of Austin Downtown Arts Magazine.

It's June in Austin. This is the month when all of us really pay attention to the happenings in the Austin jazz community: June is Jazz in Austin! And for us here at DiverseArts, June means its the time for the annual Clarksville-West End Jazz and Arts Festival. This year marks our eighth year of bringing the jazz community together to celebrate the music, the neighborhood of Clarksville, and the good things about being in Austin in the spring/summertime.

In the past, the Festival published a separate program book to document the year's activities. Since we now publish our own little magazine, this year we are doing this a little differently. The June issue of Austin Downtown Arts is also the official program guide for the Jazz Fest. We hope this doesn't confuse anyone and we hope that our advertisers will appreciate the wider distribution for this issue.

So, whether you are right now joining us in Pease Park for the Festival, or sitting at your favorite coffee shop, we hope you will find the time to involve yourself in Austin's Jazz Fest. Come listen to the music, see/buy the fine arts and crafts, eat some food and enjoy a lovely two days in the park. And when the Fest is over, please continue to read about Jazz Culture in Austin [see related sidebar], listen to the artists, and support the businesses who help make this publication -- and the Clarksville-West End Jazz and Arts Festival -- possible.

Thank you for your continued support of DiverseArts Production Group and our family of cultural programs for Austin.