Montreux Jazz Festival and Vaudoise launch poster competition for the relaunch

For the competition, the festival has teamed up with its partner Vaudoise Insurance, which supports contemporary art in Switzerland through its Art Commission. Several prizes will be awarded, and 30 artists will also have the opportunity to exhibit their works at the festival.

While the "Silent Shores" competition reflected a year of historic silence in Montreux, the new theme "Restart" aims to convey a message of hope. Participants are asked to present their dreams and visions of a world that is reawakening. The Montreux Jazz Festival and Vaudoise Insurance both have a long tradition in the visual arts. Since 1967, the festival has given a Swiss or international artist complete freedom to design the official poster.

Vaudoise created its Art Commission in 1955 at the suggestion of the company's management and the renowned architect Jean Tschumi, who had designed the Cèdres headquarters in Lausanne. With this competition, the Montreux Jazz Festival and Vaudoise Insurance want to support a profession that is particularly suffering from the crisis. Therefore, the competition is reserved for professional artists, apprentices as well as students in the field of visual arts.

Expert jury selects the 30 best entries

An internal jury of the Montreux Jazz Festival and Vaudoise Insurance will select the 30 best posters, which will then be exhibited during the 55th edition of the Festival. A jury of experts will then select the 10 best designs from this pre-selection of 30 posters. Illustrator Malika Favre, who designed the 2017 festival poster, will preside over this jury. She will be assisted by Stefano Stoll, director of Festival Images Vevey, and Alexis Georgacopoulos, director of ECAL/Canton Vaud School of Art. The posters of the 10 finalists will be printed in 50 x 70 cm format and sold throughout the festival network in a limited edition of 100 copies. The respective artists will receive 20 % of the proceeds of each poster sold. The 3 best designs will also win prizes ranging from CHF 1,000 to CHF 5,000.

In addition, a public competition will be announced in which the public can choose their favorite from the 10 posters selected by the expert jury on the Montreux Jazz Festival's social media channels. This audience award is endowed with CHF 3,000. Vaudoise will also award a prize to one of the ten selected posters.

The Montreux Jazz Festival will announce the format of its 55th edition on April 8 - and will also present its detailed vision for a "new start."