SAN­DRA L BLOOD

For over two decades, Jazz Artists on the Greens has been a big part of T&T’s live mu­sic cal­en­dar. But come 2026, that rhythm will pause. Pro­duc­tion One Lim­it­ed (POL) has an­nounced the can­cel­la­tion of the beloved sig­na­ture event, sig­nalling a ma­jor re­cal­i­bra­tion of how the com­pa­ny nav­i­gates the lo­cal en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try.

In a re­lease is­sued on No­vem­ber 13 and shared by co-pro­duc­er Rolph Doyle, the com­pa­ny cit­ed the un­cer­tain post-pan­dem­ic eco­nom­ic cli­mate and State poli­cies af­fect­ing the en­ter­tain­ment sec­tor, which have im­pact­ed pri­vate-sec­tor spon­sor­ships be­yond the Car­ni­val sea­son.

POL al­so not­ed min­i­mal up­take of tax in­cen­tives for spon­sor­ships. It said the re­cent na­tion­al bud­get state­ment high­light­ed ac­tions to “al­low greater con­trol over NL­CB spon­sor­ships and al­low bet­ter fi­nan­cial man­age­ment of the Sport and Cul­ture Fund,” re­veal­ing pub­lic-sec­tor fund­ing short­falls and mea­sures to cor­rect deficits.

“Mov­ing for­ward, POL is re-align­ing its ser­vices and prod­ucts to the new re­al­i­ty,” the state­ment said. Af­ter 22 edi­tions of its flag­ship event—20 in Trinidad and two in To­ba­go—the com­pa­ny is re­brand­ing and re­assess­ing its busi­ness mod­el. Con­se­quent­ly, there will be no Jazz Artists on the Greens in 2026.

“Record­ed con­tent from pre­vi­ous pro­duc­tions will be col­lat­ed for ad­di­tion­al com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion, pend­ing ne­go­ti­a­tions with rights hold­ers.

“The mem­o­ries will not dis­ap­pear,” the com­pa­ny as­sured, not­ing that their web­sites and dig­i­tal plat­forms will con­tin­ue to host per­for­mances, mem­o­ra­bil­ia, and brand­ed mer­chan­dise that cel­e­brate the best of their jazz artistes.

“Our mis­sion re­mains the same: to es­tab­lish a com­mer­cial­ly prof­itable pro­duc­tion en­ti­ty that pro­vides op­por­tu­ni­ties for lo­cal and Caribbean artists to show­case their craft, while ac­tive­ly con­tribut­ing to the growth and resur­gence of jazz and oth­er gen­res in Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Over the years, POL has in­tro­duced lo­cal au­di­ences to artistes from across the Caribbean and the di­as­po­ra, har­nessed the tech­ni­cal ex­per­tise of an­cil­lary ser­vice providers, and part­nered with pub­lic and pri­vate fund­ing sources to en­hance mu­sic per­for­mances in the is­lands while de­liv­er­ing re­turns on in­vest­ment.

It has con­sis­tent­ly pro­duced events that con­nect au­di­ences with the unique mu­sic of the Caribbean, in­clud­ing Jazz Artists on the Greens, Song­birds ... Live!, One Night Stand, and the Meet the Artists Live Con­cert Se­ries.

“As the cre­ative in­dus­tries sec­tor evolves in Trinidad and To­ba­go, so does POL,” the state­ment read.

The com­pa­ny added that its oth­er brands would re­main a fo­cus in the short term for per­for­mance op­por­tu­ni­ties, with the re­cal­i­bra­tion of the lo­cal and Caribbean jazz ecosys­tem re­main­ing a pri­or­i­ty.

“We con­tin­ue to forge new av­enues for show­cas­ing the pro­fes­sion­al tal­ent of our is­lands’ singers and mu­si­cians.”

POL ex­tend­ed its thanks to every­one—cor­po­rate part­ners and pa­trons alike—for sup­port­ing the event and con­tribut­ing to the suc­cess of what has been the coun­try’s largest ded­i­cat­ed Caribbean jazz fes­ti­val.