Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
Patrons move to the rhythms at Glory Music's Fun in the Son gospel concert 2005 on March 20 at Hope Gardens, St. Andrew. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
IT IS no secret that the scale of sponsorship between gospel and secular shows is unevenly balanced. However, while the initial stages might prove tedious, gospel promoters are aware that, as in any other business, dues have to be paid before support is secured.
Recently held gospel events have had massive turnouts and positive results, such as the Michael W. Smith concert held earlier this year at Cinema 2 in New Kingston.
Tommy Cowan of Glory Music believes that promoters need to first pay their dues and then the reputation that they build will do the rest.
"I believe that the sponsorship that one gets, it all depends on what you are doing. A lot of people complain about not getting sponsorship, but reputation precedes you. So when it comes on to sponsorship, one has to actually pay their dues in this business, because everyone likes to back success. They (the sponsors) have to be confident in who they are putting their names behind, so for example if a promoter has a reputation for not starting events on time, then they are going to have a problem," Cowan said.
Danny Browne of Mainstreet Gospel says it is quite clear that there are more companies sponsoring secular events than gospel ones, but that is because of the nature of gospel events. Therefore, gospel promoters have to come with good proposals and execute their events properly.
"With sponsorship, it's with the proposal that you write that might determine whether or not a lot of the Christian events find it hard to get sponsorship. With secular shows, because there are much more products that would support that kind of event, with the Christian event we are limited, because when compared to the secular promoter who would take any and everything to back their events, we tend to be choosy," Browne explained.
According to Browne, promoters in Christendom need to be prepared to present a first class product, so that at the end of the day sponsors will wish to want to participate in future promotions.
Browne said that gospel promoters need to ensure they make an event out of a concert, so instead of just having a concert featuring specific artistes they have to have something that has a lasting impact.
"You have to make a concert into an event that will have long-term effects on the patrons and sponsors. So, in a sense, the benefit must be national in terms of the message and for the sponsors they want to see numbers (turnout), advertising must be major and banners must be very visible," he said.
Cowan, in citing examples such as his annual 'Fun In The Son' festival and latest project 'It Soon Be Done', which will feature Candi Staton and others, said sponsors have been giving him support over the years because of the reputation that he has built.
"We understand that there are more companies that sponsor secular shows and there are certain companies that cannot put their name behind a gospel event, so there are just so many limitations. But for instance with 'Fun In The Son', we have always had our regular sponsors, which include The Jamaica Tourist Board and Jamaica Broilers, who have always gone out on a limb to support gospel events. They all knew me from before, so they were always working along with me," Cowan said.
For 'It Soon Be Done', where Glory Music has sought to partner with Michael Barnett and his MKB Promotions, Barnett says being a first-time promoter of a gospel event he has not found it tremendously difficult to garner sponsorship. In fact, the support has been quite good.
"This is the first event that we have been doing in this arena and the sponsorship support that we have been getting is overwhelming, not necessarily cash, but more kind and barter," he said.
However, not all promoters of gospel events have found sponsorships readily accessible. Sam Wisdom, founder and head of the 'Back to Basic' outreach mission, had complained that appeals for sponsorship for the last staging had apparently fallen on deaf ears.
With or without sponsorship, though, Wisdom vows to carry on God's work.
"The Lord gave me a commission to do it and I can't give any excuses. The first four years we had no sponsorship, but the 'Back to Basics' concert was held," Wisdom said in a previous interview with The Gleaner.
