NEWPORT GUITAR FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 2012-2013

            As all those involved in the guitar industry—builders, musicians, collectors and enthusiasts—are aware, there has been an explosion of shows in recent years and unlike the explosion in amazing building and music, we do not believe this has served the industry very well.

            As a result, the Newport Festival has been working on a really exciting project that will link the guitar industry in a way that it has never been served, and in a way that it can reach more people than ever before.  An announcement will be made in the next few months, detailing what we have been working on since the last show and how Newport will look.. 

The purpose of this notice, however, is to let the community know that the next time Newport will be held will be in 2013, not 2012 as would normally happen.  There are many reasons for this, which will be detailed in our next announcement, but the main reason for this is an attempt to serve the community better.  We can also tell you that the show will not be held in Florida—at least the main portion of the show will not.

While our last show at the Hard Rock  attracted approximately 10,000 people and continues to have an unusual and unexpected world-wide impact through its video links and advertising, it is clear to us that a show that happens just once every other year of this size is not something that has as much value to the guitar community as we are capable of providing with our resources.  We are capable of providing something much better, for much less expense to the exhibitors, and will be excited to describe all the details in the coming announcement.

We felt, however,  that we needed to let potential exhibitors and sponsors know that the show timing was going to change now, so they would not plan on being in Florida in April.  Everyone will learn much more about what we have developed in the coming months, so stayed tuned.  We hope that what we have put together will be well worth the wait, will be economically more sensitive to builders and will touch and involve many more musicians and collectors on a permanent basis, than a periodic three-day show—while still building on the large Florida market for music and guitars.  The economy is hard, the industry faces many problems with environmental and other issues which we are working on as well, and we think it is time for something bolder and bigger with more lasting value for the dollar than what current shows are doing.

We wish all of our friends in the industry a happy and healthy New Year, and look forward to a lot of fun and speaking with all of you in the coming months.

Henry Lowenstein

Ron Hill

Eric Garcia

And the Newport Staff and Volunteers