US healthcare equipment privider Carefusion announced yesterday that it is withdrawing its sponsorship from a series of jazz festivals where it has had an involvement: New York City, Newport RI, Chicago, Monterey Jazz Festival, Sydney and Paris.Howard Mandel has done a detailed job of explaining the background on his ArtsJournal blog. it's an interesting read.
Carefusion is by most standards a new company. It was a spin-off from Cardinal Health in 2009. But the comments of their spokeswoman to Howard Mandel (she was also having to explain the CEO's announcement at the same time of his retirement) serve as a reminder of how short-term slam-bam the horizons of corporate America can be:
"Our original intent was to launch the brand, and raise awareness of patient safety. We were thrilled by the results, so we renewed for another year. The way the jazz community and other folks have embraced CareFusion certainly exceeded our expectations. Now we've moved on."
Here's hoping George Wein finds a replacement...
