The essay below is a lightly edited version of my column which appeared yesterday on the Welcome Page of the California Bluegrass Association. I'm grateful to them for giving me this monthly outlet to explore some of my ideas. As always, I look forward to your comments.
Bluegrass festivals, especially
mid-range and small ones, are facing twin challenges threatening
their continued existence. Severe weather accompanied by apparently
changing weather patterns and serious under-capitalization are making
it difficult or impossible to attract and maintain the size and
quality of audiences that would make it possible to book bands and
schedule events to assure their continuance. During the past year
we've seen an increase in the pattern of unpredictability as the
seasons appear to be in a state of transition along with the weather
patterns. This year, the entire eastern half of the U.S. has been
plagued by extreme cold accompanied by extensive rain and cold.
During the past couple of years, we've
seen dangerously hot weather and highly uncomfortable wet weather
wherever we go. These variable weather patterns suggest that removal
to appropriate indoor facilities would serve to make the event more
predictable and manageable. A large number of people who attend
bluegrass events, according to our experience, are still people who
do so by hooking up their trailer or driving their motor homes to
relatively nearby events. Nevertheless, it still appears to us, in
our travels, that the vast majority of those people are from the
state in which the event is being held. Even in Florida, where a lot
of snowbirds come to winter festivals, most license plates are from
Florida, and many people we talk to are traveling less than 100
miles. Meanwhile, though at many events music is continual from noon
until 11:00 PM, seats are largely empty during the heat of the day,
around both sides of the dinner break, and in the late evening.
Jammers, who've been up all night because the stage show never ends
must find times and places to get their jamming in while seeing and
hearing the bands they want to encounter, but thereby making the
seats look empty much of the time. Vendors at many of the festivals
we attend continue to offer unhealthy food choices at unconscionably
high prices, making it even more important to return to the camper
for any kind of balanced meal.
A second factor threatening many
bluegrass festivals lies in their being under-capitalized. The place
where under-capitalization most hurts a festival lies in making it
difficult to book anchor bands that will attract a strong and sizable
audience. At a minimum, a good lineup must feature at least two good
national bands, several other bands with recognizable national or
regional appeal, and at least a couple of local or regional bands
seeking to break into greater prominence. Showcases, band contests,
and open stage events may help in this latter category. Attracting
such talent requires promoters to be able to put out up-front money
to schedule and book top bands at least a year in advance to permit
publicity and organization to progress. It also requires sufficient
funds available to be able to reserve facilities. Unless the promoter
is lucky enough to have a stake or agreement with a venue, this is
prohibitively expensive. Meanwhile, upgrading a personally owned
facility to meet a state's safety and health requirements is also
costly. Too many events find these combinations of circumstances too
expensive and are forced to disband after a too brief time or even
after years of marginal success.
The proliferation of community cultural
centers and convention centers built to attract business and tourism
to a town or region suggest that another attractive alternative
exists. A year or two ago we drove past the Hickory
(NC) Metro Convention Center. A quick look suggested it would be
a fine venue for winter or summer bluegrass festival. A look at its
web site shows a large, flexible auditorium for big performances,
lots of smaller meeting rooms for jamming and workshops, places for
vendors, and lots of space. According to the web site, there are
three nearby campgrounds, four bed and breakfasts, and twenty or so
motels at a variety of price ranges. The list of places to eat is
sufficient to meet the tastes of almost any diner. Hickory is a small
city in the heart of the downtrodden former furniture capital seeking
revitalization. Such centers exist all over the country. Successful
indoor festivals such as Wintergrass, Joe Val, Bluegrass First Class,
and the Southern Ohio Indoor Music Festival attest to the success of
the indoor format. Why not expand it to a broader season?
Bluegrass promoters need to rethink how
they are organizing and paying for their events. Two recent trends
seem to offer good alternative solutions,and I'm certain others will
emerge as people start to re-think the future of festivals. Promoter
combines and not-for-profit tax status both offer wonderful
opportunities. Recently a group of NC festival promoters have banded
together to create a group they call Bluegrass Circle Productions.
According to Bluegrass Today the
group involves “Cory Hemilright (Outer Banks Bluegrass
Festival), Lorraine Jordan (Bluegrass Christmas In the
Smokies), John Locust (Bluegrass in Cherokee), Don Mitchell
(Blue Grass by the Rock), and Tim White (Song of the Mountains
Bluegrass Festival). At this point they represent major festivals in
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.” It is clear that such
coordinated buying power is in a strong position to bargain, provide
resources, and coordinate activities in a region. My greatest concern
lies in wondering whether they will reduce diversity and prove to be
destructive to independent festivals. This remains to be seen.
Festivals find
themselves plagued with the costs of trying to make a profit and
engaging in seeking to pay taxes while seeking to make enough money
to get to the next year. One way to reduce costs and attract sponsors
is to become chartered as a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization. Such
non profits must have a charity or cause to which they are dedicated
and are governed by a number of rules and regulations. The promoter
may be paid a salary from the receipts of the festival. The biggest
attraction of non-profit designation is that it can attract local,
regional, and national sponsors who can deduct their sponsorship
costs. Attracting sponsors can make the difference between making
money and failing as well as providing resources for booking bands
and attracting customers. This is a win-win opportunity.
We live in a
highly competitive entertainment environment with a changing
environmental situation and a need to find new markets for bluegrass
music. Considering changing to indoor format and becoming chartered
as a not-for-profit corporation represent only two of many ways to
become more relevant as we enter into a new century. The bluegrass
festival, as imagined and realized by Carlton Haney is now nearly
fifty years old. That's a long time for any form of entertainment to
continue in much the same format. It's time to re-think the bluegrass
festival in terms of content, location and structure while finding
new audiences to deliver live bluegrass music to and seeking to
maintain the current one.
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