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Bluesfest takes over Folkfest- Ottawa News!


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Bluesfest aggressive with Folk Fest

By DENIS ARMSTRONG, OTTAWA SUN

Some folks at the ailing Ottawa Folk Festival are wondering if the cure is worse than the disease.

Bluesfest CEO Mark Monahan is making major changes to the 16-year-old festival since wiping out its $200,000 debt last November.

First, he replaced half the board with Bluesfest board members, including Connor Grimes, James Leal and Bob Provick.

Then, he merged the two offices and replaced festival general manager Ana Miura (who moves into sponsorship) with veteran Dragonboat festival administrator Mark Morrison. He then replaced artistic director Dylan Griffith after one year with a team of veteran Ottawa music programmers headed by Monahan, including Chris White, who founded the festival in 1994, and the black sheep inn’s Paul Symes.

With an all-star team of talent scouts in place, the cigar-smoking Monahan tripled the programming budget from $150,000 in 2010 to $400,000 so that they can afford higher-priced talent such as Lyle Lovett.

And to get a bigger audience, he shifted the three-day festival to the final weekend of August 26-28 to overlap with all those students heading back to four colleges and universities. And he’s moving it from Britannia Park to a more central setting. A decision on location is expected sometime in February.

“It doesn’t matter much what kind of music you present, the skills required to run a festival are the same,†Monahan says.

“The support staff does the same thing. It has to be more efficient. This has to be more institutionalized event that people will attend every year.

“The Folk Festival wasn’t getting the attention and the audience it deserves to take it to the next level,†he adds.

“The old festival was stretched to the limit and couldn’t afford to grow. It’s draining when you operate from a deficit position. So we’re giving the festival the organizational strength it needs.â€

“When we created the Folk Festival, we just wanted to throw a party and have a good time,†White says.

“My model was Mariposa. We wanted the Folk Festival to be relaxed and open. We weren’t thinking as systematically and longterm as Mark did with Bluesfest.

“The existence of Bluesfest has been a positive thing for Ottawa. It helped create a local industry and the infrastructure to make it work,†White adds.

“The only alternative was to go out of business. So I’m glad for the changes. We’re stronger when we work together.â€

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Armstrong's lead-in that some FolkFest people aren't comfortable with Monahan/Bluesfest isn't supported or followed-up-on anywhere in his article. The only folk-fest person he quotes (White) seems very positive about it, completely opposite from the supposed point of the article.

Terrible writer.

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I was a member of the OFF board last year and was heavily involved in the negotiations with Mark and BF for this merger (buy out? take-over?). I have to say that it was a torturous decision to have to make but the alternative may have been shutting the OFF doors for good. Is this the lesser of two evils then? We'll have to see.

No doubt that the increased performance budget will be great but it depends whether or not the roster maintains any links to grass-roots or traditional elements of folk or simply goes mainstream. Major concern there but with Chris White as an advisor, he'll know how to tip those scales.

Personally, my principal concern was in the streamlining of operations in order to make them more cost-effective and efficient. I am worried that the community vibe that characterizes folk festivals may be tarnished by a more business approach. Also, many activities that I had helped steer, such as Green Initiatives and social cause awareness may suffer because they are not revenue generating activities but rather typically considered part of our social responsibility as folkies.

Dylan's story is not as clear cut as the media are portraying and they are diplomatically skimming that surface. I think his comment to Lynn Saxberg of 'old news' is indicative of him not wanting to talk about it either. Without trying to fuel speculation, we'd made a decision to move onwards and upwards and I sincerely hope that it was the right one....

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Armstrong's lead-in that some FolkFest people aren't comfortable with Monahan/Bluesfest isn't supported or followed-up-on anywhere in his article. The only folk-fest person he quotes (White) seems very positive about it, completely opposite from the supposed point of the article.

Terrible writer.

Of course Chris is going to seem very positive about everything; he left the fest after the 2009 edition and now he gets to hitch his trailer to a much more stable vehicle.

You are right AD that it doesn't fit with the point of the article because Denis almost framed it as though Chris was from the Folk Fest camp when infact his new role came about via Monahan.

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I have to say that it was a torturous decision to have to make but the alternative may have been shutting the OFF doors for good. Is this the lesser of two evils then? We'll have to see.

Are you suggesting the possibility that the Bluesfest 'takeover' may be worse than shutting the festival down for good?

That's some scary shit.

Tiny note on the Green Initiatives: watch for cupsuckers at Folkfest this year.

I swear if those cupsuckers hook on worldwide the Bluesfest will be responsible for saving a hell of a lot of garbage space.

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I have to say that it was a torturous decision to have to make but the alternative may have been shutting the OFF doors for good. Is this the lesser of two evils then? We'll have to see.

Are you suggesting the possibility that the Bluesfest 'takeover' may be worse than shutting the festival down for good?

That's some scary shit.

Tiny note on the Green Initiatives: watch for cupsuckers at Folkfest this year.

I swear if those cupsuckers hook on worldwide the Bluesfest will be responsible for saving a hell of a lot of garbage space.

Folk Fest used those cup suckers last year, our patrons just don't consume as much beer for it to have been that noticeable....

Also last year thanks to the help of the Ottawa Riverkeepers and their free UV sterilized water, coupled with Folk Fests water bottle free event- over 7000 plastic bottles didn't arrive at a landfill or recycling facility (they kept a current tally based on the volume of reusable containers that were filled).

I believe this is one initiative to which Adam is referring. Another that comes to mind would be the reusable dish program. If the festival grows to the levels that it seems they want it to, I just don't see how getting enough volunteers to wash dishes is possible. They have been nearly maxed on bodies and dishes the past two years. This program applied to food vendors too! Imagine the garbage diversion if Bluesfest demanded that all of their foodies used completely reusable or recyclable utensils and dishes?

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cupsuckers were actually invented by one of the OFF previous board members Daniel Spence. They have been at the OFF for years already.... admittedly a great invention that deserves to catch on at a larger scale!

You can view a video we made of last year's Green Initiatives here: http://adamoliverbrown.com/2010/10/green-initiatives-discussions-at-the-ocff/

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I agree Heather....

And I am really happy that Mark has come out and said the the collaborative sessions will remain- which if you've never been are the highlight of the fest and is something that generally isn't listed on the advance lineup so folks have been missing out.

Ex. in 2009 at noon The Sadies and Broken Social Scene did a session together playing each others songs and covers of songs they both loved. The closing of 'Everybody Knows this is Nowhere' was something that may never be topped at a Folk Festival in my mind.

In 2010 Brother Loves Travelling Side Show as it was billed on the Saturday afternoon featured Bruce Peninsula, Hoots and Hellmouth and Arrested Development. Watching the artists you could see them feeling each other out as the session started but by the time it wrapped up all of them had meshed, were killing it and the crowd nearly tore the dance tent down to get an encore.

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Velvet, that was not me being grumpy I am honestly wondering if you work for them....

Waitaminnit, did I come off as grumbly when I asked you about working for OFF? If so my apologies, not my intention at all, it was a lead up to ask about the office location.

I (as well as dozens of local musicians) work for the Bluesfest as an educator as part of their excellent Blues In The Schools and Be In The Band programs. Sadly my involvement has nothing to do with the festival itself. They have secured me as official 'blogger' the last two years, but that is a volunteer position.

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when I asked you about working for OFF?

I wanted to ask the same thing but you beat me to it.

Now all I'm wondering is if Ottawa Folk Fest is going to be taken on as a BRAND like Bluesfest was. Seems like Folk Fest won't mean FOLK Music, and it also sounds like the identity shift had already begun a couple of years ago.

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