Festival Report

Hi All,

We have a preliminary Budget for the fall Festival and I want to thank Eddie, our esteemed President, for pulling together the right people (Lori, and Barbara) to get that done. This preliminary budget is based on past performance and that we have been trending towards less and less attendance and a shrinking base. I need to say that this budget is a worst case scenario including on the negative side an extra $1000 cost for miscellaneous spending. which was added in to be extra conservative. It does show a predicted loss if all things remain the same.

That having been said, I can tell you we are operating in a way in which we can increase attendance ,first, by booking great entertainment and attracting, not only our base membership attendees with the great Christine Lavin, who also has a broad fan base of her own, with Gathering Time, who is building up quite a following, we also have the eminent Acoustic Jazz and New-Grass Star, John Carlini, who can bring us a new fan base of his own, which is also quite large. Now I know the argument that Red Molly only brought in 25 new people to our festival when they attended; but with 3 great acts here, If they each only bring that many, that’s a lot and can push us over the edge of profitability. We also have Mara Levine, Who had the No.1 Folk Single, Straw Against the Chill, this past Christmas, The Laura Birdsong project, With her new CD and a large local following, and one other Beloved Folk Project Act, which I’ll let Lori Tell you about, because, after all, Lori is the woman who put this great entertainment package together, and deserves all the credit for what it will bring us in the way of success.

Our objective is to make this festival a break even or better event. Based on our strong program of entertainment and workshops, thanks to Lori, new Ideas of getting more local performers involved in more workshops and Open Mikes, thanks to Mark Schaffer, and the precise management skills of Joe Petraitis, keeping track of where we are and where we are going, and a strong publicity blitz to come, I believe, we are going to make this festival a great one.

See you all at the meeting.

Carl Croce