Serena Ryder at the Regina Folk Festival (Photo by Daryl Uhrin)
Though it also programs a year-round concert series, the Regina Folk Festival is best known for its summer event, which showcases top Canadian and international talent and draws a crowd of around 45,000 people. Celebrating its 46th year in Victoria Park in downtown Regina next August, past festival alumni include Feist, Iron & Wine, and K.D. Lang. With free daytime programming and a ticketed main stage, there are opportunities for everyone to enjoy the festival's wide variety of acts, which will include one lucky Sonicbids artist in 2015.
Sandra Butel, the artistic director of Regina Folk Festival, gave us the scoop on the generous compensation, the opportunity to meet artists from all over the globe, and why her definition of "folk" includes everything from hip-hop to electronica.
How did you get involved with the Regina Folk Festival?
I first got involved with the Regina Folk Festival as a patron back in the mid-1990s. My parents used to come all the time, and I loved being part of the free daytime programming and got so excited about hearing artists tell their stories. One of my friend’s girlfriends was running the festival, and I decided that if she could do it, I could, too. When the "paid volunteer" position came up in 1999, I jumped at the chance and put in my application. I was pretty surprised when I got the job, but since it paid $4,500 a year, I soon figured out that it was more of a volunteer than a paid gig.
Things have changed a bit since then, but being a part of the more grassroots RFF has certainly had a positive impact on how I see the festival. I still enjoy the free daytime parts of the festival and seeing artists mixing it up together on workshop stages. The main stage show has grown so much since I started, and we've gotten to the point where we're one of the biggest shows in town – and we're pretty proud of the quality of the artists and the production on our main stage as well. The festival is offering so much for the ticket price.
Things have changed a bit since then, but being a part of the more grassroots RFF has certainly had a positive impact on how I see the festival. I still enjoy the free daytime parts of the festival and seeing artists mixing it up together on workshop stages. The main stage show has grown so much since I started, and we've gotten to the point where we're one of the biggest shows in town – and we're pretty proud of the quality of the artists and the production on our main stage as well. The festival is offering so much for the ticket price.
The RFF places importance on maintaining free daytime festival programming. How is this made possible?
Free daytime is offered partly due to funding support from all levels of government, the generosity of sponsors who help to pay for the costs, and to our volunteers who help us run it all with relatively low HR costs. It's so important to our organization to keep the free part alive, and we look to our main stage audience to help us to subsidize this experience not only for themselves but also for audience members who cannot afford the ticket price to get inside the main stage area.
Some pretty big acts have played RFF over the years such as K.D. Lang, Feist, Iron & Wine, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. Who have been your favorite performers over the years?
My favorite performers have always been those ones that are a big discovery for the audience. As an artistic director, I consider many things when booking the festival, but the most important factor is how the performer impacts the audience. I want the audience to feel good, and my goal is presenting things that, while sometimes surprising, allow us all to celebrate music and culture together. My greatest pleasure in booking the festival is in seeing the smiling faces as the audience discovers the lesser-known artists. This said, we need headliners to draw the audience and build the buzz, and I've been pretty stoked with the quality of the headliners we've been able to book over the years. This is largely due to relationship-building with agents and other festivals, especially our partners at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival who have helped us out enormously. It was such a coup to have K.D. Lang as part of our festival lineup – I certainly did not expect that when I started in 1999.
Other than big acts, what type of artists usually play at RFF?
We're dedicated to presenting a wide variety of artists from all over the world focusing on diverse types of music. Our focus is local, national, and international artists who are professional leaders in their genre. We strive to encourage the development of local talent by pairing Saskatchewan artists with artists from all over the world in workshops.
How does the Regina Folk Festival define folk music?
Oh, the eternal question of what is folk. Folk, to me, is people's music, and that can cover pretty much anything that the artistic director decides that it'll be. There are parameters of keeping an eye on where we come from, but also looking towards where we're going and where the audience is developing in terms of its tastes. Western Canadian folk festivals are pretty broad in their definitions of what constitutes folk, and for the RFF, it's no different.
We've decided to keep the word folk in our title to honor the long history of folk festivals in Canada and to continue to uphold the nonprofit, community-based values that are such an integral part of the folk festival model. This means having lots of volunteers involved at every level of our development, and it means continuing to present workshops which have been part of the Canadian folk festival tradition since the beginning. In the name of folk, I've booked everything from hip-hop to electronica, to world and singer-songwriter to country – a super wide variety of music that reflects the history and tradition of the greater society within which we live and work.
We've decided to keep the word folk in our title to honor the long history of folk festivals in Canada and to continue to uphold the nonprofit, community-based values that are such an integral part of the folk festival model. This means having lots of volunteers involved at every level of our development, and it means continuing to present workshops which have been part of the Canadian folk festival tradition since the beginning. In the name of folk, I've booked everything from hip-hop to electronica, to world and singer-songwriter to country – a super wide variety of music that reflects the history and tradition of the greater society within which we live and work.
You're looking for one artist to play next year's RFF. What would make this artist stand out among the rest?
Why should Sonicbids artists apply to play RFF?
We pay well, we focus much attention on providing a great stage and sound experience for artists, we share great hospitality with our artists, they get to share the stage with more developed artists from all over the world, and they gain access to a brand new audience in a market that has proven very hard to break into on their own. There are so many success stories of artists who have played our festival, and the reviews we receive are second-to-none. The benefits of applying via Sonicbids is that you're guaranteed that I'll listen to your music.
Any advice for artists considering applying?
Do your research. Check out our website and look into the archives for the types of artists I've been booking over the last 16 years. If your music fits the genres and caliber of artists that you see represented there, then you have as good a chance as any other artist of getting a spot. Ensure that you're ready for the opportunity, as the competition is fierce and you don't want to apply before you're ready. There's so much great music out there, and I look forward to listening to it all.
Apply to play the Regina Folk Festival by March 31, 2015.
