15 Weeks Out. Meet Kristy

We run a Call for Entries process, open for the month of September; where bands, solo musicians, children’s entertainers, community groups and people with an event or activity they’d like to showcase at the Festival apply to be a part of it. We got loads of entries for each category and we’re busy going through them all… planning and beginning to program the Festival. First St Kilda Festival team member you’ll meet now is the clever Kristy…

Hi Kristy, introduce yourself please:

I’m Kristy (hi!), I coordinate and program Live N Local, a week of gigs and more; 6-12 February - showcasing the fantastic talent and venues we have in here in the City of Port Phillip. I also look after the New Music Stage on Festival Sunday which is open to self-funded artists Australia wide.

What are you doing at the moment?

At the moment I’m like a kid in a lolly shop, listening to all the music we have received through our Call for Entries. I’ve also been chatting to local venues in St Kilda, locking them into host. So yes, well and truly into planning the week which is tracking along very nicely, I’m feeling ridiculously enthused about it all actually. Entry-wise, it’s a strong year, there’s some super excellent artists around - I’ve had some of their music on permanent repeat over the weekend. My cat, Bandit, was providing some pretty positive feedback!

How many entries did you get?

Almost 300 – that includes local acts for Live N Local as well as entries for performers wanting to play the New Music Stage on Festival Sunday.

That's a lot of music. How long is it going to take you to listen to it all?

Well, say each song is 3 minutes long, each band submits 2 songs and there’s 300 bands who’ve entered… hmm (enter calculator) it’s going to take me about 30 hours, actually longer as I listen to most more than once, and I get repeat-stuck on some.

What’s your favourite colour?

Rainbow and sparkles

That’s not really a colour Kristy

Ok then, gold – because it’s shiny.

Back to the music:

It’s not only me who judges the music, we have a panel of 5 (not including me) so it’s a community inclusive process. The panel’s made up of 2 high profile local bookers plus 3 community members with strong backgrounds in music who applied and were selected to be part of it.

What have you got planned for Live N Local – can you let us in on any programming secrets yet?

There’s bits and pieces brewing and bubbling away that we haven’t seen so much at the festival in the past. We have received the broadest genre range of entries ever this year, so there’ll be some showcase gigs that are a bit outside the box. Naturally, it’s summer and it’s St Kilda so there’s lots of opportunities for afternoon and late night sessions to tantalise the masses (delicious!!).

Music Managers Forum presence has grown to include additional skills based development sessions aimed at emerging artists performing as a part of the festival however these will be open to anyone trying to grow their knowledge base.  

Of course, not new to the Festival, but a solid favourite - the Festival Sunday New Music Stage is back – where the best act on the stage as voted by the festival-going public will win $5,000 plus they’ll be opening the Main Stage in 2012. Don’t say that’s not wonderful!

So that’s Kristy, Live N Local Coordinator. We’ll come back to talk with her again a little closer to the Festival and maybe we’ll find out about the rabbit mask she has on her desk.

Hi-Welcome-Intro-Us-About

Hi,

This hopefully/defintely fascinating behind the scenes blog, with regular contributions from all St Kilda Festival staff will let you know what we’re all up to as we produce this great music festival.

Firstly, for those of you not familiar with St Kilda Festival, here's a pretty picture from the last one- February 2010:

And a bit more about it:

The St Kilda Festival is an annual event produced and presented by the City of Port Phillip. At its heart it is a free community celebration of and for one of Melbourne’s most renowned locations. Regularly attracting crowds of more than 300,000 people to its outdoor celebration, the festival is a summer landmark for Melbourne, inviting people of all ages to come together and at thirty one years old, it is one of Australia’s oldest surviving community music festivals.

St Kilda Festival is nine days long and made up of three components. The first is Yalukit Willam Ngargee, People Place Gathering (5 February 2011): an outdoor Indigenous festival featuring music, dance, children’s activities, theatre and more that welcomes people to St Kilda for the week ahead.

Live N Local (6-12 February 2011) follows, with St Kilda venues throwing their doors open to host a variety of local bands, musicians, performers, artists and comedians in a  series of one off and special events – everything you love about St Kilda and more.

And finally, the big one  Festival Sunday (13 February 2011) –where people are treated to a rich and diverse range of Australian talent, with more than 50 bands performing across the stages, plus extreme sports, dance, children’s entertainment...the list goes on and on. Set against the backdrop of St Kilda, St Kilda Festival is the only place to be on the second Sunday in February.

We'll be updating these entries regularly, so come back and see what we're up to...