7 Weeks Out. Meet Dean.

Hi Dean, Introduce yourself please.
Hi, I’m Dean, I look after Festival sponsorship. It’s my job to get sponsors on board, to support it and help make it the amazing Festival it is.

This isn't Dean. It's TIM FINN:

Here's Dean:

This is the first St Kilda Festival you’ve worked on isn’t it.
Yes, my first working in the Festival team, but actually my fifth - I used to work on it for one the sponsors.

Interesting seeing it from the other side?
Yes, very different. At the start it was weird - the same job, different desk. Now I’m all settled in and loving it.




You’ve got a fridge full of paddle pops near your desk. What are they for?
They’ve been supplied by one of our great partners.

Can I have one?
You’ve already had 3. Don't you think that's enough for one day?

I’m collecting sticks to win a super soaker… for all of us.

Sponsorship is important to the Festival, right?
Yes very important. Our partners keep it going. Without them the Festival wouldn’t be able to continue.

That doesn’t bear thinking about.

Why would you sponsor St Kilda Festival?
So many reasons… The simple answer:

Firstly – to support live Australian music...

…to keep a Melbourne tradition going...

...to engage with a massive and diverse audience. There’s 400,000 people of all ages in St Kilda on Festival Sunday, that’s equivalent to three AFL Grand Finals and a Melbourne cup – all in one place on one day. All there to experience the music, soak up the atmosphere and generally have fun.

As well as our long term supporters, we’ve got a lot of new sponsors for 2011…

Channel Ten…

Oooo Ten, as in, Neighbours??
Yes, that Ten

So Dr Karl’s band will be headlining the Main Stage?
No

Harold Bishop on his euphonium?
No

... Our sponsors are planning some great activities for everyone to get involved in.

Oh, something really exciting…

The bands on the Nova New Music Stage will, as always be competing for the Audience Award, as voted by Festival attendees (@ stkildafestival.com.au ). This year the winner will not only win $5,000 CASH and open the Main Stage in 2012, but they’ll also receive a one day recording session at Hothouse Audio in St Kilda.

Wow! That’s great.

Can’t tell you much more at the moment, but there’s a lot of supercool new things in the pipeline.

So, what will you be doing on Festival Sunday?
I’ll be running round, checking in on all our sponsors, making sure they’re all happy and that their activities are running well. I’ll be hosting others and showing them around the site. I’m really looking forward to it.

So am I

What are you doing for your holidays?
Spending time with my family, resting up before we come back the first week of January for crazy busy Festival lead up time.

Will Santa be coming to you?
I hope so.

Have you been good? Or will you get rotten potatoes in your Santa sack?
I hope not. I always leave him a ham and cheese sandwich…

Dean, it’s been a delight speaking with you this afternoon. You have an amazingly restful holiday.
(The paddle pops fridge may be bare when you return. Thanks in advance).

From all of us in the Festival team - HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!

9 Weeks Out. Meet Adele.

9 weeks to go…

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, this blog post is the best yet. We meet Adele and talk FESTIVAL SUNDAY BANDS!

Extraciting!

Hi Adele, introduce yourself please.

I’m Adele, the Festival Producer. I’m in charge of bringing all the different bits of the Festival together to make a program. I also manage the magnificent Festival team.

Aha - check that: “magnificent”. Nice one.

How many St Kilda Festivals have you worked on?

Six so far. Four as producer and the first two I was the Festival Administrator.

How many St Kilda Festivals have you been to?

I grew up in St Kilda and over the 30 years it’s been running, have been to every one – except perhaps the first one when I was 2. My parents can’t remember if they took me or not.

And when you went, did you ever imagine you’d be producing it?

No I never imagined that I would be. Actually I don’t think I ever really thought about who or how it was produced. I thought it just happened.

So, when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A rock star.

I still might be on one day.

Yes, it’d be so good being a rock star.

Ok ok – the information we’ve all been waiting for…. who’s playing on Festival Sunday?

……The amazing TIM FINN!

The wonderful KIMBRA. 

One of my idols, PARIS WELLS.

The exciting HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY…

We still have lots of secrets up our sleeves.

I’m really looking forward to Tim Finn, singing songs I’ve sung all my life – there’s nothing better than a St Kilda Festival sing-a-long.

Correct – better than spending 6 months in a leaky boat I imagine.

What other secrets can you let us in on?

I’ve been working with a huge number of activity and community groups, putting together a huge range of things (aside from music) for people to see & do around the site.

Highlights?

So many…

Yalukit Willam Ngargee on the 5^th Feb which has a super strong line up plus a sunset ceremony I’ve been hearing about for months and can’t wait to see.

Live N Local’s getting better and better every year. This year there’ll be over 90 bands performing during the week.

There’ll be a free screening of muranduk – a film about the Black Arm Band’s global tour in O’Donnell Gardens on Fri 11 Feb.

The Hare Krishnas will be reintroducing the Ratha Yatra Parade to Melbourne for the first time since the 70’s.

We’re bringing Skimboarding to St Kilda beach – it’s like a cross between snowboarding and skateboarding, in shallow water.

Keep checking our website as we release more programming information…

Oh, for the first time on Festival Sunday – we have a DanceZone featuring everything from Zumba to cha cha, hip hop and swing.

Ooo will you be there dancing?

I’d love to be, but will be too busy for much dancing.

What do you do on Festival Sunday?

I have to be in about 45 places at once.  I try to see every band playing and check in on each activity I’ve worked with programming. I need to spend time with our VIPs – showing them round and making sure they’re all enjoying themselves. I also do interviews – like this one.

This interview is much more important though.

And I talk a lot on radio, make sure there are no problems I may have to deal with, which there never are.

Do you get nervous before the Festival?

For about the first 30 seconds when I wake up on Festival Sunday. Not before, not after. It’s excited/nervous.

And I know that at the end of the day I’ll get to stand and watch the crowds leaving,  everyone’s had fun and we’ve pulled it off another year.

Ahhh yay! Can’t wait.

Goodbye Adele. Happy Friday!

10 Weeks Out. Meet Dave.

You may have noticed that we missed a posting of the most interesting blog in the world last week. Apologies, I hope you all coped without your weekly instalment.

We’ve been busy finalising all the programming - making a music festival and now have a full house of St Kilda Festival team members.

Here we all are in our weekly update meeting:

As well as making a festival, some of us have also been busy in the kitchen. You’ll be interested to know, the results of the great gingerbread bakeoff: it was a close competition, but plate 3 won.

Back to the Festival..

This week, we meet Dave.

Hi Dave – introduce yourself please

Hi my name’s Dave Wilko… I’m the Festival Operations Manager. Working under the direction of the Production Manager, I manage all the operational aspects of the Festival and am responsible for engaging all the temporary staff – stage managers, site managers, logistics crew… and other site staff.

Aha, so, what are you doing at the moment?

Well, there’s about 60 temporary staff that come on board, the first starting from about 4 weeks out. At the moment we in the production team are recruiting for these positions, we’re also updating the task lists so they all know exactly what they need to do when they start.

And what else?

I’m updating policies… like the hire vehicle policy.

Golf buggies?

Yes, buggies and others – utes etc, every vehicle we use on site. Basically to make sure staff know how to drive them safely.

I’m also updating the Emergency Management and Transport Management Plans.

Yes?

The Emergency Management Plan details the Festival’s response to any incident on site or those that may affect the Festival. It’s endorsed by our Emergency Management Committee - made up of representatives from all the emergency organisations in Melbourne – Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade, St John, Festival Security, Council…

And the Transport Management Plan?

This document is large like the Emergency Management Plan. It details all the road closures and changes for Festival Sunday... and all the transport options on how to get to the Festival. With over 300,000 people coming to the Festival, the best option is to get public transport. Leave the car at home!

Right

The plan is endorsed by our Transport Management committee with representatives from the trams, buses, taxis , Department of Transport, Vic Roads, CoPP Traffic, Festival Security, traffic security …

And as well as that, what else are you up to?

I’ve started speaking with all the people who are running special events on Festival Sunday, like the biketrails demonstrations, beach volleyball, football and others. This year there’s about 25. I sort out their production requirements, order PAs, sound systems, lighting...

We also help them getting their documentation like risk assessments together.

And on Festival Sunday - what do you do?

I don’t see much of the actual Festival – only through CCTV camera screens. I spend most of the day on the radios, monitoring what’s going on around the site through 6 channels and respond to requests…

Clever – 6 channels? Many conversations, and many requests, yes?

Yes.

What kinds of requests?

.. someone might be late on stage..  performers need to be transported from the car park to one of the stages.. “can we get more water” “we need more sunscreen”  “there’s cars parked in the Dance Zone” …. those kind of things…

What time do you start?

About 4.30am when signage crew start installing the final signage and so we can organise the road closures which start happening from 5am.

And finish?

I work through til about 2am when the roads are all open again, the site’s cleaned and St Kilda’s back to being the way it is all the other 364 days of the year.

That’s a long day on the radios

Yes it is.

And by the end you finish every sentence with “over”

Yes I do …. Over!

Roger that.

Well Dave it’s been a blast speaking with you this afternoon. I’ll let you get back to your policy updating and staff recruitment.

Over. And. Out.