Folk festival funding in flux
Photo/David A. Rodgers
Heather McCarthy, executive director of Bangor's American Folk Festival, says debt has forced the festival to take a second look at funding models
It draws crowds by the thousands each year and has over 1,000 fans on the social networking site Facebook, but despite its popularity the American Folk Festival remains in the red following its festival this summer.
As a result, festival organizers have decided to forego plans for the 2010 festival until the debt issue can be resolved. Since 2005, the festival has accumulated roughly $130,000 in debt.
The festival's board of directors is considering various options to bring the festival into the black, including charging admission for a portion of the venue, charging to see certain acts or charging admission but offering one day free.
However, the idea of charging admission has been met with mixed responses.
"We've gotten an awful lot of feedback from some of our individual people who are fans and supporters of the festival," says Heather McCarthy, the festival's executive director.
The festival's board of directors has been in contact with its corporate sponsors. While the majority of them are against charging admission, it wouldn't impact their decision to support the festival, McCarthy says. "On the corporate side, the message that we've gotten from them is that if we do charge admission, they'll still support us," she says.
On the festival's Facebook fan page, organizers asked if attendees would consider paying $5 or $10 to enjoy the three days of multi-cultural music, food and dancing. While some answered that fencing in the large Bangor waterfront area that houses the festival in order to charge admission would be a logistical nightmare, others noted that while they might be willing to pay $5 to attend, they wouldn't give an additional donation -- thus canceling out any potential gain.
The festival has always been free to those who attend, but it costs more than $1 million to put on each year. In today's economy, raising that amount through individual donations and a handful of corporate sponsors has not been wholly successful.
During the last eight years, only once did the folk festival make enough money to cover its expenses. To cover payments for the 2008 event, organizers had to use donations coming in for the 2009 festival, McCarthy says.
Counting on some pledges that still haven't come in, McCarthy says the 2009 festival brought in revenue to date of $1,033,178. That's about $2,000 shy of covering the bills that McCarthy currently has in hand for this year's festival, and she says it still doesn't tackle the existing debt.
To lose the festival wouldn't just mean one less event in the city. It also would pose a threat to local businesses that benefit from the numerous visitors to the area that spend money on food, lodging and other items. Visitors to last year's festival contributed nearly $10 million to the local economy, according to a recent report by the University of Maine's Center for Tourism Research and Outreach.
McCarthy says she has looked at other cities and towns with similar festivals to glean ideas. Many cities that have hosted the National Folk Festival, as Bangor did from 2002 to 2004, have gone on to launch festivals similar to Bangor's American Folk Festival. Some have done well carrying on the tradition while others have folded, McCarthy says.
"What we've been able to determine is that events that have been able to continue past the national level have changed their program by not bringing in as many [acts], to changing the duration of the event," McCarthy says.
One thing that has not been proven to bring long-term success is charging for admission, she says. "At this point, every option is on the table and even the admission [idea] isn't really A or B."
But the board is keeping its options open. "Really, our board is not saying no to anything," McCarthy says. "We want all the ideas on the table."
She hopes to have a solution before the end of the year in order to begin fund raising and planning for the 2010 event.
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