APA partners with Music PEI and Culture PEI to present workshop for festival presenters

October 19, 2012 | The APA, in partnership with Music PEI and Culture PEI, is presenting a 2-day Festival Best Practice workshop in early 2013. The workshop will be held in Charlottetown, PEI, February 1st - 2nd during the Music PEI Week conference. Workshop leaders Tamara Kater and Mitch Podolak will lead participants through a number of key topics including:

The APA would like to thank the Province of Prince Edward Island for its generous support of this event.

Volunteer recruiting

Distribution of Volunteer duties

Grants and funding resources available to festivals

Grant writing workshops

Board governance and building boards of non-profit festivals (Operational vs. Governance)

Marketing strategies (Social Media, Networks, Traditional Media)

Sponsorship strategies fundraising, cultivating philanthropy/donors

Budget planning and managing cash flow

Staff: creative ways to find event staff

Emergency planning

Practises for hiring artists

Information regarding hotel accommodations and the workshop itinerary will follow via email. Lunch will be provided on Saturday. If you're interested to attend, or have questions about the workshop, please contact Jennifer Gillis (Jennifer@atlanticpresenters.ca). We look forward to seeing you in PEI!

About Tamara Kater

From 2008-2011 Tamara Kater was Executive Director of a the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Between 1999 and 2008 she was also Executive Director of Ottawa Folk Festival, founder of a booking and artist management company, Northern Roots, Education and Outreach officer at the National Arts Centre, in Ottawa, General Manager Repercussion Theatre, Montreal as well as General Manager of a multidisciplinary non-profit arts production company, Project Renaissance in Huntingdon, QC.

As E.D. of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Tamara Planned, administered, and oversaw budgets of over $4,000,000 for programs, staff, equipment, and support services, successfully arriving at forecasted financial goals. She managed financial, charitable and administrative matters; organized office systems and established accounting systems as well as researched and applied knowledge of Canadian and American regulations and requirements relating to labour standards, copyright legislation, union regulations, immigration, funding, and charitable policy.

Some of her achievements while at Winnipeg F.F. included increased operating revenues by up to 50%, advocating for new public funding, raising donation levels and augmenting earned revenue, planned, researched and implemented numerous comprehensive fundraising strategies, leading staff and volunteers to forecasted revenue goals. Tamara also led the Winnipeg Folk Festival into first phase of capital campaign, successfully raising nearly $2 million, including leadership and major gifts.

Tamara is currently the Executive Director of Folk Music Canada, a national association based in Toronto that is a member-driven organisation that supports and promotes the Canadian folk music community, and is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance, diversity and cultural value of all types of folk music in Canada.

About Mitch Podolak

Mitch Podolak is Canada’s most experienced folk festival organizer. Mitch is the founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Vancouver Folk Festival, and he was also co-founder of the Stan Rogers Folk Festival held in Canso, Nova Scotia. The Edmonton Folk Festival and the Calgary Folk Festival came into existence because of Podolak’s work with Alberta Culture. He has been named guest artistic director at Summerfolk in Owen Sound, and has worked as a consultant with both the Ottawa Folk Festival and the Northern Lights Festival Borealis, held in Sudbury Ontario. There are few people in Canada possess more firsthand knowledge and a strong track record of success when it comes to building folk festivals from the ground up. Podolak's enviable record of success is based on his belief that a non-profit festival is only as successful as it's volunteers. Giving them a sense of ownership of the festival is what creates festivals that last for generations.

Mitch considers himself a student who studies the art of folk festival construction, yet most people consider him a mentor. Podolak was described by Winnipeg Arts Council chair Moti Shojania, as "truly a folk hero". Podolak has become a major figure on the national folk and roots music scene. His experience goes well beyond festivals. He has founded venues, record companies (producing Stan Rogers' records), and works directly with artists. He is a broadcaster who has spent years working at CBC Radio hosting the national folk show, Simply Folk. In 2009, Mitch established the first national touring circuit of house concerts, Home Routes, providing hundreds of artists with work across the country. In all, Podolak is Canada’s folk Renaissance man.