The Dancing Man Festival - 2010 Community Update

Heading into its eleventh year The Dancing Man Festival is facing new challenges. Changes to the British Columbia Arts Council funding schedule means that the D.M.F. is unable to access its regularly anticipated project funding for 2010. This funding usually covers performance, advertising and staff costs.

The D.M.F. has a significant history of offering live music to Gabriolans year after year. It has changed considerably in the last few years from a 10-day shoulder season festival in April to a 5-day summer festival in July. The landscape of the festival has also changed, with many more organizations on the island offering music programming throughout the year.

In light of the current funding challenge The Dancing Man Festival Society believes it is the perfect time to take stock. Specifically this means dedicating time to strategic planning and community engagement. We see the potential to move into a stage of creative re-invention, to determine what opportunities exist within the community for becoming more sustainable (both financially & structurally) and to gather direct input regarding the direction that the community would like the festival to take in 2011. We feel strongly that if the D.M.F. is going to survive and thrive that it must work to find its niche. It must hone its vision in direct response to the dreams and desires of Gabriolans, the real keepers of the festival.

To begin, The D.M.F. will be conducting a “Dream your Music Festival” process in the community throughout the month of June. We will be meeting with individuals, groups and the greater Gabriola community to gather feedback and inspiration. There will be 3 public sessions held at The Gabriola Commons on Wed June 16th 7 - 9pm, Saturday June 19th 12pm - 2pm and Sunday June 20th 12:30pm - 2:30pm. Everyone is welcome and if you are interested in participating please contact us at dancingmanfestival@gmail.com to confirm your attendance.

If you can’t make it to a public session you can CLICK HERE to complete an online survey between June 15th - June 30th, 2010) or join us on Facebook at “The Dancing Man Festival - Dream Your Music Festival”.

All that said, we still want to celebrate in 2010 and are currently looking at grassroots solutions. Several exciting opportunities for creative expression & collaboration are being discussed and we will follow-up soon with more details. If you are interested in getting involved with the Dancing Man Festival Society please email Kelly Price at dancingmanfestival@gmail.com

Kelly Price, Artistic Director – D.M.F.