Magnetic North Fundraising Auction
Show your support for Canada’s national festival of contemporary Canadian theatre in English – plus get some amazing prizes!
[Source: Magnetic North press release]
Like its polar namesake, the Magnetic North Theatre Festival roves around the country, visiting a new Canadian city every second year and returning to its hosts at the National Arts Centre in between. Designed to raise the profile of contemporary English Canadian theatre at home and abroad, Magnetic North is truly one of Canada’s great artistic success stories.
Meet Private Eye Jake Doyle on set in colourful St. John’s, NL
Flight and hotel accommodations included
A return trip to beautiful St. John’s Newfoundland from anywhere in Canada, where you will visit the set of the popular Canadian television series the Republic of Doyle. Enjoy the opportunity to meet the cast and co-star Allan Hawco, Private Eye Jake Doyle, and perform as an extra on the show. Flight and hotel accommodations are included in this auction package.
Private Eye Jake Doyle returns for a raucous third season of CBC’s Republic of Doyle, solving cases, dodging punches and chasing criminals through the hilly, colourful streets of seaside St. John’s. Allan Hawco stars as the charming and irreverent detective who struggles daily to navigate the complications of running the family P.I. business while keeping his very tangly private life in check.
A Taste of Newfoundland!
A private meal for 10 with special guests and music
Enjoy an evening hosted by Peter Herrndorf, President and CEO of the National Arts Centre, and Ann Connors, Executive Director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival along with special guests. Let them entertain you and nine of your friends with authentic Maritimes cuisine, drinks and live music and see how they party on the Rock!
So much more than music
Janice Thiessen, EMC
Photo courtesy of EMC
The Ottawa Folk Festival is soon to kick off so what better time than now to spot light it’s founding sponsor the Ottawa Folklore Centre.
Many people in the community may have taken lessons from the centre or know musicians who became success stories from talents learned from within their walls, but who really knows the back-story?
Full story: So much more than music
Latest addition to Ottawa Folk Festival lineup announced
[Source: press release]
Ottawa, June 14, 2011 – Ottawa Folk Festival organizers today announced the addition of yet another world-class act to their already formidable line-up! Thurston Moore has been confirmed to appear in the picturesque setting of the festival’s FALLS STAGE on Sunday, August 28.
Although a key member of the critically acclaimed art/punk rock band Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore has also been involved in numerous side projects including the Dim Stars with Richard Hell. Aside from collaborating with artists such DJ Spooky and Nels Cline in the early-2000s, Moore wrote music reviews and other pieces for Arthur Magazine and issued a book called Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture, in 2005. His second album, Trees Outside of the Academy (2007), featured cameos by Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis (who is also performing at the festival). In 2010, Moore began laying the foundation for another solo effort, Demolished Thoughts, which appeared in 2011.
“I really feel that Thurston Moore will bring an interesting twist to the festival,” says Folk Festival supervisor, Mark Monahan. “He’s incredibly creative, and music fans will be talking about this performance for years to come.”
Hornsby, Helm among headliners at Ottawa Folk Festival
Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, Rural Alberta Advantage, Lynn Miles among strong Canadian contingent
Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Folk Festival
When & Where: August 25-28, Hog’s Back Park
Tickets: Early-bird passes, $99, June 8, others June 11, www.capitaltickets.ca, 613-599-3267
OTTAWA — American roots heavyweights Bruce Hornsby, Steve Earle, Bright Eyes and Levon Helm are among the headliners of this year’s expanded edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival, slated for Aug. 25-28 in a spacious new location at Hog’s Back Park.
“Going from where it was, there was a certain leap of faith that if I could put an interesting lineup together, we could expand the audience,” said Bluesfest director Mark Monahan, who’s been supervising the folk festival organization since Bluesfest took it over late last year and provided an infusion of cash to help the struggling folkfest pay off its deficit. Under Bluesfest’s management, the talent budget has also tripled, reaching a new peak of $500,000.
“It’s time to expand the audience so it’s not just going after one core group. We want to try to give enough for people to see their way to going for the weekend,” Monahan said, noting that early-bird passes will be on sale for $99, starting June 8. “My expectations are not for 20,000 people a day, but I’d like to think we can have several thousand a day.”
Read More on the Ottawa Citizen Website: Hornsby, Helm among headliners at Ottawa Folk Festival: Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, Rural Alberta Advantage, Lynn Miles among strong Canadian contingent
Additional day and new festival site for Ottawa Folk Festival
More music, more accessibility for Ottawa music fans
Ottawa Folk Festival organizers today announced plans to add a day to the 18th edition of the annual event. There will also be a physical move to a new festival site. This means that the 2011 Ottawa Folk Festival will become a four-day event, running from Thursday, August 25 to Sunday, August 28.
Along with an additional day of programming, the festival will be moved from its past location in Britannia Park to Hog’s Back Park. Some of the many benefits cited for the move include the central location of the site, and the fact that Hog’s Back Park offers more flexibility in terms of space, sightlines, and stage settings.
“The festival is not viable in its current location for a number of reasons, but mainly because of accessibility,” says festival supervisor Mark Monahan. “This relocation is imperative to solidify the festival’s future.”
The plan is intended to meet the needs of the festival’s existing patrons for a central location and to attract and develop new audiences by showcasing one of Ottawa’s more beautiful public parks, adjacent to the stunning Ottawa landmark known as Hog’s Back Falls.
“The additional day of programming is intended to do the same in terms of audience development through more music, more to choose from, and more inclusivity,” says Monahan, while adding that the Folk line-up will be announced on May 25, with tickets going on sale Saturday, May 28. This on-sale date for the general public will be preceded by a special pre-sale for Ottawa Folk Festival insiders. To become an ‘insider’ music fans can simply visit www.ottawafolk.com to sign up.
Bridge over troubled water: Bluesfest takes over Folkfest
Chris Cobb, The Ottawa Citizen
In what amounts to a friendly takeover, Ottawa Bluesfest has bailed out the financially troubled Ottawa Folk Festival.
The Citizen has learned that the surprise move, instigated by Ottawa Bluesfest executive and artistic director Mark Monahan, means the Folkfest will likely move from its current location at Britannia Park.
A signature aspect of the Folk Festival are workshops where musicians sit informally with each other swapping tunes and communing with audience members.
Those will stay, promises Monahan, who sees the deal as a win-win.
Full story on the Citizen website: Bridge over troubled water: Bluesfest takes over Folkfest
Festival partnership means more for Ottawa music fans
Photo courtesy of Kevin Rutkay, used under Creative Commons license
Ottawa Folk Festival (OFF) organizers today announced a plan to propel the 17-year-old music festival into the future. After long deliberations and discussions with several organizations over the past several weeks, the OFF has gratefully accepted a generous loan from Ottawa Bluesfest organizers. This will allow the OFF to pay existing creditors and keep the festival on track for August 2011, and for the foreseeable future.
“For 17 years the Ottawa Folk Festival has delivered a festival that is much-loved in the region, but which has struggled to achieve financial success,” says OFF spokesperson, Bob Ledrew. “This arrangement puts us in a position—thanks to this loan—in which we can be bold in our approach to programming and to staging the event while we move forward. It gives us the ability to do things an organization can do when it’s in good financial shape rather than tenuous shape.”
The OFF explored several options, meeting with representatives of the folk community, with the government agencies that provide funding, and with several sponsors to explore ways of putting the organization on a stronger financial footing for the future. Ledrew says none of these options came close to providing the support that this arrangement has to offer.
“We are also restructuring the OFF’s Board. Several new directors, who bring years of expertise from Bluesfest and other organizations, have been invited onto the Board. Their contacts and knowledge of how to run a crowd-pleasing, successful festival will be invaluable,” adds Ledrew.
“In addition, many others within our extended community of volunteers and organizational partners will work to ensure the festival stays true to its ideals and the longstanding tradition of Canadian community-based folk festivals. We are confident that the unique elements of the Ottawa Folk Festival will remain substantially unchanged.
“We don’t expect to see major changes to the nature of the Ottawa Folk Festival itself. The principles and values that define our festival—and the unique Canadian folk festival traditions of community, family-friendliness, active participation, and social and environmental consciousness—will very much be preserved.
“Staff and Board are now focused on working toward a 2011 music festival that will not only retain the tried-and-true formula for this well-loved Ottawa festival, but will also be an artistic and financial success,” concludes Mr. Ledrew.
Ottawa’s 17th Annual Folk Fest as Diverse as Ever
Source: Christine Sirois
Acts ranging from Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq to hip-hop all-stars Arrested Development showcased the diversity of folk music at the 17th annual Ottawa Folk Festival, which ran from Aug. 13–15 and featured over 45 artists from around the world.
“Festivals are definitely akin to summer camp,” said Rolf Klausener, front-man of local indie darling, The Acorn. “You get to see [artists] you wouldn’t really get to see otherwise. It’s generally really relaxed, everyone’s having fun and you’re outside.”
Aug. 13 featured Toronto’s Bruce Peninsula, who combined church-like chants with prog-rock riffs. Tunes like “Crabapples” off of the album Mountain is a Mouth induced foot-stomping and arm-flailing dance moves from young and old alike.
To read more: Ottawa’s 17th Annual Folk Fest as Diverse as Ever
Delhi 2 Dublin Win Inaugural Galaxie Supernova Award at 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival
OTTAWA, Ontario (August 30, 2010) – Vancouver-based Celtic-Bhangra fusion group Delhi 2 Dublin have been named winners of the Ottawa Folk Festival’s inaugural Galaxie Supernova Award. Presented to an individual artist or group set to ‘explode’ onto the Canadian music scene, the Supernova Award comes with a $4,000 bursary courtesy of Galaxie, as well as the opportunity for airplay on Galaxie music channels.
The Supernova Award is presented by the Galaxie Rising Star Program, which provides bursaries to rising Canadian music talent at festivals and events across Canada. Chosen by a jury appointed by the Ottawa Folk Festival, eligible artists had to meet three simple criteria: 1) be part of the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival line-up; 2) be Canadian; and 3) have released at least one but no more than three albums. Jurors were required to watch performances by all eligible acts over the course of the festival weekend (August 13-15, 2010) and then meet to deliberate and choose a winner after the conclusion of the festival.
Winners Delhi 2 Dublin were chosen for their “dynamic and incredibly high-energy live performance, their innovative fusion of traditional and modern musical styles and instrumentation, and their ability to connect with and inspire their audience,” says Festival Director Dylan Griffith. Formed in 2006 to take part in a one-off club night, Delhi 2 Dublin combine traditional Indian instruments such as tabla, dhol and sitar with fiddle and programmed electronic beats and lyrics sung in both Punjabi and English to create a unique fusion of Bhangra, Celtic, dub reggae, hip hop and electronica sounds. Blending east and west, electronic and acoustic, mainstream and underground, Delhi 2 Dublin “have a broad cross-cultural and cross-generational appeal” says Griffith, “partly due to the various musical elements they bring together but more so because of their incredibly infectious energy and obvious love for creating and playing music.”
The Supernova Award was one of two Galaxie-sponsored awards presented as part of the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival. The first award, presented in June, went to Ottawa trio The Musettes, winners of the Under 25 category during the Ottawa Folk Festival auditions. Twenty acts participated in the preliminary round of auditions held in March, with three groups advancing to the final round held in June at the Canadian Library and Archives. The winners received a $1,000 bursary from Galaxie, as well as a performance slot during the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival.
Since its inception in 2000, over 750 artists have directly benefitted from the Galaxie Rising Stars Program. Each year, the Program works with numerous music industry partners across Canada to discover, encourage and promote new artists. Louis Bellavance, Director of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program says “Galaxie has been able to help up and coming artists for over ten years and it has been an incredible journey to follow the careers of artists we have supported”.
For more information on The Galaxie Rising Star Awards, visit http://www.galaxie.ca. For more information on Delhi to Dublin please visit http://www.delhi2dublin.com.
White Cloud weaves Mongolian folk with American rock
David Bohatyretz, The Epoch Times
Photo: Pam McLennan of the Epoch Times
As dusk settled on Saturday August 14, Namgar thrilled the crowd at the Ottawa Folk Festival with its amplified versions of traditional folk songs.
Namgar (“white cloud” in Tibetan) was founded in Buryatia, a republic of Russia, by Namgar Lkhasaranova, from whom the band takes its name.
Possibly among the most obscure bands to appear in festival history, Namgar was well-received in the capital city, as it was nights previous in Vancouver, where it sold the last of its CDs. For this reviewer this came as a blow, which was softened greatly however when Bulat Gafarov, the violinist, gave me his own disk, which features an intriguing blend of hand percussion, strings, and vocals.
Read the full review @ The Epoch Times online: White Cloud weaves Mongolian folk with American rock
