Despite delays, final 2014 Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts performance schedule now online

After some delays in notifying applicants, the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts has finalized the performance schedule for June 6-8 and it’s now online.

 

MAY 22 UPDATE: Applicants for Festival performances were notified of their set times via email earlier this month and after some “glitches” in posting the schedule of performances for the weekend of June 6-8, the final schedule is now available. Check it out online at festivalgr.org.

MAY 2 – Every year, Festival of the Arts spotlights hundreds of local and regional bands on multiple stages, with audiences in the thousands cheering on acts.

Although most performers aren’t paid for their short sets, it’s an attractive gig in terms of exposure, putting bands and solo artists in front of eager new audiences and fans who pack the streets in downtown Grand Rapids.

This year, the massive three-day festival run by volunteers has encountered some computer glitches and delays: Some bands fret that while the 45th annual festival is less than five weeks away, they still haven’t been informed whether their applications have been accepted and when they might be playing.

“Unfortunately, we had some serious computer, website and application issues and the online application was very late in being available to the public. Because of this we have had to extend the deadline and where we are usually done with scheduling by now, we are just getting to it,” said Jenni Cullin, of the Festival committee scheduling bands.

A “lower than usual count” of bands applying also led Festival to allow prospective performers to continue submitting applications past the original deadline, she said.

The latest word from organizers is that the complex scheduling of acts on a half-dozen outdoor stages (and some indoor venues) for the weekend of June 6-8 will be completed early next week, “and performers will be notified by the weekend.”

For singer-songwriter Tim Perry, founder of the Grand Rapids Songwriters Alliance which has spotlighted its members at Festival seven of the past eight years, that’s “par for the course.” The GRSA has applied for a performance slot again this year.

“I’ve heard nothing so far,” said Perry, whose organization decided to take a year off from Festival in 2013 due to concerns about scheduling, stage sound problems and other issues. “Every year, Festival always makes the promise of an early to mid-April notification, but it never happens. … We’ve been overbooked, had schedules changed without notice.”

Guitarist and singer Mark Swanson, a veteran Festival performer on his own and with the group 13th Hour, conceded the delay “causes problems for anyone who has applied, because it can be hard to schedule around other gigs that we are all trying to get. It also makes it harder for the schedulers themselves, because as the inevitable shuffling around occurs the tighter it is to showtime, the harder it is.”

‘CHILL A LITTLE’: VOLUNTEERS SCHEDULING MORE THAN 350 PERFORMANCES

Even as the Festival’s “folk music chairperson,” who auditions CDs from some applicants, Swanson says he hasn’t heard anything about this year’s schedule though many musicians have asked him about it.

The computer-related delays have added to the monumental task of sifting through hundreds of applications and CDs submitted by prospective performers by volunteers.

Joann Reeves, Festival’s public relations co-chair, noted organizers “usually schedule between 350 and 400 different acts, with the total number of performers around 1,500 to 2,000” on all its stages.

Cullin insisted that “systems have already been put in place to correct this for next year and we do not plan on this inconvenience again. Our first priority is to always have the schedule done with plenty of notification, and when things like this happen, no one is more disappointed in the delay than we are and we can only strive to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

She apologized to the region’s “fine musicians” who “are loyal to our event and hopefully will see past our delay this year and come aboard next year where it surely be a much better situation for all.”

Many do. Although some worry that past scheduling mishaps and other issues have driven away high-quality acts, making Festival “a shadow of what it once was,” performer Steve Hilger urges applicants to be patient.

Hilger, who helps organize August’s GRandJazzFest at Rosa Parks Circle, fronts the blues group The Steve Hilger Band and also has applied this year to play solo at Festival with bassist Dave DeVos.

“It is a bit frustrating, but you have to remember, these are all unpaid volunteers. They all have lives outside of festival. This festival would not happen without those volunteers,” he told Local Spins. “So, I guess I have a little bit of compassion for their position knowing what is involved with putting the jazz festival together.”

Singer-songwriter Nicholas James Thomasma said he’s “used to it” and expects some scheduling snags. “There’s no reason to be upset. I always apply, and if something else comes along that is more lucrative, I take it and tell Festival I can’t make it,” he said. “It costs $5 (to apply), but it’s really as easy as that.”

For his part, Hilger said his band’s Festival experiences have been good ones, worth waiting for.

“My band knows that we will not find out till the very end, so I guess they are kind of expecting it. It may involve my using some subs, but that’s how it goes,” he said. “I think everyone just needs to chill a little bit because this is a volunteer organization putting on a volunteer program and the result is usually very good.”

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music