Looking for ArtPrize love: Musicians, songwriters plan to busk their way into ArtPrize voters’ hearts

The 86 song entries may face an uphill battle for this year’s big ArtPrize purse, but St. Cecilia once again sweetens the pot with $2,000 awards in five music categories.

 

Good thing Grand Haven jazz singer Downie Streahl isn’t shy.

“Of course, every artist, and particularly musicians, we are definitely looking for more people to know who we are and what we do and build our fan base,” said Streahl, who has entered a song, “Love Comes,” in ArtPrize 2014. “ArtPrize, they can’t promote any one person, definitely. That’s not their job.”

So Streahl has been working her established marketing routine: doing interviews and uploading a brand-new “Love Comes” music video to the ArtPrize website at artprize.org along with an audio file at her own website, and planning two ArtPrize busking performances in September at St. Cecilia Music Society, 24 Ransom Ave. NE, just north of Fulton Street.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” she added. “I love this song.”

This is the sixth year for Grand Rapids’ mega-sized art competition with the world’s largest total prize purse of $560,000.

For the first time this year, the prize money will be divided equally between popular vote winners and those chosen by a panel of art experts. The two grand-prize winners will receive $200,000 each, the top four will receive $20,000 each. Another $20,000 will be awarded for outstanding venue, and one artist will receive a five-week residency at Ox-bow in Saugatuck.

The event, centered in downtown Grand Rapids, plus Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000 E. Beltline Ave. NE, opens Sept. 24 and runs through Oct. 12.

It’s the fourth year that ArtPrize, overwhelmingly a visual art event, has been open to music. The tally of 1,536 entries, housed at 174 venues, includes 86 music pieces – just 0.05 percent of all entries. Still, it could take six hours, plus or minus a few minutes, for an audiophile to listen to every entry.

BETTER CHANCE FOR MUSIC ENTRIES?

ArtPrize entries are divided into four categories: two-dimensional, three-dimensional, time-based and installation. Music falls into the time-based category, along with performance art, interactive art, film/video and dance, said Kevin Buist, director of exhibitions for ArtPrize.

“It remains to be seen, really,” Buist said. “It may provide a greater chance of a music entry winning a public vote award. The second round of voting is now the Final 20. There’s a reason it’s not the top 20: It’s not the top 20 vote-getters, particularly in the time-based category.”

That means that the five entries with the most votes in one category could actually have fewer votes than the sixth place vote-getter in another category who misses out on Round 2. Each finalist, both popular vote and juried picks, will receive at least a $20,000 award, with the two grand prize winners slated for $200,000 each.

“Those are the ones that will advance to the finalists, the ones that, with the old voting structure, probably would not have enough votes to advance to the top 10,” Buist added. “It’s always sort of an experiment to see how this stuff plays out.”

But musicians entering songs have an additional incentive: As in the past, St. Cecilia Music Center is offering up its own award system for songwriters.

Those entering songs in the competition will compete for separate $2,000 cash prizes in five musical categories, for a total purse of $10,000. The categories: Rock/Blues, Classical, Pop/Electronic, Jazz and Folk/Country. The winners, who will also receive free studio recording time at Mackinaw Harvest Studio, will be the top vote-getters among music entries in the ArtPrize popular vote. The award costs are being covered by sponsors. (Take a gander at last year’s winners and listen to their songs in this Local Spins story.)

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC: BUSKERS, LISTENING STATIONS, ONLINE AT HOME

Music fans have three options for listening to entries: Live performances at busking stations, iPod listening stations and audio files at artprize.org.

Cathy Holbrook, executive director of SCMC, said the nonprofit is taking a lead role with music entries: hosting a bank of 20 iPod listening stations for all 19 days; coordinating 10 busking stations for live performances during the first 10 days; and presenting awards based on the ArtPrize popular vote. St. Cecilia is one of four ArtPrize Showcase Venues, Buist said.

The number of busking stations – “street performance, basically” – were expanded after last year’s experience with a limited number was deemed successful, Holbrook said.

“It really worked well,” she added. “We felt the musicians were able to get a lot of exposure.”

Buist added that ArtPrize leaders are pleased with the expanded busking.

“We’re pretty happy for how that’s working out them,” he said. “It gets their music entries out into the city and makes it a fabric of the urban environment, in a way.”

For the three previous ArtPrize music presentations, musicians performed live inside the SCMC and on outdoor stages in the parking lot as part of a special “Musicians’ Showcase” event, but were sometimes washed out by weather, Holbrook said.

“In two or three days at St. Cecilia, it was over and done with, so if they didn’t come, they didn’t hear it. And it was an expensive venture to put on those outdoors concerts,” she said.

Holbrook said Michael Crittenden, Troll for Trout frontman and Mackinaw Harvest owner, compiled a busking schedule that takes into account musicians’ needs for space and electricity as well as their schedules. Everyone has at least one time slot, she said, and some will play more than once, based on their own schedules and interest. here’s a full schedule of ArtPrize busking, though time and performers may vary.

“If it rains,” Holbrook added, “they probably don’t play.”

Rosa Parks Circle, for instance, is scheduled as a busking location 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays. Rosa Parks Circle also is hosting WOOD TV8’s Talsma Concert Series Oct. 8-10 during ArtPrize’s final week, with Domestic Problems, Matt Giraud, Troll for Trout, Kari Lynch Band, The Mainstays and Annabelle Road performing. (See the full schedule at right.)

Other busking stations will be active 5-8 p.m. weekdays and noon-8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. They will be marked by sandwich boards, upon which musicians can attach their voting identification numbers. The busking schedule is posted at artprize.org.

The 20 iPod listening stations with headphones inside the genteel St. Cecilia building each will be loaded with all 86 songs, Holbrook said. There will be a booklet listing entries. Musicians can also upload their entries to their profile pages on the ArtPrize website for home listening as well.

Although the music competition – like ArtPrize – is open to anyone, the majority of the music entries once again are from West Michigan, with a few representing the Detroit and Chicago areas. Many of the names of performers submitting entries are familiar to Grand Rapids audiences and many have entered ArtPrize before.

PUSHING THE RIGHT MARKETING BUTTONS IN STUMPING FOR MUSIC ENTRIES

Still, Holbrook encouraged musicians to push all their marketing buttons to capture votes.

“It’s not our business to pick a certain artist and promote them,” she added. “They do need to be really proactive. So they should absolutely use social media and their email lists and however they reach their fans about where they are playing.

“They should reach out to the same people and encourage them to vote for their song, give them the voting number, links to their ArtPrize profile page. We’ve encouraged musicians to do as much busking as possible so they can interact with the crowds.

“That promotes their own song, but also the idea that music is part of ArtPrize.”

(In the overall ArtPrize competition, jurors will announce their top five expert choices in the four main categories on Sept. 29. Round 2 voting for the Final 20 in the popular vote is just four days, from 3 p.m. Oct. 5 to 11:59 p.m. Oct. 9. The final awards ceremony is Oct. 10.)

A musical piece has never won at ArtPrize, but that does not deter Streahl, who is optimistic that the smooth jazz song she co-wrote with Justin Avery and Joe Ayoub has every bit a chance as any other entry.

“I don’t know that any of us entered because we don’t want to win,” said Streahl, whose career includes a four-year stint singing in Japan’s eclectic jazz houses.

“You know, music is every bit of an art. You cannot deny that the world is affected by music. It is every bit as valid as an art as a painting or sculpture. I’m very happy that ArtPrize is acknowledging that.”

Copyright 2014, Spins on Music