Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Check out the 2008 Band List!
The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived! If you haven't yet noticed, the 2008 GrassRoots Band List is posted. We're ecstatic about this year's lineup, which includes over 70 amazing bands from our area and around the world. Lucinda Williams, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Etran Finatawa.... I'm psyched, to say the least. Have a look for yourself and let us know what you think! Also, check out our snazzy new website - we think you'll find it easier to navigate and a little easier on the eyes. There'll be lots of new and fun information added frequently, so keep checking in for updates! And as always, be in touch if you have any questions of any kind - that's what we're here for!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Band List TBA Very Soon...
As is always the case when we near May 2 (which is the "official" band list release date, though we've been known to let it drop earlier), everyone's on the edge of their seats to hear who's going to be rocking the festival this year. Well, we're not far from letting you know, but we are legally obligated to get all of the contracts signed, sealed and delivered before we tell everyone. So hold your horses - it won't be too much longer.
I'm actually writing this blog post because I'm SUPPOSED to be writing the band bios, but I'm procrastinating because I ran out of words. Does anyone know any good adjectives?
I'm actually writing this blog post because I'm SUPPOSED to be writing the band bios, but I'm procrastinating because I ran out of words. Does anyone know any good adjectives?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Vehicle Camping Tickets - On the Way!!
So, the ladies and gents at our local post office know us pretty well. We probably get and send more mail than almost any other businesses in little tiny Trumansburg. We need them to love us, so we try to make their jobs as easy as possible. That's why we sent out the Vehicle Camping Tickets a few at a time. Since we sent them all certified, and each certified letter takes about 60 seconds to process - double that if you're printing out the postage - we didn't want to clog their entire system in one day. So we sent out the vehicle camping tickets in envelope bundles of 20-50, over the course of a couple of weeks. The last ones went out on Friday, March 28. Therefore, you should be seeing them by the following Friday. If you don't, let us know!
Thanks for your continuing patience. We know that you'd all rather prefer us (and the lovely folks at the T-burg Post Office) to handle your tickets directly and save you massive amounts of money in processing fees than to use one of those yucky big corporate ticket conglomerates.
In exchange for your continued patience, we offer you this link - it's a free download to the Chicken Chokers' 2007 GrassRoots Set. Get yer old-time on!
Free Chicken Chokers Download
While you're over there at Funkyside.com, have a look around... they've got tons of amazing and hard-to-find CDs and live shows available!
Thanks for your continuing patience. We know that you'd all rather prefer us (and the lovely folks at the T-burg Post Office) to handle your tickets directly and save you massive amounts of money in processing fees than to use one of those yucky big corporate ticket conglomerates.
In exchange for your continued patience, we offer you this link - it's a free download to the Chicken Chokers' 2007 GrassRoots Set. Get yer old-time on!
Free Chicken Chokers Download
While you're over there at Funkyside.com, have a look around... they've got tons of amazing and hard-to-find CDs and live shows available!
Monday, March 24, 2008
So You Wanna Be a GrassRoots Intern?
Seeking two extraordinary persons with whom to enter a mutually beneficial business relationship in the Summer of 2008. Simply put: we need interns!
Yes, we're looking for a coupla good college-aged superstars to come and work with us in the GrassRoots Office. One intern will work under the festival executive director, and the other will work under yours truly. The directorial intern will work on the more event-planning-y aspects of the festival, and the marketing intern will work on the more you-should-come-to-our-festival aspects.
They're not going to be menial-labor jobs... well... no more menial than any of the jobs the staff already does; Nana Tickets and I spent the afternoon putting $3.06 worth of stamps, in odd combinations, on envelopes. Festival Director Rosa didn't call "not it" fast enough, so she got stuck picking up lunch. Some of it is glamorous, though (or at least highly entertaining), and the internships will involve a whole lot of that fun stuff.
So, if you've got a lifelong interest in non-profit work, arts management, music publicity, or anything of that sort, and you happen to be a college-aged student, give me a holler at promo@grassrootsfest.org and I'll send you full job descriptions and an application.
Also, the internships are for experience only, but we will do everything we can to make sure that you get academic credit for the work you do here - we're already legit with several regional schools, so it shouldn't be an issue, unless your college has an official policy against awesome non-profits, in which case, you shouldn't go there.
Yes, we're looking for a coupla good college-aged superstars to come and work with us in the GrassRoots Office. One intern will work under the festival executive director, and the other will work under yours truly. The directorial intern will work on the more event-planning-y aspects of the festival, and the marketing intern will work on the more you-should-come-to-our-festival aspects.
They're not going to be menial-labor jobs... well... no more menial than any of the jobs the staff already does; Nana Tickets and I spent the afternoon putting $3.06 worth of stamps, in odd combinations, on envelopes. Festival Director Rosa didn't call "not it" fast enough, so she got stuck picking up lunch. Some of it is glamorous, though (or at least highly entertaining), and the internships will involve a whole lot of that fun stuff.
So, if you've got a lifelong interest in non-profit work, arts management, music publicity, or anything of that sort, and you happen to be a college-aged student, give me a holler at promo@grassrootsfest.org and I'll send you full job descriptions and an application.
Also, the internships are for experience only, but we will do everything we can to make sure that you get academic credit for the work you do here - we're already legit with several regional schools, so it shouldn't be an issue, unless your college has an official policy against awesome non-profits, in which case, you shouldn't go there.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Support the Arts in Tompkins County!
Okay, well, since you're (probably) a GrassRoots Festival patron, you already DO support the arts in Tompkins County, so give yourself a pat on the back. Tompkins County is a pretty unique place. Our population is less than 100,000, but we have 3 independent movie houses, 5 local theatres (the kind that have plays and music), a ton of local clubs and nighttime music venues, several orchestras, dozens of galleries and museums, and tons of unique and amazing festivals. However, it's not necessarily easy to stay afloat as a non-profit arts organization in these here parts. Because there are only a couple of large corporations in Tompkins County, there's not a lot of corporate funding to go into the arts, so many of the local non-profits count on a lot of individual donations to help them make ends meet.
As is often the case with the arts, though, instead of just straight-out begging for money, these local arts organizations have come up with fun and interesting ways to make donations benefit both the gifter and the giftee.
Case in point: The Kitchen Theatre. It's is one of our favorite theatres in the whole world. It's intimate as all get-out (only 73 seats! You really do feel like the plays are happening right in your kitchen!), but they both create and import outstanding works - plays, musicals, avant-garde performance pieces - all with unbelievably talented actors, singers and dancers. It's Broadway-quality theatre, right in Downtown Ithaca. And what's really wonderful about it is that they manage to keep ticket prices at a totally affordable level (unlike theatre in big cities, where decent seats can run you in the hundreds of dollars). Part of the reason that the Kitchen is able to keep ticket prices so low is because of their creative fundraising.
The Kitchen's biggest annual fundraising event is their super-fun Online Auction. Basically, lots of businesses and artisans around town donate goods and services, and you get to bid on them. If you are the highest bidder, the Kitchen gets the money, and you get something awesome to take home. We really do mean awesome. Some of the items up for bid this year are an oil painting by Annie Campbell (who does the artwork for the cover of the GrassRoots program book each year), a pair of tickets to the Light in Winter Festival (a great festival of science and the arts that takes place in Ithaca in January and employs some of the GrassRoots staff during our "off-season"), a 30-minute massage from Peter Sayet (father of Gregor Sayet-Bone, member of GrassRoots Favorites "The Talktomes"), and, yes, a pair of GrassRoots Festival tickets. Dozens of other awesome local stuff, as well.
So please consider helping out with this worthwhile endeavor and heading on over there to bid on something. And hey, maybe we'll see you in the Kitchen soon!
Kitchen Theatre Auction Website
As is often the case with the arts, though, instead of just straight-out begging for money, these local arts organizations have come up with fun and interesting ways to make donations benefit both the gifter and the giftee.
Case in point: The Kitchen Theatre. It's is one of our favorite theatres in the whole world. It's intimate as all get-out (only 73 seats! You really do feel like the plays are happening right in your kitchen!), but they both create and import outstanding works - plays, musicals, avant-garde performance pieces - all with unbelievably talented actors, singers and dancers. It's Broadway-quality theatre, right in Downtown Ithaca. And what's really wonderful about it is that they manage to keep ticket prices at a totally affordable level (unlike theatre in big cities, where decent seats can run you in the hundreds of dollars). Part of the reason that the Kitchen is able to keep ticket prices so low is because of their creative fundraising.
The Kitchen's biggest annual fundraising event is their super-fun Online Auction. Basically, lots of businesses and artisans around town donate goods and services, and you get to bid on them. If you are the highest bidder, the Kitchen gets the money, and you get something awesome to take home. We really do mean awesome. Some of the items up for bid this year are an oil painting by Annie Campbell (who does the artwork for the cover of the GrassRoots program book each year), a pair of tickets to the Light in Winter Festival (a great festival of science and the arts that takes place in Ithaca in January and employs some of the GrassRoots staff during our "off-season"), a 30-minute massage from Peter Sayet (father of Gregor Sayet-Bone, member of GrassRoots Favorites "The Talktomes"), and, yes, a pair of GrassRoots Festival tickets. Dozens of other awesome local stuff, as well.
So please consider helping out with this worthwhile endeavor and heading on over there to bid on something. And hey, maybe we'll see you in the Kitchen soon!
Kitchen Theatre Auction Website
Monday, February 18, 2008
FAQ du Jour - Tent Camping Tickets
Hi!
So, we've changed the policy on tent camping tickets - instead of mailing them out, we're going to be holding them all at the gate. A bunch of people have been calling and emailing asking why, because there's some concern that it adds another step to the process and will make things take longer. Fear not, though, my friends!
The reason we're holding them at the gate is so we can actually speed up the process. For those of you who've done the tent camping thing before, you know that the situation used to be as follows: 1) Schlep all your stuff into the ticket exchange line. 2) Exchange weekend tickets for wristbands. 3) Schlep all your stuff through the gate and get in line for tent camping ticket exchange. 4) Fill out an index card with all of your information so the Health Department doesn't shut down the festival. 5) Get your sticker. 6) Set up your tent.
With us holding the tent camping tickets at the gate, we can now eliminate steps 3-5 from this process. You'll be able to get your tent sticker at the same place you get your wristband (make sure you get in the right line!), and therefore only have to wait in line one time. We'll have the card filled out for you already, and your sticker ready to go. Yay!
Also (BONUS!) it'll save us a couple of hundred dollars and about four acres worth of trees by not mailing out all of the tent camping passes. More yay!
When is it going to stop being winter?
So, we've changed the policy on tent camping tickets - instead of mailing them out, we're going to be holding them all at the gate. A bunch of people have been calling and emailing asking why, because there's some concern that it adds another step to the process and will make things take longer. Fear not, though, my friends!
The reason we're holding them at the gate is so we can actually speed up the process. For those of you who've done the tent camping thing before, you know that the situation used to be as follows: 1) Schlep all your stuff into the ticket exchange line. 2) Exchange weekend tickets for wristbands. 3) Schlep all your stuff through the gate and get in line for tent camping ticket exchange. 4) Fill out an index card with all of your information so the Health Department doesn't shut down the festival. 5) Get your sticker. 6) Set up your tent.
With us holding the tent camping tickets at the gate, we can now eliminate steps 3-5 from this process. You'll be able to get your tent sticker at the same place you get your wristband (make sure you get in the right line!), and therefore only have to wait in line one time. We'll have the card filled out for you already, and your sticker ready to go. Yay!
Also (BONUS!) it'll save us a couple of hundred dollars and about four acres worth of trees by not mailing out all of the tent camping passes. More yay!
When is it going to stop being winter?
Monday, February 11, 2008
Whoa - that went fast!!
So, the GrassRoots off-season basically sailed by for us - about half of the office staff is back in the office, and the rest of us will be starting up by next week. Onsite camping goes on sale on THURSDAY, and all indications point to it selling out QUICKLY this year, so get your tickets as early as possible. Tickets will be on sale both online and over the phone (607-387-5098), so whichever you prefer is fine with us.
Now, I'd like to make a quick open call for comments, suggestions, etc. You'd be amazed at how few people choose to write to us, voicing their complaints, needs, wants, desires, loves, hates, anecdotes... take a minute and tell us what you think. You can even email me personally: megan@grassrootsfest.org, and I will try my damnedest to get back to you. This time of year is the time when, if we love your idea or discover something that we hadn't heard about, we can actually do something about it, so give a holler.
And now, for something completely pointless... in celebration of our official return to work, I give you... this. Yes, my job is officially to send out press releases and stuff, but I was in a weird mood, so here goes. In this - um - extraordinary clip, you'll see me and the rest of my office colleagues (Marie, Rosa, and Nana), as well as our Director Emeritus, Jeb Puryear (of Donna the Buffalo). I'm probably going to get in trouble for posting this and they'll make me take it down, so watch it now or forever hold your peace. Hee hee hee....
Now, I'd like to make a quick open call for comments, suggestions, etc. You'd be amazed at how few people choose to write to us, voicing their complaints, needs, wants, desires, loves, hates, anecdotes... take a minute and tell us what you think. You can even email me personally: megan@grassrootsfest.org, and I will try my damnedest to get back to you. This time of year is the time when, if we love your idea or discover something that we hadn't heard about, we can actually do something about it, so give a holler.
And now, for something completely pointless... in celebration of our official return to work, I give you... this. Yes, my job is officially to send out press releases and stuff, but I was in a weird mood, so here goes. In this - um - extraordinary clip, you'll see me and the rest of my office colleagues (Marie, Rosa, and Nana), as well as our Director Emeritus, Jeb Puryear (of Donna the Buffalo). I'm probably going to get in trouble for posting this and they'll make me take it down, so watch it now or forever hold your peace. Hee hee hee....
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