Local festival does more than provide a stage

Every artist needs a starting point. Bands must pay their dues playing in bars, coffee shops and other small stages before they ever hop a festival stage.

However, there is an initiative in Fredericton that is streamlining the process and giving a jump start to acts who are in the infant stages of their careers.

Fest Forward take a select number of artists each year and put them through basic training on the business side of the industry and arm them with a few tools that will help them spread the word about their music.

Guiding them through the ins and outs are various members of Music NB, the provincial support system for all artists in New Brunswick. They take them through the process of things like grant writing, applications for festivals and social media marketing.

“So far, I didn’t realize how much Music New Brunswick has as a supporting role. There is lots of opportunity you just got to get down and do the paper work and have it become routine as well as playing and that’s really going to help,” said festival participant Leigh Doerksen.

Some of the tools provided are a professional photo shoot that bands can use for Facebook events and press releases for their albums and recording session of one of their songs with a certified audio engineer.

This initiative has helped bands like Fredericton’s own Hypochondriacs, who have played a handful of large festivals across the east coast in the years since. The Tortoise, The Hare and the Millionaire have also much such leaps due to their time with Fest Forward, most notably a slot at Saint John’s Festival 506 which was headlined by the Arkells, one of Canada’s biggest rock acts.

“The bands who really take it all in and soak it all up I’ve seen them play a bunch of shows and do a bunch of showcasing and advance their careers big time,” said festival producer Eva George.