It's hard to believe that the festival ended just one week ago. An event that consumed our lives for months is now just a small memory, and fleeting moment in this Swedish adventure! However, I can say with confidence, that our work and dedication to this project was worth it and the final product exceeded all of our expectations! The feedback we've received from the students and professionals in attendance is so motivating. Through this experience I've been truly touched musically, but also enlightened to a career path that I didn't know existed.
If you would have asked me on Monday, March 14 how I was feeling, if would have been a combination of excitement and nerves. Charles, Jake and I decided to put 100% into organizing this festival after a few conversations with Anders in the fall. Anders' idea was to host an international festival in Piteå and give us the artistic direction. Anders met Morris Palter at PASIC in November, and decided that we should invite him and his graduate ensemble, Ensemble 64.8 to Piteå. Once that decision was made, Charles, Jake and I hit the ground running.
Planning a festival in just a few months is a complicated process. Where to begin? We knew that Morris' group from Alaska was confirmed, but other than that we could create anything that we wanted to imagine. So, our mission became to create a venue in which percussionists, regardless of status (student, teacher, professional) could present and perform works and projects that are creative and unique.
To get people interested, I wrote tons of emails. TONS. I networked as much as I could through Anders, Johan Svitzer (of the publishing company and advocate, EditionSvitzer), and within my own contacts. At first, I did not get tons of replies. It's hard to convince people that a unknown group in Northern Sweden could organize an event! However, by the end of January, we had a great list of attendees and presenters. Phew!
During these months, I was also responsible for the practicality of the festival...meaning, the MONEY! Our percussion department (which consists of the three of us and Daniel Saur) had a budget, but not nearly enough. We spent a lot of time approaching the school administration, school organizations, and local businesses trying to get support. We were extremely excited to be supported by the Piteå Kommun which covered some meals and transportation for the guests, as well as a company called Centrek, that supports entrepreneurship. We arranged to do everything on a scale that would not require huge amounts of money, but made sure that everything was covered. We aren't sponsored by any percussion companies yet, so felt strongly about doing this "on our own", I am amazed at what we accomplished with what we had...no one at the festival could believe it!
The Kommun donated these great bags and a few goodies! We also had a fabulous media team that helped us create great posters and these programs filled with the schedule, everyone's biography and other important information. I am so happy with how professional everything looked.
Alright, so we've got the guests and the budget support, now we need to organize the schedule, press, transportation, rehearsals, publicity, equipment, technical support, and keep our sanity. Easy :)
Again, it's now Monday, and all of these aspects had theoretically been covered, and we were waiting for the group from Alaska to arrive. The day was spent collecting instruments from nearby schools (where we experienced Jake driving a stick for the first time! Group bonding at it's best...hoping not to die!), printing badges and programs, stuffing the bags, and preparing all of the rooms. We created an intense rehearse schedule the week before knowing that we would be so consumed with the administrative tasks we wouldn't have time to play everyday. I'm really glad we pushed ourselves so much! At this point, all I could think about was what I was forgetting!
We greeted our Arctic friends that evening, showed them around the school and headed out for dinner. None of us had met before (aside from some Skype conversations with Morris), so I put my "social butterfly" hat on and tried to get to know everyone personally in hopes that we would all musically mesh for the concert on Wednesday!
The "first day" of the festival had gone well...no catastrophes...the group traveling the farthest had arrived and it was time to try to sleep...
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