I listened carefully to many people in deciding what to put in the program. This process is part of the Ottawa Grassroots Festival mandate, where everyone gets a say in how our festival is managed. What I heard was a wish for more days, more venues, more great artists, more workshops, more kid stuff and more fun. It’s never possible to please everyone, but I can say we will make those wishes come true and we are all going to have fun, both our volunteers and our audience.

I want to thank three groups of people. First I want to thank the very generous sponsors that make the festival happen. Without sponsors, it would be an entirely different festival. They make all the free daytime programming possible. Having afternoons free means that young families can afford to attend, kids can have fun and the place comes alive. The sharing of our festival with the community is another part of our mandate. Secondly, I want to thank all the artists who are participating in the festival. There are about 120 to 150 of you and I am humbled in the way you were all so agreeable to performing. Thirdly, I want to thank all the volunteers who are and will be working on the festival. It is you men and women who really make this happen. For the record, everyone who works on the festival is a volunteer. I doubt if the general public can really grasp the amount of effort that goes into putting on a festival like ours, but I know and appreciate every thing you do and I want to thank you. You are a joy to work with.

Now go check the festival programming and make plans to attend!

Bob

Due to unavoidable roof repairs (thank you, Mother Nature) the venue for 2013 has been moved to the Rideau Curling Club, 715 Cooper St. at Percy. [ed.]

After this year’s festival, I, and others, were concerned that we couldn’t match an event that good in 2013. Well, I am now certain that 2013 will be at least as good as 2012. There are some great artists that are interested in performing at our festival and I am working hard on next year’s lineup. There will be some familiar faces in the lineup on Saturday afternoon, along with some new ones. Saturday night will feature some first-class performers. Sunday will have a choir theme – always an uplifting event. We are fortunate in Ottawa in having some wonderful and popular choirs. We have 9 months before next year’s festival and we are already well prepared to put on a truly great festival. Nine months and I am already excited!

The OGF lineup will be made public late this year or early in the new year, but there may be some news items before the end of the year. Tickets will go on sale in January.

As in 2012, we want to try and have a free aspect on at least one afternoon, and possibly both afternoons, in 2013. This free portion is very important when trying to make our festival a truly community event. I was struck this year at how many young families attended the free afternoon events – kids and adults alike had a great time. I am sure that most of you can remember when you were young and possibly had children that you couldn’t afford to go to many events. Clearly, if we are going to bring music, dance and the spoken word to the community, then some of it must be free.

We had a Planning Team meeting on May 27 this year and discussed the things that worked well at OGF 2012 and other things we can improve. The most obvious result of the meeting is that it was clear that we all remain dedicated to putting on the best festival we can manage.

I want to mention our volunteers. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of volunteers who work together so well to put on this unique event. It is unique in a number of ways, but especially the fact that the festival is run completely by volunteers. Nobody is paid except for the performers. How many festivals can make that claim? If you read the OGF philosophy on the website, you will find that this working together as a community is one of our goals. We certainly do that well! Another unique thing about our festival is that we are not trying to make a profit putting it on. We are a non-profit organization in every way except in the legal sense. This puts quite a different spin on how we operate and how we are perceived. While it is true that there are other non-profit festivals out there, there is always some people that are paid. In our organization, nobody is paid.

I hope to see all of you soon – you are a wonderful bunch!

Cheers

Bob

• Shout Brother

   

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• Playback Theatre2

   

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• contra dance

   

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• contra dance2

   

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• CKCU

   

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Well all the hard work that the volunteers and performers put into the festival on April 28 certainly paid off. The festival was a huge success in every way. There were lots of people at every performance in the afternoon and the vibe was wonderful. There were lots of things that people had never seen before and they were eager to learn. The evening performance was very exciting and the place was packed. Performers love an atmosphere like that and go all out to entertain the audience. And entertain us they did; Rick Fines, Katherine Wheatley and Missy Burgess were at their finest. Albert Dumont gave a very thoughtful talk as an opener, including a poem he had written specifically for our festival, and left people spellbound.

The fact that the entire afternoon was free was a really big hit. These are the performances that the audiences saw:

1. Elage Mbaye gave a drumming workshop that had kids and adults drumming along with him. Take a look at the pictures on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ottawa-GrassrootsFestival/210912422324113)
   to see how people were enjoying this.
2. Albert Dumont told an aboriginal story for kids
3. The Spirit of Rasputin’s put on an open stage, with host Sjef Frenken and set-up man Mark Evenchick. These are 2 of the guys who put on the open stage for the Spirit of Rasputin’s at Whispers every Monday night.
4. Ana Miura gave a wonderful, warm performance, demonstrating once again her superb talent as a singer-songwriter.
5. Garry Greenland and Maple Hill gave a workshop on how to build your own band. People are still talking about this today, 3 months after the festival.
6. Spencer Scharf was busking outside in the afternoon using a number of instruments. People loved the way he welcomed them to the festival and even went back outside to hear more.
7. Chris White organized a CKCU live broadcast from the Legion and it went off without a hitch. Chopper was at his finest! It is wonderful to do live broadcasts from a festival. It provides great advertising. The festival took up a collection for CKCU, Ottawa’s favourite community radio station.
8. Jane Keeler and Reena Kokotailo organized a playback theatre for Ottawa Phoenix Playback Theatre. There was a lot of interest in this as most people had never heard of this kind of theatre.
9. Tatiana Nemchin and Joel Delaquis put on a demonstration of Mouvement, which is yoga with movement. Lots of people participated in this.
10. Mark and Sue Rogers put on a lively ukulele singalong with some of the BUG (Bytown Ukulele Group) players. This was very catchy and I am sure they will get some new members from this. The ukulele has made a huge comeback in Ottawa and across Canada.
11. Emily Addison and the Ottawa Contra Dance organized a contra dance and again there were many participants having lots of fun and lots of exercise!
12. Chris White and the choir Shout Brother put on a spirited performance in the late afternoon.

That whole list of performances was free in the afternoon. It is not a good festival business plan to expect the ticket sales from the evening performance to pay for the costs incurred during the afternoon. This was possible only because of some very generous sponsors, who I would like to mention here:

• Peter Bowie
• Susan Gick
• Mark and Heather Evenchick; Mark for making the very popular souvenir pins and Heather for donating some of the food.
• Constant Sound Studio. Huge thanks to Hollis Morgan for providing the sound and looking after the website and to Kate Morgan for all the art work (especially the logo!)
• Spirit of Rasputin’s Arts Society
• Pressed – coffee bar and sandwich lounge, who provided the venue and the food at the Launch.
• CKCU 93.1 FM
• OFC Music and a lot of hard work by Arthur McGregor!
• National Gallery of Canada

While the sponsors are very important, and the festival could not survive without them, it is the volunteers who are the backbone of our festival. I estimate there were between 80 and 100 volunteers who put on this festival. I include the afternoon performers as volunteers, because let’s face it, that’s what they were.

I can’t thank you enough and I want to say you warm my heart, people, you always do. What an event this was!

Cheers
Bob

Sandwiches will be served throughout the afternoon for only $5. There will be a fruit tray, a vegetable tray and a cheese tray. Beverages are available at the bar.

Beautiful commemorative pins will be sold for $5.

Tickets for the evening performance are $25 in advance, $30 at the door.

Here is a printable schedule for the entire day.

All the volunteers, performers and sponsors know you will have a great time! See you at noon today!

Cheers, Bob Nesbitt

Here’s the article by Melissa Li in Centretown News Online.

What: 1st annual Ottawa Grassroots Festival
When: Saturday, April 28, 2012 afternoon and evening events…
Where: Montgomery Legion, 330 Kent at MacLaren, Ottawa
Why: A community-oriented celebration of music and dance

Rick Fines

The Ottawa Grassroots Festival (OGF) is excited to announce that the date for their first annual mini-folk festival has been set for Saturday April 28, 2012. The festival (OGF) is an annual family-oriented celebration of folk music, dance and other participatory arts. The event will take place inside the Royal Canadian Legion, 330 Kent St. in Ottawa.

Katherine Wheatley

The one-day festival consists of a number of different components which will take place in various parts of the building. In the afternoon, the downstairs area will offer a diverse range of participatory activities, including a ukulele singalong, contra dancing, yoga and a “playback” theatre performance. At the same time, the hall upstairs will feature several respected and talented performers, including the wonderful singer-songwriter Ana Miura, along with “open stage” performance opportunities for children as well as adults (the open stage is a Spirit of Rasputin’s presentation). All afternoon activities are free, with donations being accepted for CKCU FM, Ottawa’s long-running community radio station.

Missy Burgess

The evening concert will feature Ottawa’s own Missy Burgess, as the opener, celebrating her latest CD, “Play Me Sweet”. Her performance will be followed by the award-winning, ever-popular singer-songwriters Rick Fines and Katherine Wheatley.

Katherine Wheatley studied geology and music at university, but that doesn’t make her a “rock” musician. With influences that include Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Carole King and James Taylor, Katherine is a favourite at folk festivals and concert halls across the country. Her three CDs showcase her superb songwriting talents, exceptional guitar skills and gorgeous voice.

A veteran of the North American folk and blues circuits, Rick Fines has won the Maple Blues Award as a solo artist, along with Juno and Thomas Handy awards for his work with the band Jackson Delta. Known for his astounding fingerstyle and slide guitar playing and his engaging stage presence, Rick offers soulful songs, delightful stories and a wonderful musical experience.

Tickets for the evening concert are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Ottawa Grassroots Festival is run entirely by volunteers who have experience working together at other festivals. They share a passion for folk music and all that the folk community entails. All OGF volunteers have a say in how the festival is run. The emphasis is on fun, simplicity, good music and participatory arts.

To start with, the idea of a small, simple folk festival, one driven by volunteers and with a minimum of formal structure, has been percolating in my mind for a few years now. Chris White and I have frequently talked over the years about how great the Blue Skies Music Festival is, and how wonderful the vibe is there. They are in their 39th year, a remarkable achievement for any festival. In that time, three generations have grown up there. I have attended Blue Skies for the last 5 or 6 years in a row, and Chris for much longer. We have often wondered if that Blue Skies feeling could be cloned and implemented closer to Ottawa.

We can’t hope to duplicate Blue Skies in every way. For one thing, we don’t have a farm to build it on! But there are aspects of Blue Skies that we can emulate.

Here is how I see our festival and how I would like to see it grow and evolve:

1. Probably the most important feature about our festival is that it is not Bob’s festival or a Board’s festival or any one individual’s festival. It is a community festival comprised of a group of equals. I would like all individuals to be respected equally. It is true that the ultimate decision making rests with one person, but this is necessary for efficiency. For my part, I promise to listen to each volunteer and take their concerns and suggestions seriously. This is the way I have always led groups of people.
2. The goals of the Ottawa Grassroots Festival are to:
   1. hold a community-focused event with an outreach to many;
   2. bring together like-minded people to work for a common cause; and
   3. promote live music in general and folk music in particular, along with other participatory arts.
3. The role of volunteers. Volunteers are essential to running this organization. Almost everything is being run by volunteers, the main exception being the artists, of course. For their part, volunteers need to be prepared to take on roles and run with them.
4. One of Blue Skies philosophies is to keep things simple. This is an approach I have followed myself in other things I have done. The principle here is: You don’t have to spend large amounts of money to have fun.
5. I would like to see our festival oriented, at least to some extent, towards families. Some of the afternoon events at the 2012 festival will appeal to kids, but in 2013 we should be thinking about more programming for kids.

Prepared by Bob Nesbitt

“This is an historic occasion,” said Chris White

• Deciding The Name (Bob Nesbitt)

   

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• Emily,Bob,Ana,Chris,Rena,Hollis,Adele,Jodi,Mark

   

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• ContraDance.Yoga,TheatreSpace

   

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