Karamea Sound Machine Newsletter - January 2012
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Hi Everyone,
This newsletter will primarily discuss the upcoming Karamea Music Festival - marketing is going well and we have an amazing line up of artists. Please find below a brief outline of the lead up to the event and requests for assistance. This event is different from other KSM events in that it is a collaboration with an outside agency. Organik Audio (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organik-_-Audio/199650926724750) brings a network of talented musicians from throughout the South Island many of whom will feature at this event. KSM has also connected with the Alien Nation crew and has been fortunate enough to attract three very talented trance dj's and producers. In all this KSM is to provide a venue with infrastructure including soundgear. Early in the new year I made contact with the council about community groups holding events at the Oparara Reserve. To my delight this was a very pleasant conversation where the council representative indicated the councils perspective:
1. That it is not the councils intent to stop people using the reserve.
2. That camping on the reserve for up to three nights was not an issue, but beyond that communication and negotiation was required between the council and the community group.
3. That the group using the reserve needed to provide suitable and adequate toileting facilities and at all times treat the immediate environment with the upmost of respect.
Also I have been in contact with Alan Lowe (now working with the council) who has shown a real interest in upgrading the reserve itself, together we have extended the mown area to include the space used @ the Waitangi event two years ago and I hope (with some help) to support him further by organising a working bee to 'weed eat' and mow fringes around the whole reserve. We hope this will increase the available camping and parking area enough to accommodate the 200 odd people expected @ the event.
I have suggested a policy of keeping it simple for this event. The main structure will be the 8m round structure Chris constructed for last years Winter Solstice, with a few additions this will act as the stage area, 'green room' and volunteers/artists dining space. It would be nice to provide a shaded area in the main zone for people to hang and activities for children to be held. The KSM toilets will be used in the volunteers/artists space and camping area - portaloos will be utilised for patrons. It would be nice to construct a washing area and provide BBQs for cooking but this will only happen if the resources are available. It is being advertised that patrons need to be self sufficient and that the event is 'pack in / pack out'.
Aside from this the main setup activity will be to add that special KSM creativity to the event - flags, lighting, a bit of decorating and activities for the young people.
So how can you help?
Christian has already agreed to do the food for the event.
We already have a heap of bamboo, but we could do with more (shade structure, flags, etc.)
There is the weed eating / mowing mission which would be good to get done soon so Alan can expand on our work.
Developing activities for the young people is another priority.
Also signage for the event would be good to get underway soon.
If you are keen to help out please contact me ASAP, also please spread the word among others who might be keen to be involved... thank you.
During the event itself I hope to have a team of us to keep the site ticking over including the collecting of tickets (and placing of wristbands) on Friday evening and Saturday day to early evening - this is always a difficult aspect of running an event but I hope that high visibility wristbands and crew will make it flow... please indicate if you are available to help out with these tasks.
Well, that is about it for the festival. I will be loading the budget for the event on the community website as soon as I have confirmation from Harry (Organik Audio). Local artists who have expressed interest in performing will be contacted before the end of the week so I hope Harry and I will have set times etc sorted by the end of next week.
Experimential Jam: Awesome to everyone who got involved! All feedback has been positive and Diana really enjoyed having us be part of her establishment for the day. I have posted images and a write up on the Community website, in the Chronicle and on the KSM facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KarameaSoundMachine) - check it out! If anyone has more images please get in touch... I do not have any good photos of the 'bush people' performing. Financially KSM did well out of the event with around $40 collected and Diana donating $300 - thank you so much.
Anonymous donation of Electronic Keyboard: A deeply humble thank you to whom ever donated an electronic piano to KSM. http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/digitalpian...
Next KSM Event: February 4th @ Karamea Village Hotel - KSM DJ's. Keep an eye out for details!
Upcoming events in Karamea: Alizarin Lizard (http://www.myspace.com/alizarinlizardband) Karamea Village Hotel, 29th January 2012. Orchestra of Spheres - early February.
Well that is it for this addition. As always if you wish to include anything in the newsletter please drop me a line.
Cheers
Gary B Smith 23 Jan 2012
Hi Everyone,
Thank you to those who have responded to the January Newsletter : )
Based on responces I was wondering if people were keen to do weed wacking @ the festival site at the end of the week - either Thursday late afternoon/early evening or Friday @ the same time?
I went out to the site on Friday where Alan has mown the area where we staged the Waitangi Weekend event - it looks great! At the working bee I hope we will be able to weedwack around the edges of the bush and check the remaining fringe for debris so Alan on his next visit can safely mow to the edges. I believe this will enable us to greatly increase the camping area available : )
So get back to me if this works for you.
Cheers
Gary B Smith 03 Feb 2012
Hi Everyone,
Thank you to the crew who helped out with the weedwacking working bee on Thursday last week. We have cleared and clearly marked out the kidzone, extra camping space and a market space. I have talked with Alan Lowe (WestReef) and he hopes to get to the reserve sometime later this week : )
Planning for the event is going well members of the crew have picked up aspects of the festival as follows:
Brendan has offered to organise the Kidzone and has had offers of support from Kaia, Laura and Amy.
Sina has taken delivery of plywood and paints and will be sharing the production of signage with Shona and Debs as needed.
Christian spent yesterday producing various dishes for the crew and performers, and today he and I will pump out naan bread.
Flow has agreed to supply sound gear and her expertise in running the sound system itself.
Debs and Sina have shown interest in having an informal market space and I will be installing a movie space in the kidzone.
Hopefully Harry will be visiting Karamea later this week to suss out the site and for us to work out the finer details of the event.
We still need ideas and help with providing activities for older children. Please flick either myself or Brendan a message if you have any ideas : )
I want to clarify a point that keeps being bought up by members of the crew:
" Do I have to purchase a ticket for this event? "
All previous KSM events have to a large degree been produced by KSM and as such one of the perks has been free entry into the event itself for crew members. This event however is a collaboration with an outside agent who has called in a lot of favours to bring some very talented persons to Karamea (Awesomeness!!!).
As such I ask if everyone could please purchase a ticket.
I apologise for not clarifying this early especially when early bird tickets were available - to make up for this oversight (a little I hope) we are offering tickets @ the early bird price to crew and partners. Please contact me and let me know how many tickets you need so I can arrange for you to purchase them.
I hope this doesn't dampen anyones outlook on volunteering and the festival itself - know that your efforts are greatly appreciated and events like this couldn't happen in Karamea without you.
All crew will be looked after with food and non alcoholic beveridges being provided throughout the event.
Incidentally (and this will be made public on the website and in The Chronicle this week) all local children 13 and under get free entry.
Speaking of food - here is the menu for the event:
Friday Dinner: Curry (with meat balls), Naan and Rice
Saturday Breakfast: Cereals, Tinned fruit and Drinks
Lunch: Minestrone and French Bread
Dinner: Dahl, Rice and Naan
Sunday Breakfast: Cereals, Tinned fruit and Drinks
Lunch and Dinner: What is left over and Soup
Tea, Coffee and hopefully fruit and home baking available through out the event.
Please find attached the budget for the event. I was also hoping to have a draft copy of the set times attached as well however Harry and I have only brief windows of opportunity to communicate and we didn't get that far last time.
I am hoping to have all the resources required for the event centrally located by early next week. I am hoping to be on site either from Wednesday night or early Thursday morning setting up camp and constructing the main stage and supporting structures - I will send out a diagram/drawing of the main festival area later in the week after I have talked to a few key people. If you are able to help with setup on the Thursday and/or Friday your presence will be greatly appreciated. The main task @ hand aside from the main zone is digging three holes for the existing long drop and the two KSM toilets... this plan may change closer to the event and as you will see in the budget we have factored in hiring portaloos.
Well that is it for now. Expect diagrams and set times in the near future. I am busy over the next day or two producing press packs and communicating with local artists then it is a relaxed week for me helping out @ the Alien Nation Festival before the big push producing the event itself. What is nice about this event is our collaboration partner is working well along side of us making things happen.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Cheers.
Gary B Smith 03 Feb 2012
Budget For Karamea Music Festival – February 17th -19th 2012 @ Oparara River Reserve.
(Prepared by Gary Smith (for KSM) 26th January 2012)
Power -
6000w genset and fuel $400
Lighting genset and fuel $100
Catering for Volunteers and Artists -
Food $350
Accommodation n/a
Infrastructure -
KSM has two portable composting toilets, a water tank and event structures.
The site has a long drop that we will need to dig another hole for.
Additional Toilets (4 Portaloos (including cleaning charge)) $400
Marketing -
Ticket Printing (Cosmic Corner) $70
Wristbands (for approx 350) $100
Posters, Flyers, etc... $250
Artists -
Soulware $1500
Grouch $1000
Tweq $250
Civil Dinn $150
Badred $150
EZRA (visuals) $250
Rhythmonyx $400
TAOS $500
D Jade $100
Selective Sound System $100
Boyd $100
Others $300 (???)
Incidentals -
unknowns $300
Total $6570
The previous version of this budget had a bottom line of $4100 plus the appearance fees of a couple of major
artists. Based on this and a historical attendance records for 'major' events held by KSM in the region we set a
ticket price of $35 ($35 x 150 = $5250). This updated budget now includes the missing appearance fees and in
addition has a price for the provision of extra toilets.
An attendance of 190 paying patrons is required for the event to break even (190 x $35 = $6650).