Before I begin, let me just say that I love Bridgeport. And I love and support everyone trying to do good things in Bridgeport. So please don’t take this feedback as a sign that I feel that nothing in Bridgeport will ever be successful or that I am anything but super optimistic about the future of arts and events in the Park City. That being said – let the feedback begin:
MMM, the BAM Festival. Did you hear about it? Probably not. I didn’t either, though my band was scheduled to play for it. Or were we? Well, we thought we were. We thought this because the organizers arranged for us to play live on WEBE 108, which we did a few weeks before the festival. We played our song “I Wanna Tell You Something” and the announcer, Robby Bridges, co-host of BAM, as well as Pete Finch, the other co-host of BAM, let the audience know that we, Saint Bernadette, would appear live at the Seaside Park Bandshell as part of the BAM Festival. This is one of the reasons why we thought we were playing.
The other reason we thought we were playing is because we attended two planning meetings for the festival where we interfaced and shared ideas with the other organizers. Some of the organizers came over to our apartment where we discussed events and the arts in Bridgeport and offered to make introductions on their behalf to our network of other arts and events related people in Bridgeport and around the state. We also forwarded our media contacts by email over the course of time between the last meeting and the day of the festival.
The final reason we thought we were playing is that our picture was used on the very limited circulation of the BAM Festival flyer.
However, despite all this, we received a text the day before the festival asking us who had “misinformed” us about our inclusion in the festival’s performance lineup. This was just one of a series of, I’ll call them “technical difficulties” that plagued the day of the festival until it was eventually and mercifully drowned out by a near tornado.
The first difficulty is that this festival was scheduled to start at 3 pm on Friday afternoon. Now, I don’t know what happens to you at the office on Friday, but most of the people I know are trying to finish everything they have to do so they can free their mind for the weekend and maybe ease the possibility of hell on Monday morning. And maybe some companies have switched to 4 day weeks or half day Fridays for the summer, but more likely, they’ve laid off half the staff and everyone left is doing the work of 3 people and probably not able to leave at 2 in the afternoon to come to Seaside Park to watch music in the blistering sun.
The second difficulty is that the planning for this festival began far too late to secure volunteers, solidify performers and participants and most importantly to raise public awareness. Though Saint Bernadette sent out emails and Facebook invites, we did not see ANY promotion for this event, except the radio appearances on WEBE and save one mention in Fairfield Weekly’s 7 Days column which read, and I quote “the flyer we got was short on specifics — like who’s playing and exhibiting”. Also, this mention listed the event’s start time as 4, which was later changed to 3, most likely to accommodate the performance of Saint Bernadette who, after we called them up confused, the organizers quickly added to the roster the day before but did not manage to include t in the festival program’s Performer’s List (except, of course, for our picture on the front).
The final difficulty is that no one at this festival seemed to realize that musicians utilize large and heavy equipment that cannot be carried long distances, in any case, and certainly not in the afore-mentioned blistering sun. When artists arrived at the BAM Festival, they were greeted by a sign reading “ARTIST REGISTRATION’. Under the sign was an empty table with no one sitting there. What we would be registering for was quite unclear anyway, but the fact remained that there was no one there who seemed to have the expressed responsibility of informing the bands where to park, load-in, find some water, etc.
However, there was someone there with the expressed purpose of saying things like “I don’t know who told you that you could park here.”
The musicians and bands of Bridgeport are a very talented and community-minded group, always willing to offer their services in exchange for an interested audience. Some of the best groups were enlisted to be part of this event – Cosmic Jibaros, Left Field Rhythms and others – these bands who are customarily paid for their work offered to play for free in exchange for the opportunity play for a local audience. But most of the prime slots, the slots AFTER anyone with a job had left that job – were given to out of town bands, unknown to Bridgeport and unknown in general, for reasons that are unknown.
In the end, Mother Nature took charge and cancelled this event before it could be declared an un-success, offering up the perfect Act of God explanation to anyone wondering what exactly it was supposed to be. We’ll never know, will we, because by the time the city of Bridgeport’s residents got out of work on Friday, the skies had already opened up and shut down the BAM Festival before they would ever be able to see for themselves.
Saint Bernadette congratulates everyone involved for what they attempted to do and for the parts of the festival that did come together – excellent sound by Alltel, great video coverage by people from Clearlight, a truly diverse Bridgeport-tastic sampling of people (i.e. people from the Caribbean islands, alternative artist types who work for themselves, people laid off from work, homeless people, the Mayor). And Saint Bernadette truly appreciates any opportunity to perform and would never discourage anyone from trying to do something fun and community based.
However, as we have all seen so many times before in Bridgeport, there are many, many, many factors involved with doing events. If it were easy, then life would just be one long string of wonderful events. But it is not easy and it takes a large group of people with a lot of experience working together with plenty of time to prepare. It is a unique skill set that is different from the management and promotion of other kinds of business. To all the budding promoters/event organizers/programmers out there in Bridgeport, Saint Bernadette strongly advises that you consult other successful promoters/event organizers/programmers and get their advice, get their suggestions, get their playbook before you take on the planning of your own festival.
The City of Bridgeport needs you and Saint Bernadette has faith in you!
