Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Carlsbad or bust

Annual music festival turns to Kickstarter for support

With dwindling support, the Carlsbad Music Festival hits up Kickstarter.
With dwindling support, the Carlsbad Music Festival hits up Kickstarter.

The simple math works like this: another $8000 needs to be pledged this week or the Carlsbad Music Festival gets a big fat zero. At the time of writing, 32 potential donors have thus far pledged just over $4000 toward a goal of $12,000. The Kickstarter campaign returns are enough to give anyone the shivers, but festival founder/producer Matthew McBane is unyielding. “That money is crucial to running the festival. We have to get it.”

Carlsbad Music Fest founder/producer Matthew McBane selects "adventurous music," naming rock, jazz, contemporary classical, and even Kenyan percussion acts.

McBane, who lives in Brooklyn these days but spends a good deal of time in Carlsbad, tells the Reader that the Carlsbad fest has used Kickstarter in the past to supplement grants that have dried up.“There was a special-events grant we’d been getting from the City of Carlsbad for $10,000, but it had a three-year limit.” He used Kickstarter to replace that money, for example. “We raised another $5000 using Kickstarter last year, but this year we decided to go for $12,000, since it’s our 12th anniversary of putting on the festival.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Other grants come to the nonprofit music festival through the county board of supervisors. “From them, we get what’s called a Community Enhancement grant. This year, we got $8000 to help with both the festival and our Music Walk next June. The City of Carlsbad Arts Office gives us another $8000, and then we get private donations, sponsorships, and ad revenues from selling space in the programs.”

McBane explains that the festival, with the exception of a few ticketed events, is free to the public. “I try to select for diversity,” he says, naming rock, jazz, contemporary classical, even Kenyan percussionists in a mix that he calls “adventurous music. Our audience, therefore, is across the age spectrum.” He says the event draws some 4500 in attendance each year.

“All of our musicians are paid [this year the festival plans to stage 120 performers over three days], and then we have our production costs, like staging and equipment, festival staff, and salaries for three year-round employees.” McBane, 36, started the Carlsbad Music Festival after he graduated from USC. He’s a composer by trade and he fronts his own band, which has likewise appeared at his festival. Who watches the farm while he’s on the East Coast? “Kate Oberjat, the festival managing director, she’s in Carlsbad full-time.”

Meanwhile, the money clock is counting down.

“Well, if we don’t make our Kickstarter goal, then we’d have to radically cut back on the free concerts.”

The festival will be held August 28–30.

[Prior to publication, Carlsbad Music Festival achieved their goal, raising $12,250 from 58 backers — Ed.]

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
With dwindling support, the Carlsbad Music Festival hits up Kickstarter.
With dwindling support, the Carlsbad Music Festival hits up Kickstarter.

The simple math works like this: another $8000 needs to be pledged this week or the Carlsbad Music Festival gets a big fat zero. At the time of writing, 32 potential donors have thus far pledged just over $4000 toward a goal of $12,000. The Kickstarter campaign returns are enough to give anyone the shivers, but festival founder/producer Matthew McBane is unyielding. “That money is crucial to running the festival. We have to get it.”

Carlsbad Music Fest founder/producer Matthew McBane selects "adventurous music," naming rock, jazz, contemporary classical, and even Kenyan percussion acts.

McBane, who lives in Brooklyn these days but spends a good deal of time in Carlsbad, tells the Reader that the Carlsbad fest has used Kickstarter in the past to supplement grants that have dried up.“There was a special-events grant we’d been getting from the City of Carlsbad for $10,000, but it had a three-year limit.” He used Kickstarter to replace that money, for example. “We raised another $5000 using Kickstarter last year, but this year we decided to go for $12,000, since it’s our 12th anniversary of putting on the festival.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Other grants come to the nonprofit music festival through the county board of supervisors. “From them, we get what’s called a Community Enhancement grant. This year, we got $8000 to help with both the festival and our Music Walk next June. The City of Carlsbad Arts Office gives us another $8000, and then we get private donations, sponsorships, and ad revenues from selling space in the programs.”

McBane explains that the festival, with the exception of a few ticketed events, is free to the public. “I try to select for diversity,” he says, naming rock, jazz, contemporary classical, even Kenyan percussionists in a mix that he calls “adventurous music. Our audience, therefore, is across the age spectrum.” He says the event draws some 4500 in attendance each year.

“All of our musicians are paid [this year the festival plans to stage 120 performers over three days], and then we have our production costs, like staging and equipment, festival staff, and salaries for three year-round employees.” McBane, 36, started the Carlsbad Music Festival after he graduated from USC. He’s a composer by trade and he fronts his own band, which has likewise appeared at his festival. Who watches the farm while he’s on the East Coast? “Kate Oberjat, the festival managing director, she’s in Carlsbad full-time.”

Meanwhile, the money clock is counting down.

“Well, if we don’t make our Kickstarter goal, then we’d have to radically cut back on the free concerts.”

The festival will be held August 28–30.

[Prior to publication, Carlsbad Music Festival achieved their goal, raising $12,250 from 58 backers — Ed.]

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dia de los Muertos Celebration, Love Thy Neighbor(Hood): Food & Art Exploration

Events November 2-November 6, 2024
Next Article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader