Speakers Spotlight

Carl Spence
Founder and principal,
CCS Arts

Speaking on SOLVING SPECIAL CHALLENGES OF SMALLER/NICHE FILM FESTIVALS

Carl Spence is the founder and principal of CCS Arts. He was instrumental in growing the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) into one of the largest film festivals in North America over two decades. He most recently held the position of Festival Director and Chief Curator at SIFF. He has been the Director of Programming with the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival. In 2014, he co-founded the Orcas Island Film Festival. His current consulting clients include the Miami International Film Festival as a Senior Programmer; The Orcas Island Film Festival as Co-Director and Chief Curator and FilmFreeway, a film submission and ticketing platform for the world’s best film festivals and creative contests.

Gary Meyer
Publisher/Director,
EatDrinkFilms

Speaking on SOLVING SPECIAL CHALLENGES OF SMALLER/NICHE FILM FESTIVALS

Gary Meyer started his first theater, The Above-Ground Theater, in the family barn when he was twelve-years-old.  After film school at SFSU he was hired as a booker for United Artists Theatres “grad school”--- it was prep to co-founding the national art house chain Landmark Theatres in 1975. After the partners sold Landmark, Gary consulted on many projects including developing concepts for Sundance Cinemas and the Business/Programming/Marketing Plan for Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Rose Cinemas, created the Dockers Classically Independent Film Festival, the no-budget Solstice Fest and Tube Film Festival for the X Games. He joined the Telluride Film Festival in 1998, becoming a Festival Co-Director in 2007-2014. He founded the online magazine, EatDrinkFilms.com in April 2014, and EatDrinkFilms presents food and beverage related films with tastings. Meyer also consults with Cinetopia, Devour! In Nova Scotia and does specialized programming for food, music and film festivals.
 

Curt Mosel
Chief Operating Officer,
ArtsQuest

Speaking on FESTIVAL BOOTCAMP: HOW TO START, GROW AND PROMOTE YOUR NEW FESTIVAL!

As Chief Operating Officer for ArtsQuest, Curt Mosel leads a 30 plus-person team responsible for marketing, public relations, ticketing, operations, merchandise, IT and corporate partnership initiatives supporting the nonprofit’s arts and cultural programming for the region. These events and programs - the majority of which are free to attend - include Musikfest, the nation’s largest free music festival; 12 arts and cultural festivals; and the programs of the ArtsQuest Center and SteelStacks, an adaptive reuse of the city’s former Bethlehem Steel plant that has transformed the old mill into a thriving arts and entertainment district.
 

Making Music Taste Better:
Music Festivals Embrace the Culinary Obsession

Talent-laden lineups draw vast amounts of people to music festivals every year, providing attendees with the opportunity to see all their favorite artists in one magical location. This year alone, copious amounts of people swarmed to Coachella, with numbers exceeding a record-setting...

Beat the Burn-Out: The care and feeding of the festival staff
 

Speaker:


Emily E. Brown
M.S. Nutrition/Physiology, Genetic Garden LLC
 

Being a Director or staff member of a festival is not just a job, it’s a marathon. The amount of energy necessary for festival production is equal to that of an endurance athlete. There is physical, psychological and nutritional work required to combat adrenal depletion.  This is no easy physical feat!  Through the lens of an exercise physiologist and nutritionist, you will learn training protocols that will ensure your health throughout the event.  Topics will include energy maintenance, pain prevention, exercise-induced inflammation, and nutritional requirements. 

 

Vendor Village Best Practices
 

Speaker:
 

Michael Bleau
Co-founder and Director, Sales, Events Locker
 

Learn best practices for vendor village design, sales and management. What should you charge, how do you get paid, how do you manage the process and what’s the best mix of vendors? Cultivate a vendor village that drives revenue while enhancing the event experience for your attendees, and minimizes the drag on your production team. You won’t want to miss this!

Is your festival green? Does your festival have the wow factor? Or does it give back to the community? Enter to win "Best of the Fests”, our annual Awards Ceremony recognizing North America's worthy festivals. All recipients receive complimentary passes to the conference and ceremony on November 18th in Santa Barbara.

This year, FestForums will be honoring “Living Legend" & recording artist Kenny Loggins - who will be performing live after the “Best of the Fest” Awards show.

Speakers Spotlight

Keith Goldberg
Chief Revenue Officer,
Vendini

Speaker: TICKETING: THE NEW MODEL

Mr. Keith Goldberg has been the Chief Revenue Officer at Vendini, Inc. since December 2014 and served as its Vice President of Marketing and Product. Mr. Goldberg has been at Vendini since 2011. He started consulting for a myriad of Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Goldberg graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania receiving a degree in Entrepreneurial Management in 1991.

Allison McGourty
Creator, Writer, Producer, Photographer

Speaker: WOMEN IN THE ARTS MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Allison McGourty is an award-winning film producer, writer and music supervisor based in Los Angeles. She is the creator, writer and producer of the Emmy nominated series American Epic narrated by Robert Redford and Executive Produced by Redford, Jack White and T Bone Burnett, and co-authored the American Epic book, published by Simon and Schuster in 2017. She is a Sundance alumnus, a member of the Television Academy, the Writers Guild of American West, the International Documentary Association and the co-founder of Lo-Max Films.

Zach Tetreault
Co-Founder,
FORM Arcosanti Festival

Speaker: PURPOSEFUL FESTIVALS AND THE ADAPTING FESTIVAL CULTURE

Zach Tetreault is the drummer of musical group Hundred Waters and Co-Founder of FORM Arcosanti festival. Held at the architectural micro-city of Arcosanti, Arizona: FORM has challenged the model of modern music festivals through it's unique application process and minimal impact initiatives. The festival is approaching it's fifth year in 2018.
 

Sebastian Mair
Director/Consultant,
Creativeman Productions

Speaker: PURPOSEFUL FESTIVALS AND THE ADAPTING FESTIVAL CULTURE

Born and raised in Toronto, Sebastian started his music industry career in Canada before relocating to Tokyo in 1996. Since co-founding Music Solutions, he has been a fixture in the Asian music industry, working a who's who of the industry including AEG Live, Live Nation (Japan), Rock Star Touring Artists, Fujipacific Music, Roadrunner Records and Export Music Sweden. He also served as Cultural Officer at the Embassy of Canada from 2007-2012. Sebastian is also a music supervisor for film and television projects and handles music programming for top level brands (Starbucks, Hilton Hotels, Starwood Hotels, etc.). Sebastian is a Director/Consultant at Creativeman Productions which is the largest music festival promoter in Japan. He’s also a co-founder of Singapore-based live music start-up Bandit (http://bandit.live).

Laurel Robinson
Owner and Director,
Telluride Wine Fest

Speaker: CANNABIS AT FESTIVALS: THE 411 ON 420

Under the direction of Laurel Robinson, the mission of the Telluride Wine Festival is ambitious and far-reaching: to stimulate the local economy, educate attendees about some of the finer things in life, and donate a large portion of event proceeds to support the Telluride region’s food-producing community.

Having once been a caterer, a chef and nutritionist was Laurel’s training ground for running a food-based event. She is a production farmer that makes her own cheese and grows much of her own food. She has traveled extensively, seeking out culinary arts and techniques in hotbeds of gastronomy like France and Italy. Laurel was even a commercial fisherman in Alaska.