Harvesting the FAM Festival returns with a new schedule and cash for bands


Stephen Hargreaves
MANAGING EDITOR


Harvesting the FAM Festival, the ever evolving festival of independent fashion, film, arts and music is moving into its seventh instalment starting Friday, though with a few changes.

“The spirit of the festival has remained very much the same, I think it always will,” said FAM Fest organizer Murad Erzinclioglu, who admits that organizing this year’s festival has been challenging. He is responsible for most of the logistical elements of FAM and has been trying to weave the planning in between work, school and his own band; Learning.

“We (Erzinclioglu and co-founder Ben Young) started the festival as a way to get our own art and music out there,” he said of the festival that began on the campus of the University of Windsor in 2006.

FAM Fest has traditionally been held over a week, but the scope of the event has increased. “This year, things are a little different,” explained Erzinclioglu. “It’s the same amount of talent, but spread out over a longer period of time … three weekends.”

Perhaps the most notable change to the 2012 edition is the introduction of pay for musicians. FAM, though outright about not paying performers in the past, has still incurred criticism for not offering to pay bands for playing.

“We reworked our budget, re-examined where we were spending our money and made some changes to our venue selections in the interest of playing to the strengths of the locations. So we were able to cut our cost way down.”

Following conversations with Milk Coffee Bar owner Angelo Marignani and musician James O-L, Erzinclioglu developed a plan to take 15 per cent of the earnings at the bar and divide that between the bands on the bill and the festival to cover promotional costs.
Other participating artists, including visual artists, fashion designers and film makers will not be paid but take 100 per cent of any sales resulting from the festival exposure.

“Hopefully, some of the haters and some of the neigh sayers will come out to the FAM Fest and not feel ‘bad’ about it,” said Erzinclioglu.

Erzinclioglu hopes that people will not only check out the bands playing over the weeks, including local favourites The Nefidovs and The Unquiet Dead, but also the fashion show featuring local designers, an event that Murad said is “looking really good.”

He also is excited about the film screenings. “There is a great film about a prankster turner hip-hop artist … and an incredible documentary by our most stand-out filmmaker over the years, Eric Boucher, called Windsor; A Love Story, and it really examines the cultural community in Windsor.”

“I’m just really excited to get it going,” said Erzinclioglu.

Harvesting the FAM Festival begins on Friday, Sept. 28 with two music showcases at Phog Lounge and FM Lounge and runs through Oct. 12. For full details and event listings, see famfest.ca.