After a wild 2010, Kindiefest is back for another weekend of margaritas, dancing, and heart-to-heart chats.
No, Kindiefest is not a college reunion, though it clearly felt like it at times. (There were even afterparties.)
What it is, of course, is a conference for musicians, writers, producers, and others interested in the family music genre. I've already written a lot about my experiences at the conference the past couple years. And I still go back to the idea of "owning your stuff" that I first wrote about last year.
Registration for Kindiefest 2011 is now open. It's scheduled for April 29 through May 1 once again at Littlefield NYC in Brooklyn. If you're at all local to NYC, then attending the conference shouldn't really even be a question. At less than $100 for the conference (if you register now), it's pretty reasonable price-wise. And while the panels are good, the real value I think is in the opportunity to spend time with other folks doing the same thing you are. All of a sudden, this thing that you have to explain to people about what you do becomes the norm. You move way past that stage and into sharing experiences and advice.
As for those of you who live a distance from NYC, I understand totally, because I'm one of you. You have to add transportation and/or lodging costs to the budget. It's no longer cheap. But for those folks the face-to-face contact is even more important. For example, I had a phone conversation just today with a couple folks I met at Kindiefest. And I think that a lot of out-of-town attendees will say that they made valuable connections with artists and presenters in other cities, connections that helped serve them as they tried to expand their own base of operations. As I have not yet tired of saying, the genre still needs to focus on growing the pie rather than having each artist figure out how to get a bigger share of a smaller pie. Kindiefest is one step towards doing so.
Finally, for those parents/fans who've made it this far, don't worry, tickets for a public Sunday show will be available soon. It was a great value last year and I expect it to be so again this year.
