Aurelio Martinez (Photo by Richard Holder)
There’s a variation on an old show business adage that’s been tweaked to become a popular sentiment during the entertainment-starved days of the pandemic: “The show must go on(line).” Rather than take a year off, some of the city’s best-known annual events are going virtual to keep your attention and their momentum. The city’s centerpiece concert series, the Richmond Folk Festival, gets into the act this month. From the same spot on the couch where you may be reading this, you can witness the varied dance and musical talents that the event attracts for three days each fall — on television, on radio and on your Wi-Fi-enabled device. Yes, there will be radio replays of recent performances from festivals past on VPM radio, a television show and virtual concerts. Stephen Lecky, director of events for Venture Richmond, says he’ll miss the days of preparation and the city skyline of past festivals, but there’s a lot to look forward to in the 16th year of the seminal event, as it transitions to various platforms this month. He adds that taking a year off wasn’t an option.
“We know what the festival means to so many people, the least of which are the 1,200 volunteers that love this event, work this event every year,” he says. “This event holds a really special place in a lot of folks’ hearts, and I think now more than ever, folks are obviously yearning for that connection.”
Mythili Prakash (Photo courtesy Venture Richmond)
They’ll have new ways to connect this year. On Oct. 9-11, a television program will air on VPM Channel 57 that will feature an eclectic mix of musicians and performers, something that the Richmond Folk Festival is known for. The lineup includes Central American artist Aurelio Martinez, Irish fiddle sounds from Eileen Ivers, tap dancing from the Jason Samuels Smith & The Winard Harper Trio, western swing from Texas natives The Quebe Sisters and many others. Not a lot of household names, but if you’ve been to a folk festival, next to the funnel cakes, discovering new music might be the most delicious thing. There will also be sets from local artists Cora Harvey Armstrong, Jared Pool, Butcher Brown and others, shot at a local studio and debuting at the festival.
One place that you won’t see a folk festival artist is live on stage. As drive-in concerts have become almost normal in recent weeks, Lecky says that kind of thing wouldn’t work for the festival crowd, which enjoys good food and free music.
The Quebe Sisters (Photo courtesy Venture Richmond)
“While the artists that we are presenting for the folk festival are amazing and world-class musicians, they're not the artists that you likely will hear on the radio and that have the ability to sell 500 tickets to a concert,” he says. “What seems to be working for those drive-in shows are bands that have a little more name, either locally or nationally. And then along with that, a fairly high ticket price, which is understandable to help cover the expenses of the production of doing that. I'm not knocking that, I'm just saying that's not necessarily our bag.”
The festival has always had more to offer besides music. This year, organizers will try to re-create that experience online as well, with activities for children that recall the family area at Brown’s Island, the usual site of the event. The activities are put together by the Children’s Museum of Richmond and include videos on how to make a bag hat, creating a sofa stage for in-home performances and story time with selections from the museum’s book bank. The island won’t be the scene of any performances, but it will be the site of an art installation by Kevin Orlosky, which opens on Friday, Oct 2. On Sunday, Oct. 4, the public may contribute to the sculpture, which deals with ways people are coping with the pandemic. There’s also the Richmond Folk Festival scavenger hunt, which covers much of the space typically used for the festival and has already begun.
“We've got a lot of different opportunities for folks to take in the festival. We've got a lot of varied activities happening outside of being online,” Lecky says. “So there's much more than just virtual. I worry that that term is limiting, in a sense that people are likely burnt out on that. We've got a lot more than just going onto YouTube or Facebook to enjoy this event.”
Pivoting from multiple stages in an outdoor setting to a virtual event across several platforms within a few months isn’t easy. Fortunately, as in previous years, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, which held the first folk festivals in Richmond before handing the event to local partners, is providing assistance. Blaine Waide is the associate director of the Maryland-based NCTA, which is a producing partner of the annual event. He says it was a challenge to get videos from the acts and create a presentation that built on the festival’s reputation for bringing a diverse group of performers together.
“We pride ourselves on the festival being about celebrating all Americans and all cultural communities in America and being a wonderful example of cultural democracy,” Waide says. “And then going into the process of trying to get artists to do videos and send them in, you start running into how some of the inequities in the country sort of manifest themselves in technology and just trying to sort that out.”
He adds that the opportunity to record their performances was welcomed by many artists who haven’t worked as often due to the pandemic.
“Having a chance to perform, having a reason to get together, has been really inspiring for artists because some of these folks had not performed together until we had reached out to them,” he says. “So, while challenging, the end result has been really uplifting, and I think it's just been a nice connection for everybody to reengage after months of just kind of keeping your head down.”
