Festival Directory

[jayrodin]

I think it would be cool if we had a sort of festival directory where we could cross reference times and locations. Like you could search for a festival that would be in Iowa in May. It would list all the festivals you could click on them and it would give all the important details about the fest. Like, the date, if it's easy to crash or not, the good pitches, who to get in contact with, all that sorta thing. It would also be cool if users could add festivals and the reviews to the directory. Thanks.

[Frisbee]

At one point in time I had heard that checkerboard guy and Jim were going to merge databases to PNET...checkers had a database list you could become a member of on his old site and I do not think that it ever came to fruition.

There are lots of good database site out there though and if you know where to look, you will have your hands full of stuff.

It is not all that hard, try going to google.

[gav]

See Jay.
We're really not the sharing types.

[martin ewen]

I've had a google work search catchment rigged for I suppose about 2 years now. Every day i get 10-30 different links that contains the words, 'street festival, street performance festival, buskers, buskers festival and a few other tags.

They automatically get shovelled into a folder which now has a staggering amount of data regarding festivals international and regional,

I started to look at filing programs but got discouraged at the enormity of the task.

Raw info is easy to get and there are a few good fest listing sites out there.
don't make me look them up, google.

But a tiered schedule cross checkable by month and location with confirmed contact details for each. Thats a code monkey slog.

I'd do it for about 20 grand and it would take me 6 months and i'd want half the money up front.

That kind of work is what seperates the improvisers from the career architechs.

[Jim]

I had a dream of such a thing about 10 years ago. Then about 5 years ago I actively started working on it and then got discouraged and shelved it.

I know exactly how it would work and I even have the visual template of what the pages would look like. I just don't have the skills to program what I want it to do.

A few quotes I got for the job ran from $5000- $15,000. And I ain't shelling out that kind of cash up front for something you people (and me) would want to be free.

If there are any database whiz kids out there who would be willing to work on this thing with me, I'd be happy to put in the time to do it. But I don't have the cash to pay what you're probably going to want to be paid.

If anyone wants to discuss this, feel free to email me.

[Lynneski]

Part of the reason why the information is so difficult to make useful (notice I didn't say that it's difficult to find) is that it is contained incompletely in so many places, duplicated, to different granularity. Lemme give you a Canadian ferinstance...

Do you want info on fairs in Canada? You might try looking at a National industry association like here:

http://www.canadian-fairs.ca/fairinfo.html

Do you want an easily searchable database where you can find listings of festivals by month or community? You might find a region/province/state/country has that info as part of it's tourism strategy like here:

http://www.ontariotravel.net/TcisCtrl?site=consumers&key1=experiences&key2=FestivalsAndEvents&language=EN&linkType=I

Want something more than just fairs? There are other industry associations that are organized by geography:

http://www.festivalsandeventsontario.ca/

There are also international associations:

http://www.ifea.com/

While the big associations on the surface appear to offer more comprehensive information, you must realize that festivals need to pay to belong (and be listed) and the fees for some of these groups are well beyond the reach of individual small community events. Many, many events go unlisted there that are prime sources of work for you.

I've been a member of all of these groups, except the first, at one point or another - for many years, to all simultaneously - and I'm not always sure where to go to get good up-to-date and useful information.

None of those groups will coordinate their information with others, since that information is their inherent value - and processing it in various ways is how they earn (hypothetically) their fees.

[Stretch]

search here by

Search here by month and or location and or type of event etc. Small anual fee. well worth it.

[jayrodin]

Well hell, I'd pay for something like that. It would be of great great use to everyone. Can we set up some sort of fund raiser or something? I think we could do $5000 if that'd really get the job done. Here's my $50 where do I send it?

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

send it here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071468188/ref=cm_sp_item/104-5802701-6111916

very incomplete, but very helpful.