The Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival will use this Giving Tuesday to support the Summerfolk Endowment Fund – and to mildly annoy the Artistic Director – with a tie dye themed campaign.
Giving Tuesday is an international campaign to support charitable organizations on the Tuesday following Black Friday. This year, Summerfolk will share a tie dye themed campaign across their social media channels to encourage fans and community members to support the festival’s endowment.
It is hard to imagine a sunny summer folk festival without at least some tie dye. Summerfolk traditionally has at least one craft vendor selling it and it’s not uncommon to see festival goers of every age decked out in those spiralling colour. Not every folkie is a fan of tie dye, however, and Summerfolk’s Artistic Director James Keelaghan is one of the nay-sayers.
“People who know me know that I have a visceral dislike of tie dye,” Keelaghan confesses in one online video. “ It’s just one of my things. I have one piece of tie dye and it’s a shirt that my boys made for me at Summerfolk ten years ago”.
Summerfolk’s fundraising campaign is challenging the community to support the endowment and to change Keelaghan’s mind about tie dye.
“We’re turning Giving Tuesday into tie dye Tuesday, supporting the festival and educating me about tie dye,” Keelaghan said. “ It is a music and crafts festival after all so our team is going to teach me how to make it too. You can follow along as we post videos and interview local crafts peoples. You can also share your perspective. We want to hear your opinion on what makes tie dye so great”.
Keelaghan has even promised to wear tie dye if the campaign reaches its goal of $5,000 on November 30th.
The Summerfolk Endowment Fund is held by the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce to ensure a more stable and reliable income stream for the festival. For Summerfolk, the endowment is literally a type of rainy day fund. According to Keelaghan, as an outdoor event Summerfolk can suffer financially on years with bad weather when rain or cold discourage fair-weather fans. Those bad-weather years then impact Summefolk’s ability to support year round initiatives that promote folk music and art.
“The Endowment Fund, as people add to it, gives us a benefit every year and makes for a secure future for the festival. For 46 years, Summerfolk has happened because of the support of the community and hard work of volunteers. We’re encouraging people to donate on Giving Tuesday to ensure that the festival will always be here”.
For information about the Summerfolk Endowment Fund visit www.summerfolk.org or call the Summerfolk Office at 519-371-2995. Information is also available through the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce website and office.
source: media release
