L-R: Rand Foster, Ashley Hectus, Justin Hectus, Bobby Easton, Jenny Stockdale
The Arts Council for Long Beach recently announced this year’s Distinguished Arts Honorees. Arts and Services for the Disabled founder Helen Dolas was selected as Distinguished Arts Leader, and Garage Theatre Managing Director Eric Hamme was chosen to receive the Distinguished Arts Volunteer award. Mixed media artist and designer Andrew Dupas II is being honored as an Emerging Artist and Arts Leader, and the celebrated ‘eco’ artist, Paul Hogue, is being recognized as the Distinguished Artist of the Year.
The prestigious James H. Ackerman Arts Philanthropy Award is being given to Justin Hectus and Rand Foster who, together with a team of amazing local talent, created the annual Summer And Music concert series in Downtown Long Beach. The awards will be presented at the annual State of the Arts event, taking place on Thursday, March 18th, at the Expo Arts Center.
Sander: Can you speak a bit about your original vision for SAM?
Rand: After years of watching friends have to leave Long Beach to build an audience and feel appreciated, we set out to try to create a more nurturing environment for local musicians. Justin found out about a program that funded a Downtown live music program, but brought out-of-towners in as the talent, so we saw the opportunity to direct that back to the local artists.
I think it important to point out, though, that SAM was not your first collaboration. You had both been working together on Schooled In Song which, in my mind, was perhaps a precursor of SAM. Especially the 2nd round, which was part of University By The Sea.
Justin: Back in the day, I was managing a band (“Mention“) and I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of the musicians, on a personal level, at the Space. [The Space was a unique collaborative performance, recording, and residential warehouse shared by many music artists. – srw] Schooled in Song was really an effort by Jay Buchanan and I to bring some of the magic we felt in that community of musicians out to a broad audience. We sold tickets and donated all the profits to after school music programs.
R: Justin came to me with most of the first Schooled in Song fully formed, so our contribution was to help with awareness, ticketing, and selling CDs for the bands at the show. Afterwards, we pretty quickly became good friends and saw the opportunity to continue the vision with University by the Sea. Because it was on the streets, rather than the Carpenter Center, we had to learn about the “whatever it takes” nature of doing something like this outside the traditional infrastructure. Through this, we started to look at the streets as a venue, and that helped a lot, since there are so few live music rooms in Long Beach.
J: That second Schooled in Song featured 30 bands, six DJ’s and three poets. It was a free event, so we raised money through raffles and donations, and turned them into some modest but meaningful scholarships for High School students. Jay Buchanan also played an instrumental role in planning, executing and performing at that event. We have been kicking around ideas for another show, but he’s so busy being a rock God and all.
I know that John Morris, founder of Legends in Belmont Shore, past owner of Smooths and, before that, Mum’s, played a part in connecting the two of you to the DLBA. Can you talk a bit about that?
J: John asked me to do a series of shows at Smooth’s (“Twice on Sundays“) after Schooled in Song II, and we got to know each other pretty well. At some point he suggested that we pitch the DLBA with a new vision for their summer music series.
R: Justin has been my gateway to meeting a lot of folks like John, who was on my radar, obviously, but who I hadn’t met before we approached him about doing things on Pine Ave.
J: We went to the DLBA with a pitch to hire local musicians and do a mix of small guerrilla-type shows and some large-scale concept shows. They loved it and they were incredibly supportive from day one. They have really been a great partner, and we all share a vision of connecting the community through music and the arts.
R: The DLBA was off my radar, too, since so much of what I was doing was happening in Belmont Shore. SAM really opened my eyes to downtown.
Wow! That’s right. I had forgotten that SAM started before you had seriously considered moving or, perhaps more accurately, before you developed a plan to move.
R: That egg was definitely before the chicken. I wasn’t thinking about moving at all, let alone thinking about a new area. After spending a few years seeing the potential of the neighborhood, and the kinds of things the DLBA was supporting, Downtown became much more appealing to me.
J: Bobby Easton was on board from the start with his dream of Funk Fest, and my sister Ashley has done everything from booking bands to executing shows to cleaning up the occasional green room mess. The rest of the team was rounded out by local designers (Jeff Gould and Travis Bos), writers (especially Jenny Stockdale), videographers (Elliot Glass, Shea Newkirk and Shawn and Roberta King) and so many more talented artists.
Out of the gate, the whole effort was pretty ambitious, and pretty successful. Did you have a sense, going in, what the result would be?
R: Coming off of Schooled in Song’s two shows, I think we had a good sense that there was interest on both the band and the community side, so it wasn’t like we were going in blind. Still, those were well advertised shows, and a lot of our first season was guerrilla, so there was definitely a vision, but until we did it, we didn’t know if anyone would come out to see Jessica Dobson playing with an amp in a wagon on the corner of 1st and Pine. Happily they did and, because of it, Jessica now plays with the Shins.
Sadly, those smaller events have gone by the wayside, but they evolved into Busker Fest, right?
J: They did, and they will also see a return this season.
R: It was really tough to put the energy into a small show, when it took the same resources for something with more reach. We are working on a plan, this year, that will hopefully bring some of that charm back, though.
Last year, Funk Fest was the biggest it has ever been. I remember, at some point, standing with Ashley atop a nearby parking structure and seeing thousands and thousands of smiling faces. In the midst of it all, do you have time to step back and really feel that?
J: During the summer, we’re usually pressed, dealing with deadlines and little sleep and focused on execution, but I think we have a few of those moments of wonder each year. They usually come during the final few events, and I remember that feeling at Funk Fest. It was amazing. The size and mix of that crowd, and the sense of shared joy is something else.
R: I believe all of us were among those smiling faces by the time it ended, so yeah…once all wrinkles smooth out, we definitely join the revelers.
Do you have an estimate of the number of people the events have drawn to downtown?
J: We estimated 25,000 throughout the course of 40 shows during the first season, and it is fair to say that we’ve had 20,000 per year in each of the following three years. Estimating crowds without the benefit of a ticket count is difficult, but the DLBA has developed a solid survey methodology, so our estimates of both crowd size and economic impact have become more accurate each year.
One of the great things about the survey system is that we get a more accurate sense of our audience demographics. At Funk Fest IV, for example, 75% of the attendees did not live downtown. These events are bringing people downtown and sending them on their way with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts.
When the RDA went away, it forced you to rethink things a bit. I know, at that time, you were concerned that you might have to abandon components that you really cared about but, ultimately, it seems to have allowed you to improve on the larger events. Care to speak to that?
R: When the RDA went away, the City was pretty quick to step in and offer their support, so the “bolt from the blue” impact of the RDA going away was lessened. This gave us time to rethink, plan for budget adjustments, and get comfortable reworking our plans. This year, due to budget cuts, is actually this first time we’re working with significantly smaller budget, but because the City came in last year, we’re in a much better place to deal with it.
You’ve really focused on three main events. We’ve talked about Funk Fest a bit, and mentioned BuskerFest, but we’ve not discussed the Battle of the Tribute Bands. I don’t think the origins of this event have ever been discussed publicly. What’s the story?
J: Rand thinks it was his idea.
R: Justin is secretly stuck in the 80s.
Secretly?
J: [laughs] Jerks.
Don’t be ashamed of who you are, Justin. We love you despite your baffling musical predilections.
J: We have always made an effort to cover as much of the musical spectrum as possible and, in year one, Ashley had suggested that we use some local tribute bands. Right around the same time, Councilman O’Donnell told me that he thought doing a battle of the bands would be fun. Boom goes the dynamite. It will likely be off the calendar for this year, but we still like the event and it may return down the road.
Right now, the plan is to move Funk Fest to the front of the season and make it a low-cost ticketed event, which will help us fund the rest of the season. In addition to the other book-end of BuskerFest, we are planning some guerilla shows (ala year one) and some new mid-sized concept shows for July. Last year’s Dancing in the Streets on Pine was huge, and we would like to use that as a model for potential replacements for Battle.
Dancing in the Streets was a play off of the spontaneous dance party that took place after BuskerFest a few years ago. We brought Nick Waterhouse and DJ Lithuanian Prince to the Anderson’s Paint & Hardware parking lot on Pine and 7th Street. We had about 1400 people there and it was a lot of fun.
What does the Ackerman award mean for you?
J: I first learned that we were nominated the day that [ACLB Executive Director] John Glaza told us that we were selected for the honor. We didn’t even know that we were in the mix. Receiving this particular recognition is a huge deal for me. Jim Ackerman was larger than life and he made a huge difference in this community. He was also an important person to Skip [Keesel] and so receiving any recognition associated with Jim’s name is incredibly meaningful on a personal level.
R: I really love what ACLB does, but this award is one that was off my radar, I was very pleased to hear that we were selected, but that was the first I’d heard about us even being considered. We had to look for a definition of philanthropy that fits what we do. I think we both picture philanthropy, in the traditional sense, as centering around someone’s checkbook and desire to support a passion. Neither of us have that checkbook, so it’s great to be acknowledged for just having the desire and the passion.
John Glaza, Executive Director for the Arts Council for Long Beach, offered an explanation.
John: Philanthropy extends beyond giving money. It’s about giving back to your community, something Mr. Ackerman was extraordinary at. He gave his support, counsel, money and time. Our James H. Ackerman honorees have done that as well. As co-founders of Summer and Music, as active members in the business community helping to foster the creative culture of Long Beach, and as advocates for the arts, Justin Hectus and Rand Foster epitomize what Mr. Ackerman was about: Service to community.
Justin: I served on the Arts Council Board for nine years and I have seen it change tremendously. The organization continues to move in the direction of being a key service provider, convener and supporter of the arts, and it is really gratifying to see it continue to strengthen and grow under the leadership of John and the current board. SAM is hoping to work closely with the Arts Council to co-produce some shows as part of the NEA-funded A LOT series this year, and it seems that a significant number of local artists and arts groups will likewise have an opportunity to bring their creativity out to the streets.
This year and next, with the additional funding from the NEA, the Arts Council will be paying out more than one dollar directly to artists or arts groups for every dollar received from the city.
Do you have a sense, beyond the numbers, of the impact of SAM on the city?
Justin: It is hard to quantify or articulate, but it is easy to understand if you attend Funk Fest or any of the SAM events and let yourself get caught up in the splendor of the day. Music has a unique ability to break down socio-economic barriers and make us all brothers and sisters. I believe that with all my heart. In a community as diverse as Long Beach and in an urban environment like downtown, we need music to bring us together.
State of the Arts 2013 takes place on Thursday, March 28, from 6 to 8 PM, at the Expo Arts Center in Bixby Knolls. The address is 4321 Atlantic. Doors open at 5PM.
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