Jacki Becker, organizer of the Bleeding Kansas Arts & Music Festival, will chat with readers about the bands playing at this weekend’s festival and the logistics of putting the festival on.

The event, which is Saturday at Burcham Park, will feature headliners Death Cab for Cutie and Keane along with more than 25 other bands.

ryndavis

Hi Jacki,

I am putting on a benefit concert in Burcham Park to raise awareness and funds for the victims of genocide in Darfur. The concert date is Saturday, September 30th and will run all day. Because our events are somewhat similar I was hoping you could talk to me a little on specifics – stage, p.a., engineer, lights, vendors, parking, etc. are some things I’d like to see how you are going about obtaining. If you could email me at ryndavis@ku.edu or call me at 316-650-7625 I would really appreciate it!

Thanks Jacki and good luck with the show!
Ryan

Moderator

Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us. Today we’re joined by Jacki Becker, organizer with the Bleeding Kansas Arts & Music Festival, which is Saturday at Burcham Park.

Jacki Becker

good day

Moderator

First off, please tell us the basics of the festival.

Jacki Becker

well the festival is saturday aug. 5 at burcham park off the banks of the kansas river at around 2nd and indiana. gates are at 1:30 and the event down at the park goes until 11pm. there will be three stages of music, over forty artists, lots of political informational booths, vendors plus after parties to follow the festival.

Moderator

Why did you want to put on the festival?

Moderator

We have a lot of good reader questions today. Let’s get to some of them.

Jacki Becker

as one of the organizers of the festival, i am someone who has loved living in lawrence for almost twenty years. we really wanted to highlight our solid music community in town and celebrate all the fantastic art and music and political thought that lawrence has to offer. we felt that a festival close to downtown would be a fabulous way to show our community, our state and the rest of the country that lawrence kansas is a proud oasis in a big red state.

smerdyakov

Hey Jacki-thanks to you and all the other promoters making this festival happen. I hope it goes well. I’ve got a couple questions: can we look forward to more use of Burcham for bigger shows (please)? And will there be a shuttle from the parking garages to the festival?

Jacki Becker

first off thanks for your kind words. we are definitely hoping to continue putting more festivals at burcham park. there will be a brewfest in september with keller williams and the band war. in addition we plan on continuning the bleeding kansas festival for years to come.
in terms of shuttle parking, i know that the T will be running, however there will not be shuttles this year running from downtown to the festival. i think that would be a fantastic suggestion for next year. however following the event there will be busses running from the festival to downtown for the after parties. in addition the busses will shuttle people from venue to venue if they are tired of walking. also parking on all city streets near the festival will be free and i believe we will have a place for people to park their bicycles also at the entrance

kellycorcoran

Hi Jacki,

First off, thanks for giving Love Garden the chance to sell tickets for the Bleeding Kansas festival without a service charge. I think folks should recognize that the promoters of this event made an effort to have a box office of their own for this event and should be applauded for doing so. Oh, and making the whole shindig happen.

The most common complaint I seem to hear is the rumour that the Bleeding Kansas festival will have a no re-entry policy. Would you please address why that is (or isn’t) the case and the possibility of this policy being different in possible future Bleeding Kansas festivals?

xoxo
Kelly

Jacki Becker

well kelly and the fine love garden staff, thanks for all your assistance in making our event a success.

Jacki Becker

in terms of the no re-entry policy, well it comes down to a few things, liability, responsibility and insurance. we can’t let people leave the event because liability-wise we cannot control what they might do outside the event and then potentially be held accountable for what they might do inside the event upon their return. we are allowing blankets, strollers, umbrellas into the venue along with one unopened bottled water, camelbacks for people to stay hydrated. there will be mist tents, plenty of reasonable priced concessions and lots and lots of shade throughout the site to make it a whole day of festival goodness.

field_ump

How long has this event been planned and publicised? I would have liked to attend, but I just saw an advertisement a couple of days ago and already have plans….

Jacki Becker

we have been working on this event for almost two years. planning a festival is can be quite a daunting project, but it was something we were ready and willing to do and an event we announced in mid may right before the students finished classes. i apologize that you won’t be able to attend, i know that there will be another one next year so feel free to check www.bleedingkansasfestival.com for next years date and line up

field_ump

Also, will this festival always be held the first weekend of August?

Jacki Becker

i think the date for next year is TBD. again check the website and it will give out details to next years festival.

Joel

How much inspiration did you take from Wakarusa for this event? Can Lawrence expand its musical reputation with all these festivals?

Jacki Becker

well i really think that our inspiration for the event came from other “indie” festivals across the country. events such as the intonation festival, the pitchforkmusicfestival, austin city limits and coachella were more of our inspiration. i think wakarusa is an incredible event for the lawrence area, however they are more about a weekend of camping and music, we are a more boutique one day festival which incorporates many of the fine downtown venues into the event.

Jacki Becker

i think lawrence has a long long history of supporting underground independent music. in a five block area there are over fifteen places to experience live music on any given evening. with the independent record stores, recording studios, art galleries, the venues, the promoters, lawrence.com and the deadwood also all located in downtown, we have all the essential pieces in a very small area to promote our musical culture. often cities twice our size dont even have these entertainment tools. i think a festival highlighting music and art is certainly something lawrence can accomplish and is accomplishing.

big_blue

Do you expect the same type of police presence (road blocks, mandatory searches, etc) that the Wakarusa Festival goers experienced earlier this summer? If not, why?

Jacki Becker

i do not think that we will have the same police presence like there was at wakarusa. like i mentioned earlier, wakarusa was a full weekend event, camping and music. we will not be permitting attending vehicles into burcham park so perhaps there will not be automatic automobile searches upon entering the event.

Moderator

We have time for one more question today.

PatrickJoseph

Which after-parties are you going to?

Jacki Becker

i would love to attend all of the parties. murder by death at the bneck plus their alter ego moustache, the chromeo bootie shakin bonanza at the granada plus walter meego dance a thon at the jackpot are all right up my post-festival alley. hopefully you can attend all of them also, since they are free with a festival wristband.

Moderator

Thanks, Jacki, for taking time out of your busy schedule today to come in and chat with us. For more information on the festival, check out lawrence.com and ljworld.com the next few days.

Jacki Becker

thank you also. and thanks to all the people helping put this event together and all those coming to the festival on saturday! i look forward to seeing many many of your well- sunscreened smiling faces at burcham park saturday