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The Readings Continue
Oahu
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While some local art and music festivals are taking a year or more off, the Hawaii Book & Music Festival keeps growing. HBMF features more than 500 presenters and offers book readings, concerts and discussion panels. About 10,000 attended the first festival in 2006. Attendance grew to 30,000 last year and promoters are confident that number will rise this year.
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How does this festival thrive while others aren’t even surviving? Roger Jellinek, executive director of HBMF, says it entertains different people, not just book readers. While the Crater Celebration targeted classic-rock enthusiasts and the Kokua Festival drew ecoconscious hipsters, HBMF has 175 different events, from a forum on Hawaii architecture to a Jake Shimabukuro concert, in addition to authors and book signings.
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“It’s not just music and it’s not just books,” says Susan Ing, executive vice president and director of marketing at Bank of Hawaii, the event’s title sponsor. In addition to financially supporting the festival, BOH markets it to customers, sends volunteers and hosts a financial literacy seminar and booth. HBMF’s budget is $345,000, mostly in-kind donations. Fixed costs, such as securing the venue, are high, but adding new programming is relatively cheap and requires mostly sweat equity, says Jellinek.
FOURTH ANNUAL HAWAII BOOK & MUSIC FESTIVAL10a.m to 5p.m., May 16 and 17,Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds at Honolulu Hale Admission and parking are free www.hawaiibookandmusicfestival.org |
Photos Courtesy: Hawaii Book and Music Festival
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