Features March 13, 2016

Q&A: Spectrum Now Festival Director Caroline Kemp

Former Editor

Sydney is poised for a live music takeover tomorrow as the second ever Spectrum Now festival kicks off its 16-day run across Sydney, with the Domain event at the heart of the festival starting this Thursday.

A follow-up festival of this size is much like the dreaded sophomore album; eyes are truly on its owner Fairfax Events to see if it can top last year’s arts and culture amalgam. But as TMN finds out, 2016 is an entirely different beast altogether. Festival Director Caroline Kemp (pictured) has not only given the festival site a makeover but she’s brought in two respected music industry figures to curate the live lineup: the duo behind Splendour In The Grass, Jess Ducrou and Paul Pattico.

The pair have carved out a genre diverse live bill for the 11 Domain nights, including veteran instrumental collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, critically acclaimed indie-rock duo and ingenious portmanteau Calexico, party DJ monolith Hot Dub Time Machine and post-punk pioneers The Jesus and Mary Chain.

TMN chats to Kemp about why Fairfax has branched out so competitively into the live music arena, the brief that was given to Ducrou and Pittico, and why she’ll always have a bias toward local artists.

What sparked the decision to bring Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco into the fold?

For me as a Festival Director it’s very hard to specialise in so many different areas. So what I wanted to do here was work with people who are at the top of their game, who’ve got a great reputation in the industry and who I could work closely with so the festival could benefit from their expertise.

The music industry is a very complicated scenario; I don’t want to pretend that I understand it. I know people that have worked in it for 20 years and still don’t understand it – and it keeps changing. So for me, there are many people who could have probably done this but I did specifically hunt down Jess and Paul. I think Splendour In The Grass has a really great reputation and [Ducrou and Pittico] have a great reputation for putting on really good festivals with good programming and good operations.

With us branching out into that arena, I wanted it to be a real partnership. Secret Sounds have been there every step of the way with us, with lots of advice. I’m really listening to their expertise and knowledge of the music industry.

What was the brief that you gave Ducrou and Piticco?

We did give them a brief around people we were looking to target in terms of who we wanted to be involved in the festival.

A big part of the brief was around our unique collaborations idea. We looked at everything that happened last year and what was really successful. We found there was an appetite for what people can’t really see everyday. We used that as a brief for ourselves to create the festival that we’ve got. I think we’ve really delivered on that. Ideally what we didn’t want to do was curate a music lineup with 11 nights of the same acts.

Secret Sounds have taken that brief and they’ve given us a really diverse lineup. Which means that hopefully we can attract different parts of the community; going from different music lovers, some who might like acts like Missy Higgins and some who might like the really alternative acts like Godspeed You!

The idea is to pinpoint as many different groups of the community and fans as we can. I think we really delivered that in the lineup with the mix of genres.

What would you say your target demographic is?

Broadly for the Domain it’s 18 to 45. So we try and curate things specifically within that demographic. Our opening night featuring Paces, Wave Racer and Hayden James is more targeted to the 18 to 25s. Then for instance our Marie’s Crisis Broadway sing-along is more going to be that 25-45.

Across the 11 days we do try and program so we have things that will appeal to the 18-45 [core target]. But of course, people over the age of 45 are welcome to come and we’ve upped our kids offering on the weekends considerably. We’ve got a KidZone operational, which has face painting and art, and obstacle courses, and then we have bands onstage for kids. We’re also partnering with Kinderling Radio who are going to program a couple of days for us.

Are you tapping into Secret Sounds Groups’ rights management agency or its public relations company?

They’re just involved with programming but we’re dealing with other members of Jess and Paul’s team on an administrative level.

The lineup is very genre-diverse, fitting your brief well. Is that a direct response to the current festival climate, where the big successful festivals have a broad target demographic?

The decision around that was more around the length of the festival. We can’t ask the same people to keep coming back. We want a full festival site, we need a place where people can come and interact, listen to bands and engage.

We’ve also got the festival name plastered on [co-presenter] Sydney Morning Herald, and that’s perhaps a completely different demographic than perhaps people who we want to become Spectrum fans, which is much younger. So we’ve got the Rockwiz Live event and then on the opening night we’ve electronic artists Wave Racer, Paces and Hayden James.

There’s a definite lean toward local acts on the bill…

We’ve always from the very beginning supported Australian artists and musicians. It’s an absolute #1 thing. We do have internationals take part in our festival but that’s about timing and scheduling. It’s great to have international acts take part because it’s a different offering, but particularly last year when we started, the majority was Australian bands on our stage. We’re doing the same again, supporting Australian artists.

Timing obviously comes into it when booking artists. Did Jess and Paul come across any hurdles with the lineup?

Without giving away all of our secrets, Secret Sounds have worked pretty hard for us. It’s not an easy thing to sell a brand new festival that no one knows yet. [Jess Ducrou and Paul Pattico] have done an incredible job. It was a difficult brief for them to sell an event which doesn’t exist yet.

From the artist point of view it is a little bit of a leap of faith, and we’re eternally grateful for that, so it’s my duty to give them an excellent experience when they come – we’re really going to look after them. I think booking acts will hopefully get easier as the years go on.

We’ve also changed the festival site completely so it doesn’t look like it does last year. I’ve restructured it so it’s a bit more shoulder-to-shoulder. The Domain is very expansive and last year we took up more space then we needed. The footprint we had last year was probably where we’ll be in three years time, so I’ve just brought it back to create more intimacy.

What worked last year that’s been honed and implemented this year?

Not everyone knows that we pulled last year’s festival together in such a short space of time – about five months. With our first event in the Domain, we had a few challenges there. We had this incredible music lineup on the free stage, but we just didn’t have the resource or capacity to share that story because of time constraints. But we did have success with acts like Angus & Julia Stone and The Cat Empire, that kind of music.

Spectrum Now Festival 2015

We looked at that and we thought ‘Music does pull people down’; particularly big headline acts. But we also had to look at the model. We can’t put on 11 nights of free headline music acts of that caliber. I would absolutely love to do that but it’s just not financially possible. So what I tried to do was look at a good ‘meet in the middle’.

I’m trying to create a festival for the ages, I want this to be long-lasting. Therefore I can’t create something that’s going to lose money year-on-year.

Coming from a creative background as an actor and ballet dancer, you really learn to take constructive criticism and make that an advantage. So every time there’s a learning, if the first year doesn’t go to plan, or you get some feedback, I don’t get protective of the festival, I take that on board, I assess it and I change it.

So you created an on-site music venue with your Big Top.

Our fans can watch their favourite artists in a venue that has never existed before; that’s completely different to anything they’re likely to ever see. We’re trying to create that unique experience.

We still have bands on the [festival stage] so they can still go and see Missy Higgins or Birds of Tokyo, but it’s within a festival setting. There’s an arts festival, and music and free bands, and performances happening right next to it. It’s not just like going to the Enmore for the same show.

Tell us about the Big Top set design.

I’m working with an incredible Head of Production, who is one of the best in Australia, Hayden Johnston. He does production for Splendour In the Grass, Laneway… He’s done Mumford and Sons – so we’re really lucky to have him on board.

We’re not just another Big Top at a festival. It’s the end of the festival season, everyone’s been to a lot of things and to a lot of gigs; we wanted to create something that’s really unique and really different.

It’s based on my theme across the festival, which is old-school vintage circus – I’m not reinventing the wheel, but it’s great for an arts festival and it’s going to look fabulous. And the Big Top is a natural fit.

One of the first things is that the floor is carpeted, you’re not walking into the grass. Inside, think lots of lush red velvet curtains with the gold fringing, and then on the back wall we’ve got silver lamé Austrian drapes. It’s very ornate and bizarre. There’s a few surprises in store as well.

Would you say the musical element of Spectrum Now is on par with the arts element?

Absolutely. Music has been a big focus for us and I think because it is quantitative – you can sell tickets to the music shows, a certain artist can sell a certain amount of tickets – there’s less question marks around it.

Also music is a huge way to reach people. With this festival, particularly at the Domain, we want this to reach everybody. There are some things that we do, like our Talks which are going to sit firmly with the Sydney Morning Herald readers, but we really do want to reach the whole of Sydney, and music is a really great way to do that.

Are there plans to take the festival national?

On our very long-term scale we’d like to take something like this to Melbourne as well, because it is about bringing the Spectrum brand to life.