The Fifth Annual Kindiefest will be taking place in Brooklyn next month (April 26-28), for the first time happening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), who will be co-presenting the Family Music Conference and Festival in their brand-new, state-of-the-art music venue – The BAM Fisher (321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217). As always, Kindiefest will combine an industry networking conference with a public fest in which kids and grownups alike can sample some great music.
Highlights of Kindiefest 2013:
The keynote speaker for KindieFest 2013 will be “The First Lady of Children’s Music,” Ella Jenkins. Jenkins has been a leading performer of children’s music for fifty years and is a pioneer who helped lay the groundwork for the entire genre of family musicians. This year’s panel discussions will be spread out over two days and will be lead by key players in the business addressing industry sensitive topics. Themes are to include kindie for beginners, self-management, music in the classroom, presenters and live show development, radio, recording, album release execution, and the future of the genre. This year also brings the launch of KINDIETalks modeled after the popular TEDTalks model featuring talks from singer Laurie Berkner, Grammy award-winning producer Dean Jones, and veteran radio producer Robert Drake.
The Saturday night industry only showcase will be hosted by radio hosts Mindy Thomas (Sirius/XM’s Kids Place Live) and Kathy O’Connell (WXPN’s Kids Corner) and willinclude performances by Dan Zanes & Elizabeth Mitchell, The Ohmies, A Little Mandarin, Stephen Cohen, The Plants, Josh and the Jamtones, Mr. G, Vered, Rat Boy Jr.and Bears and Lions.
The Sunday public family festival will feature The Terrible Twos, Cat Doorman, The Alphabet Rockers, Robbi K, The Dirty Sock Funtime Band, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band and David Wax Museum.
The Rock Father will not be at Kindiefest, but I have some friends that will be (Jeff, John, and Beth to name a few). If you happen to be in or near New York City next month, a trip to Brooklyn may well be in order.
For more info, check out the official Kindiefest website, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
