A reimagined Bumbershoot will return to Seattle in 2022. Right here’s what can be totally different.

The Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival will return in 2022, say the organizers, and if it does it will be very different.

The Seattle Center is taking advantage of the two-year pandemic hiatus to redefine Seattle’s 50-year mainstay and plan a new future without One Reel Productions, the company that has run the festival for more than a quarter of a century.

“While we have a lot to say about picking the new producer and stuff like that, One Reel is quite effective out of the bumbershoot business,” said Marty Griswold, Executive Director of One Reel. “It’s basically a seismic change.”

One Reel has been affiliated with Bumbershoot in some way since 1972. The company took over program responsibility in 1995 and developed the annual three-day weekend event for Labor Day into one of the most important summer festivals in the country.

Bumbershoot has had financial problems in recent years, however, and Seattle Center officials and community leaders believe Bumbershoot has over-emphasized the music festival component in recent years and from its original mission to itself, under a production deal that gave concert giant AEG programming rights to present and celebrate has deviated from artistic and cultural diversity within the community.

As a result, officials will soon be forming a committee that will include Robert Nellams, director of the Seattle Center. Marc Jones, director of marketing and business development at the Seattle Center; One Reel and members of the Seattle Center Advisory Committee are examining what the future festival will look like and who will run it.

The committee will give the public the opportunity to share ideas and there will be a formal call for proposals. Tax sustainability will be a primary goal.

“Festivals are getting harder to handle and a lot harder to produce, so we’re going to be working with One Reel to find a new producer for the festival,” said Nellams. “They need a lot of resources to produce festivals in the future and they will help us find someone who can hopefully do this for decades, if not longer.”

The Seattle Center, a division of the city of Seattle that oversees the area around the Space Needle, announced the decision to redefine the event on Friday morning. Griswold called the move bittersweet. One role was tapped in February 2020 to redefine Bumbershoot for its 50th anniversary later this year. However, the pandemic has since taken its toll, reducing the promoter to two employees. The company could no longer realistically plan such a large, complex event.

“I think we were all pretty down because we really wanted a chance – I can’t stress this enough – to bring back the bumbershoot that everyone has loved and missed over the years and we really looked forward to it,” Said Griswold, “We felt like things were a little off track.”

Bumbershoot started as a Mayor’s Arts Awards / Festival in 1971. The event was subsidized by the city and was free (the city owns the Bumbershoot brand). Over time, the philosophy has been to offer multi-generational inclusive content with a series of events in parallel with a music program that draws large numbers of families and older visitors during the day and a younger audience at night.

The city’s art and cultural communities were a much larger part of Bumbershoot in its early days. Perhaps you’ve seen a major arts and crafts component, such as a quiz show hosted by local celebrities or a play that is produced on the premises. Over the years the event grew and the city saw the challenge of producing it. In 1995, the city changed the status of Bumbershoot to a nonprofit event and hired One Reel to oversee the programming.

Bumbershoot continued to boom as the festival-style live music scene grew at the beginning of this century. But the festival has seen declining interest in recent years for a number of reasons – all of which have plagued the once rock-stable music festival circle across the country. After running into roughly $ 900,000 in debt, One Reel signed a five-year production contract with AEG, the second largest concert promoter in the United States, in 2015

AEG made major changes to the format, relying heavily on the live music component, and attracting young people rather than an all-day, multi-generation audience. The organizer increased ticket prices sharply to finance the booking of the most popular and expensive acts in pop music.

Combine that with other issues, like weather cancellations and the loss of Key Arena as a headlining venue, and interest began to wane. The 2019 event also suffered as headliner Lizzo was canceled for health reasons and a steel barricade fell on bystanders and sent four to the hospital.

“I felt bad for AEG [that] last year, ”said Griswold. “It was devastating for them and everyone, the people who got tickets to the show were so excited. That was kind of a nail in the coffin, I think. And the barricade. Those are some really big challenges that have come up. “

Nellams and Griswold both believe that getting back to their roots is key to Bumbershoot’s long-term health. Tickets must be affordable, content must take into account all age groups and interests, and there must be a family component to the event. Music can’t be the only focus, although it will continue to be a large part of Bumbershoot’s program.

Nellams has seen the cross-generational magic of the event up close after attending the festival over the years.

“I’ve seen some things and I have a lot of great memories,” said Nellams. “The nice thing for me is that I was able to transfer Bumbershoot to my daughter. My daughter is 25 years old and for the past nearly 10 years I have been able to get her tickets and get her to get involved in how Bumbershoot works. It was just a gift to share with my daughter. ”

Griswold said he was grateful that One Reel had the opportunity to help shape the future of the event. One Reel will continue to promote local programs like Pianos in the Park and Art Saves Me.

“It’s hard, but I’ll be the first when Bumbershoot comes back next year,” said Griswold, “because I love Bumbershoot and I want it to come back just like everyone else.” And it will. “

Chris Talbott
is a Seattle-based writer and editor.