If you think you are what the celebrated annual festival needs next year, it is time for you to pitch your ideas and proposals for George Town Festival 2015.
GTF 2015 is calling for proposals from local and international artists alike from now and February 15 next year.
"What's most important is that you have to be good and be able to fit in with the festival and be someone great for the festival," festival director Joe Sidek said in a press conference announcing the open call for proposal.
While there is no specific theme for the festival, Joe said he is looking for programmes are inspired by George Town's unique people, culture and places or will provide a source of inspiration.
He acknowledged that many local artists complain that they do not get a chance to be in the festival and encouraged them to send in their proposals for consideration.
"They must also understand that we select what is good and what best fits with George Town and the festival because we are talking about the branding of GTF and it is time for us to build and sell our shows overseas," he said.
"For the first five years, we bring in international content to inspire local artists so the next five years, should be spent building up our local acts to brand GTF and bring it overseas," he said.
Joe said he never put in a "quota system" of how many of the shows in GTF should be local or Malay.
He said he only used the criteria of choosing only the cream of the crop that suits the local culture and the festival, not based on where they are from, who they are or their racial background.
"I've rejected international acts because they are not suitable, I've rejected big names from Kuala Lumpur because the show is not a good fit for GTF so it is not about who they are, where they are from but whether the show is a good fit, is something that is GTF because this is the quality and branding of the festival," he said.
GTF 2014 saw record visitor figures where it recorded over 218,000 people for its performances in the whole month of August.
The event had free, open-air festivals attended by more than 80,000 people while the georgetownfestival.com website garnered 7.18 million hits.
The festival's Facebook page also recorded a 150 per cent increase in likes to 37,000 likes.
GTF 2015 will be held in August and it will again feature carefully selected local and international events throughout the month.
The festival is also looking for corporate sponsors to fund tickets for the community during the month-long festival.
Submit your proposals at www.georgetownfestival.com or write in to info@georgetownfestival.com. Sponsorship enquiries can be sent to lisa.case@georgetownfestival.com.
Source : http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/strut-your-stuff-and-be-part-of-george-town-festival-2015
