Sisters Folk Festival seeks permanent headquarters

In the warm afterglow of a successful "comeback" event this month, Sisters Folk Festival has launched into a campaign to secure the future of the 23-year-old organization.

Called "Connected By Creativity," the campaign is raising funds to purchase the Sisters Art Works (SAW) building where the organization has been headquartered for most of the past two decades. The purchase will enable SFF to further develop the facility as an educational center and multi-use events and performance venue.

The owners of the SAW building, Frank and Kathy Deggendorfer, offered SFF the opportunity to purchase the property at half of its appraised value. SFF hopes to complete the purchase by June 2019. The appraised market value of the property is $1 million. The Deggendorfers' gift is valued at $500,000. With planned improvements and upgrades, an operating reserve and an estimated $50,000 in campaign costs, SFF needs to raise a total of $1.4 million (including the initial donation value) to complete the transaction.

SFF board member and campaign committee co-chair Jay Wilkins told The Nugget that, two weeks after launch, the campaign is halfway to that initial goal.

Once the purchase is complete, SFF will potentially continue the campaign with a Phase 2, in an effort to raise an additional $2.1 million to build a 400-seat year-round performance and community events facility.

"We're taking advantage of a fantastic opportunity to expand the ways we serve the community through creativity," said SFF Development Director Steven Remington.

He noted that the creation of SAW and opportunity presented to SFF is part of the Deggendorfers' "significant investment in the creative community in Sisters."

Actually owning the SAW building, Remington said, will allow SFF to offer "consistent, original programing in our own venue at no cost. We see just owning the asset itself as a stabilizing force for the organization."

Creative Director Brad Tisdel and board member Wilkins said that having ownership and full run of the building will allow expanded after-school and adult education programing. The facility also holds out possibilities for recording and broadcasting content through podcasting.

"We believe there are more event possibilities that will present themselves," Wilkins said.

Tisdel said the acquisition "gives us a clean palette to paint what we are and what we do as an organization."

The campaign has been in the works for some months, as the festival organization sought input from long-time supporters and friends of the festival and its programs.

"We did a sounding-board effort with a consultant that we brought in," Wilkins said.

That process stared with the fundamental question as to whether the organization should even consider owning its own property. That answered in the affirmative, stakeholders weighed in on what they perceived as opportunities and concerns with the project.

"One of the things I heard loud and clear was, 'Don't mess up what you're doing already,'" Wilkins said. "This can't be a distraction."

Tisdel noted that SFF modified its plans based on stakeholder input, moving the idea of a performing/events facility back into a second phase with a looser timeline and with additional scoping to be done.

The response from those directly connected to SFF has been positive. Tisdel said that several festival artists have expressed interest in being involved in a fundraising concert.

The means and scope of fundraising will be broad and inclusive, reflecting the mission and nature of SFF.

"We want everyone to belong," said Tisdel. "We want everybody to be included."

That means donations of any size are welcome, and any help from interested community members will be welcomed as well.

Remington noted that SFF is welcoming stories from people who have been directly affected by the festival's musical programs and its educational outreach programs like the Americana Project and the high school guitar-building program.

The organization rolled out its Connected By Creativity campaign relatively quietly at a pre-festival event earlier this month.

"We were very sensitive that we were coming off a cancelled festival (in 2017) for the first time in our history, and we really wanted to celebrate the music," Tisdel said.

That celebration was a success, with a festival that won praise from festival-goers for its wide range of musical styles and the high quality of the performances. With that success under their belts, the festival organization is looking years into the future and seeking community support.

"Now it's time to ask," said Remington.

For more information, visit www.sisterfolkfestival.org.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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