Nate Ryan - The Current
Charlie Parr plays to a sold-out crowd at Masonic Temple Theater’s Founder’s Stage - MWMF 2017
2016-2017 Annual Report Mid West Music Fest Turns Eight In 2017 we doubled our presence in La Crosse by offering two days of entertainment and added two new venues. We focused on Midwest talent and brought a range of great Wisconsin acts to town, as well artists from Minnesota, Nashville, and Asheville, NC. The Winona portion of the festival saw our largest one-day attendance on Saturday with over 1200 people.
Sam Brown’s contribution to the festival and the community of Winona. MWMF intends to continue this tradition in year’s to come.
We continued to see large increases in many important areas including ticket sales, overall income, earned income, and media/trade sponsorships (see page 3).
Based on both internal and external evaluations we feel like we hit our stride this year. The model of two days in both cities really helped us share resources and continue to not only grow our base in both cities, but see attendance and tourism between both places grow. We see a bright future in our efforts to bring music tourists to the downtown of these historic river cities. We also will continue to shine a light on local and regional talent from the Midwest.
2017 also saw the christening of the Founder’s Stage at the Masonic Temple Theater to highlight Founder
Great press continues to chronical the festival, bringing notoriety to both cities.
Jon Swanson
Reina del Cid playing Island City Brewing Company in Winona - MWMF 2017
Music tourism bolsters local economy
Investing in artists
3000 people attended Mid West Music Fest in April, including approx. 1000 people from outside the cities of La Crosse and Winona. With one-third of attendees from outside the area – based on leading national nonprofit Americans for the Arts figures, the economic impact on local businesses in the two cities is over $250,000.
An important aspect of what we do is invest in artists. We believe that by supporting music artists we help to better the lives of people in our community. To that end, we have paid over $225,000 to musicians in the first 8 years of the festival. A majority of these dollars have been spent on Midwest and Minnesota/ Wisconsin-based musicians. This has helped to support their individual businesses, contribute to the purchase of musical instruments and supplies, transporation costs, lodging costs, and practice time. We are all beneficiaries of this investment through hundreds of hours of performance time that has graced our local stages since 2010.
In-Kind partnerships in 2017 As a small arts non-profit we are dependent on volunteers, in-kind donations, and an overall sense of ownership by the two communities in which we now hold our event. We are also very grateful for the strong presence we have been able to maintain in the Twin Cities through our partnerships there - truly one of the greatest music cities in the country. Through partnerships with MPR - The Current, Midwest Family Broadcasting, Hal Leonard, KQAL, Metre, HBC, KFAI, KUMD, Leighton Broadcasting, WDRT, Southern MN Scene, Seven, and numerous hotels we benefited from over $60,000 of in-kind donations. In-kind donations have seen a 10-fold increase since 2013. These partnerships have helped to greatly increase our overall reach as an organization and added an unparalleled professionalism to the Mid West Music Fest brand.
MPR - The Current continues investment Our five year partnership with MN Public Radio - The Current continued to grow in 2017 through a special happy hour at MWMF sponsor Minnesota Marine Art Museum - with music by Winona’s Sleeping Jesus and beverages by Winona’s Island City Brewery. The Current also did an hour long drive time special on the popular Oake & Riley morning show. DJs from the station announced acts at the festival and two blog articles received 1000s of views via website, facebook and twitter.
Mid West Music Fest West Music Fest - Five Years By TheNumbers Numbers Five Mid Years By The Ticket Sales by Year 2017: $57,530 (41% increase from 2016; 217% increase from 2013) 2016: $40,973 2015: $28,751 2014: $29,637 2013: $18,271
Income by Year (includes grants, sponsorships, earned income) 2017: $183,231 (35% increase from 2016; 113% increase from 2013) 2016: $136, 000 2015: $90,000 2014: $110,000 2013: $86,000
Earned Income by Year (ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, vendors, venue fees, Listener Guide) 2017: $95,602 (41% increase from 2016; 431% increase from 2013) 2016: $68,000 2015: $36,000 2014: $35,000 2013: $18,000
In-Kind Sponsorship by Year 2017: $62,000 (19% increase from 2016; 1140% increase from 2013) 2016: $52,000 2015: $20,000 2014: $12,500 2013: $5000
Earned income continues to grow Over the past several years we have been working to diversify our funding streams. As a small non-profit we have experienced some major stress because of the undependable nature of grants. It can be dangerous to build up infrastructure while counting on grants to be renewed year after year. To help strengthen our stability we have been working to increase earned income as a more assured way of keeping the doors open. Strategies beyond ticket sales that have been successful are offering space to business partners via our Listener’s Guide, charging partnership fees to venues that benefit from our holding part of the festival in their establishment, selling merchandise, charging fees to vendors at the festival and operating our own concessions at the tent stage and the Masonic Theater. Since 2013, we have been able to increase our earned income by over 200% and in 2017 this earned income represented 52% of our budget.
La Crosse portion of festival grows After our inaugral success in La Crosse in 2016 we grew the festival to two days in 2017. A strong
outcome included 10% of attendees in Winona being from La Crosse (and similarly 10% of La Crosse attendees from Winona). Due to strong support from The Weber Group, Dahl Subaru, Midwest Family Broadcasting, and Explore La Crosse we increased venues, number of artists and shows, and doubled the impact of the festival’s attendance on businesses in downtown La Crosse - a key component of our mission.
MWMF education mission continues In 2017, education activities included numerous concerts with community partner Riverway Learning Community, working with MN Music Coaltion to bring Haley Bonar to town for a day of workshops and an evening performance, and support of a new initiative - Teen Press - at both Riverway Learning Community and Cotter High School. Riverway again built the tent stage backdrop and we held a Variety Show showcasing young area talent during our FREE Saturday afternoon at the tent stage. We also held an author reading and book signing and showed a documentary highlighting 25 years of MN band The Big WU during the 2017 fest.
Bob Good
Blackfoot Gypsies fill the tent stage in Winona - MWMF 2017
Thank You 2017 Corporate Sponsors
the Weber group • Dahl Subaru The Current • Horton, Inc. Midwest Family Broadcasting
Hal Leonard • HBC• KQAL • Leighton Broadcasting • Winona National Bank • Seven • Minnesota Marine Art Museum• Fulton Brewery Explore La Crosse • Charmant Hotel • Elizabeth Callender King • KFAI • SE MN Arts Council • Rivervalley Newspaper Group Bent Paddle Brewing Candlewood Suites • Court Above Main • Hilton Hotel • Home Federal Merchants Bank • Mid West Music Store • Ocooch Mountain Music SoMinnScene • WDRT • Wisconsin Public Radio • Grand Stay Bartz Family Foundation Bluff Country Coop • Courtyard by Marriot • Eagles Club • Carriage House Hampton Inn • Peoples Food Coop • Americann Inn
Jumpstart Sales Inc. • Winona Sandwich Company • radisson hotel • Riverfront Partnership Downtown Mainstreet, Inc. • Coke Nate & Ally’s • WM. Miller Scrap Iron & Metal Co.
Bob Good
The Old Fashioneds playing Grand Hotel Ballroom in La Crosse - MWMF 2017
Jon Swanson
Ignite dance troupe light up the tent stage in Winona.
Thank You 2017 Individual Sponsors Terry and Dave Gilberstadt • Nick Zeller, Keith Zeller, John Creede, and Ron Carr Nick Weber • Anonymous • Anonymous Susan and Jerry Miller
Lois Sieve • Mary Burrichter and Bob Kierlin •Michael and Karen Keil • Will and Shirley Oberton • Jerry Pappenfuss • Tim Saterbak Daniel and Nancy Goltz • Peter Shortridge and Amy Nankivil • Kay Mazza Hugh and Vera Miller • Dave and Kathleen Christiansen • Ron and Nancy Nelson • Elizabeth Bach
Jim Casey • Jay Xiong • Dave and Muriel Arnold • Stephen Bachler and Nancy Edstrom Bachler • Eric Batleson • Matt Bosworth and Jennifer Sanborn Francis Edstrom • Ellyn English and Brad Turner • Theresa Held • Erin Maslowski Cyntha Porter • Tom and Mary Ann Severson Jason Spartz • Parker Forsell • Jonelle Moore * Jodi Dansingburg and Kevin OBrien Jean Hayes • Jenn Baechle • Frank and Ruth Bures • Robert Copeland • Jacob Grippen Pat Mutter • Matt Marek
Bob Good
Audience member grabbing a selfie at Charmant Hotel during MWMF 2017 in downtown La Crosse
Audience Comments from Evaluations I had a really great time, I have been going to sxsw for 20+ years, and this was almost as much fun, not nearly so crowded and much better parking. I am going to talk to my SXSW friends to see if they want to come next year. Also, I loved the venue in the Masonic Temple, one of the best venues I have ever been to. It was my first year and I had a blast.
Saw 7 really great acts in one evening!
Fantastic fest! Already making plans to attend next year! This was a wonderful event at an extremely good price! Thank you so much for putting this on! I also REALLY love that you paired with the charter school to help create one of the sets (the one in the tent)....That made my heart happy. My first time going and I will be back. Keep up the good work! Thanks so much for putting on a great festival! It’s totally worth the drive and money and even lack of sleep. It makes me proud to be part of the Midwest! I really appreciate how this festival introduces me to new music and new spaces in a community that I already call home. It keeps things surprising and new. IMO this was the best festival yet. It was my first time to take in LaCrosse - its a great idea to spread the festival out over two weekends, a little apart. I really like being able to walk around to the different venues that are all close together.
Jon Swanson
MPR - The Current’s van parked in front of MN Marine Art Museum for Happy Kick-Off to MWMF 2017 in Winona 2016-2017 Revenue and Expense July 01, 2016 - June 30, 2017 Total Revenues
$183, 231.00
Sponsors/donations/grants Ticketing income other earned income
87, 629.00 57, 530.00 38, 072.00
Total Expenditures
$149, 342.00
Expense detail Wages Artist stipends Production costs Advertising and printing costs Contractors Graphic design Hospitality Legal/Insurance Fundraising Concessions Other expenses
38, 500.00 45, 483.00 29, 424.00 7, 168.00 6, 000.00 1, 570.00 4, 604.00 3, 247.00 1, 208.00 6, 385.00 6, 961.00
Ending Balance
$33, 889.00
www.midwestmusicfest.org
Mid West Music Fest Board of Directors Sam Brown Kay Mazza Charlie Brown Lois Sieve Sean Burke Jim Trouten Jacob Grippen Doug Westerman Director - Parker Forsell Assistant Director - Dave Casey Administrative Assistant - Sam Zierden Booking Coordinator - Nick Elstad
The mission of the MWMF is to promote music and art activism in the region, creating opportunities for artists, stimulating downtown economic development, and providing diverse educational resources for artists, community members, and children.
164 East 3rd Street Winona, MN