Tag Archives: Minnesota State Arts Board

Three Links Care Center returns as a Vintage Band Festival Stage Sponsor in 2022

 

Sponsorships are vitally important to the success of Vintage Band Festival 2022. We want to welcome back Three Links Care Center as a Stage Sponsor for VBF 2022 and Hogan Brothers as a Day Sponsor. Pam Tidona, Marketing Manager at Three Links and Greg Heymans, Proprietor of Hogan Bros., are both enthusiastic supporters of Vintage Band Festival. Greg has told us that Vintage Band Festival weekend is typically his best weekend of the year!

Sponsorship benefits accrue at various levels, including frequent publicity on VBF social media, prominent recognition on banners and signs at the performance venues and in the official Vintage Band Festival program and an invitation to an exclusive donor reception just prior to the festival weekend in July.

Sponsorships are open to both businesses, non-profits and individuals. Stage Sponsorships are achieved with a $1,000 donation, Band Sponsorships occur at the $500 level, and Day Sponsors are named with a $250 donation. Donations of $3,000 or more are designated as Festival Sponsors. Festival Sponsors for VBF 2022 are the Wenger Foundation, the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and JoAnn Polley and Mark Ulmer.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Vintage Band Festival Sponsor, please contact Jan Stevens, Fundraising Committee Chair, for more information. Jan can be reached at507-244-0500 or janofdundas@gmail.com.

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The Financing of Vintage Band Festival

 

Each Vintage Band Festival event requires financial support from various funding sources in order to be produced. Our organization is a non-profit corporation that relies on grants, sponsorships, and donations from private individuals and businesses to underwrite our expenses.

GRANT AWARDS

As we ramp up preparations for Vintage Band Festival on July 31, 2021, we want to take a moment to thank our loyal and continuing supporters in the granting community. We have been fortunate to receive assistance multiple times from Wenger Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB), and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC). These wonderful arts supporters have been generous not only to Vintage Band Festival, but also to a number of our performing ensembles as well. In recent years, funds granted by both MSAB and SEMAC are the direct result of dollars provided by Minnesota taxpayers through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment enacted by the Minnesota State Legislature in 2008. Please thank your representatives for this marvelous and thoughtful legislation!

SPONSORSHPS

In 2021, we have sponsorship opportunities for organizations to assist us with the financial needs of the festival. The top level of sponsorship is the Stage Sponsor. We’re pleased to announce that both the Northfield Rotary Club and the Northfield News have agreed to be Stage Sponsors of Vintage Band Festival 2021. Thanks to both of these fine partners for their support this year and in years past.

   

LEGACY GIFTS

2021 is the 16th year of Vintage Band Festival’s life. During that time we have established a track record of great performances, a collaborative spirit, and many memories for our performers and our audience. We have started to see our friends respond to this work in wonderful ways.

In the past 12 months, Vintage Band Festival has received nearly $10,000 in legacy gifts from two longtime supporters of the festival. Both of these donors have requested anonymity, but we wanted to let our audience know how incredibly grateful we are for this recognition and for their generosity. One of the gifts came from a musician family in one of our performing ensembles and the other was inspired by the work of one of our ardent volunteers. In each case, the donor expressed gratitude for the joy that Vintage Band Festival has brought to their lives and the hope that this experience will continue for many years to come.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

If you are considering becoming a 2021 Stage Sponsor ($1,000) or a 2021 Band Sponsor ($500), we’d love to hear from you soon so that we can include your name in all of our promotion and marketing activities. If you are considering a legacy gift to Vintage Band Festival or a 2021 sponsorship, please contact our Fundraising Committee at vintagebandfestival@gmail.com. Thank you and hope to see you in Northfield, MN on July 31! The music starts at 9:30 am.

For continuing updates about Vintage Band Festival, visit our website at www.vintagebandfestival.org and follow us on Facebook at Vintage Band Festival.

Vintage Band Festival awarded $10,000 SEMAC grant

On May 21, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) awarded 42 grants for a total of $269,205 in funding to applicants throughout southeastern Minnesota. This included 24 Arts & Cultural Heritage grants for $217,935, nine Presenter/Production Assistance grants for $25,520, and nine Small Towns/Rural Areas grants for $25,750.

In this grant cycle, Vintage Band Festival received a $10,000 Arts and Cultural Heritage grant for Vintage Band Festival 2019. We are thrilled to make this announcement and want to thank our grant writer, Board member Joy Riggs. This is not the first successful grant application that Joy has written for us and we are so grateful for her skill and dedication to this effort. Previous grants awarded to Vintage Band Festival 2019 were from the Wenger Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Vintage Band Festival 2019 will take place in Northfield, Minnesota and surrounding communities August 1-4, 2019. Follow this link to find the complete daily schedule at the two outdoor stages and a roster of the participating bands.

Vintage Band Festival Spring Fund Drive

It’s time for our annual spring fund drive here at Vintage Band Festival. The generous and loyal financial support from businesses, foundations and individuals like you continues to make it possible for us to present such amazing musicians and ensembles and not charge admission. We are fortunate to have the Wenger Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board as our principal funders, but their support accounts for just 40% of our $100,000 budget for 2019. The rest will need to come from other grants, and businesses and individuals such as you.

We are incredibly excited for Vintage Band Festival 2019. The roster we have assembled consists of three international groups, seven domestic ensembles from outside Minnesota and an amazing array of Minnesota bands from around the state. This year there will be 11 bands that have never performed at Vintage Band Festival before, two of which are from Europe.

Thursday evening, August 1, the headliners will be Mariachi Mi Tierra and McNasty Brass Band. Friday night we welcome back Copper Street Brass and then we’ll have a victory dance with Bend in the River Big Band. Saturday night will feature Southside Aces and Hornucopia: A Tribute to Horn Bands in the Rock Era.

There will be a number of living history bands with us this year, some that are familiar and several that are new. We will have the 1st Brigade Band from Watertown, Wisconsin, Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band, and the Independent Silver Band from Mount Vernon, Illinois. New to Vintage Band Festival in 2019 will be the 1st Nebraska Volunteers Brass Band, Arizona’s Territorial Brass and the Imperial Cornet Band from Baltimore, Maryland.

Check the VBF website often for the complete schedule and breaking news.

The goal for our 2019 spring fund drive is $20,000. Currently, we have raised $9,650. If you have recently made a gift to Vintage Band Festival, our sincere thanks! If it’s been awhile, won’t you please consider a gift at this time? A successful spring fund drive outcome is essential to the success of our summer festival. A gift in any amount is always welcome, but gifts of $100 or more are critically important right now. Donors are featured prominently in the festival program and onsite at the Bridge Square Main Stage. In addition, we will be hosting an exclusive donor reception in July, just before the festival begins.

If you are donating by check, send your gift to:
Vintage Band Festival
204 7th St W #130
Northfield, MN 55057

If you want to make your gift with a credit card, go to www.vintagebandfestival.org and click on the big green “Donate” button.