Sled Island Welcomes Four New Board Members!

Sled Island Welcomes Four New Board Members
Chris Gokiert, Sarmad Rizvi, Terry Rock, Rob Schultz
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2014

Calgary, AB - The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is thrilled to welcome four new members to their board of directors: Chris Gokiert, president of Critical Mass; Sarmad Rizvi, general manager and talent buyer of the Hifi Club; Terry Rock, past president and CEO, Calgary Arts Development Authority; and Rob Schultz, Accountant at Agrium. The festival is confident that their enthusiasm and wide range of expertise will compliment the existing board to ensure both the success of the 2014 edition and the organization’s long-term sustainability.

Mr. Gokiert, Rizvi, Rock and Schultz are joining current board members: Christina Colenutt – Research & Insights Consulting; Brian Milne – Norton Rose Fullbright Canada; Dan Northfield – The Palomino Smokehouse, Drum & Monkey and Bamboo Lounge, Republik, Local 510; Chad Saunders – National Music Centre; and Craig Stenhouse – Cenovus.

Sled Island would also like to acknowledge the passion and dedication of past board members Jeremy Black, Peter Maitland, Zak Pashak and Scott Wenger.

About Sled Island

Founded in 2007, Sled Island is Western Canada's largest independent music and arts festival. The festival celebrates and showcases the best emerging and established local talent alongside international sensations, with over 250 bands, film screenings, art exhibitions and installations, comedy performances and more across five days in over 30 venues in Calgary. The 2014 edition of the festival is set to run June 18-22. Passes are on sale now at special limited time pricing at sledisland.com.

For more information about Sled Island, please visit sledisland.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Maud Salvi
Executive Director, Sled Island
403-229-2901
maud@sledisland.com

Sled Island's Upcoming Shows

In celebration of our 2014 passes going on sale, we've got a slew of "Sled Island Presents" shows coming up. Why not stop by, have a blast of a time and even recommend a band or two you'd love to see hit Calgary as part of the festival this June?

First up, we've got our FREE Local 510 Monthly Series on November 27th with an absolutely stacked line-up featuring the always show-stopping Samantha Savage Smith, Faebles, the jaw-dropping new act from long-time festival favourite Kris Ellestad and Edmonton's perfect pop practitioners, Diamond Mind.

Then, Wednesday, December 4th sees the return of the incredibly charismatic, smooth 70s-disco & pop inspired crooner, Renny Wilson alongside the compelling, electronic pop of Tigerwing at Local 510 again...and again, it's completely FREE!

Finally, 'tis the season for swooning and dancing, folks! We're teaming up with our good friends at Republik and Sloth Records to throw the Sled Island Three Kings Christmas Party - on December 13th! The night will feature lush, hypnotic pop ditties from Sean Nicholas Savage, dreamy pop-ster Calvin Love and Calgary's self-contained dance party unit Mark Mills.

Tickets are on sale now for $12 advance, $15 at the door.
Psst - Sled Island passholders who forewent or re-invested your 2013 pass...remember to RSVP to your invite!

Sled Island Returns in 2014!

Sled Island 2013's cancellation due to the flooding and the state of emergency issued in Calgary in June was an unprecedented situation for the festival and its attendees, participating artists, partners and friends. The flood brought real devastation and loss, which was matched by an undeniable and inspirational spirit and resolve. In the wake of the flood, Sled Island offered refunds to all ticket and pass holders and faced losses of up to $200,000. Today, we are thrilled to report that thanks to the overwhelming support of our community, including attendees, artists and our numerous partners and other supporters, Sled Island will return as strong as ever in 2014.

Our most sincere gratitude goes to our pass holders. During the four week period following this year's cancelled festival in which Sled Island offered full refunds to all pass holders, nearly 70% chose not to ask for a refund or chose to reinvest their refund in the festival through our online charitable donation page at InvestYYC.com. This strong and humbling show of support is the clearest signal to date of the incredible and growing community that exists behind Sled Island. We've always said Sled Island has the greatest festival community in the world and this claim rang loud and clear during the festival's greatest challenge.

As well, the ongoing commitment of the Calgary Hotel Association and Calgary Arts Development Authority (CADA) to Sled Island through the Remarkable Experience Accelerator program has been instrumental in allowing us to respond to both the immediate and long-term needs of the festival. We are also grateful to Heritage Canada, which has committed its support to the festival for the third straight year through their Building Communities Through Arts And Heritage program.

Thank you to every person who purchased a 2013 festival pass or ticket, those who chose to see that purchase as a long-term investment in the future of this festival and to every artist, volunteer and partner who helped Sled Island overcome such tremendous adversity.

We would also like to specifically thank The Calgary International Film Festival, Theatre Junction GRAND, The Calgary Underground Film Festival, the Quickdraw Animation Society, Republik, Broken City, Commonwealth and Tooth Blackner for offering passes, season's tickets, concert tickets and discounts to Sled Island pass holders as a show of support during the festival's refund period.

We can't wait to see you all again when Sled Island returns June 18 to 22, 2014!

CJSW 90.9 FM's Annual Funding Drive Is Underway - 2 Days Left To Pledge

Our good friends at CJSW 90.9 fm have been hustling their hearts out for their annual funding drive and there's only two days left to pledge. As a largely volunteer-run campus radio station, any and every amount you pledge is helpful for everything from buying equipment - much-needed headphones and microphones - to helping the station to begin offering podcasts of their incredible and incredibly diverse programming.

At Sled Island, we believe that CJSW is one of the greatest campus radio stations in the world and absolutely instrumental in fostering a passionate, knowledgeable music audience; it's that audience that propels the festival each year, providing local, national and international artists some of the best shows of their lives. As well, the station offers up a staggering amount of their airwaves to local artists, from playing their new albums to offering in-studio live session recording time to bands new and old alike. Our festival has benefited immensely from the CJSW training grounds, with much of the festival's staff and board of directors having direct ties to the station. As well, every year, CJSW helps us to produce the Sled Island podcast series which are important tools for our increasingly immense schedule to be unpacked.

All that to say, we can't say enough good things about CJSW 90.9 fm. We cherish it and hope you do too. If you pledge by phone (403-220-5000) or online, you'll not only have the satisfaction of knowing you helped to ensure CJSW survives and thrive, you'll also be eligible for a wide range of incentives, from t-shirts and sweatshirts to mix CDs of in-studio sessions recorded at the station.

Pledge now, won't you?

Sled Island Presents: Fucked Up At Commonwealth November 19th!

After the mind-meltingly good show from Sled Island 2013 curator John Dwyer's band Thee Oh Sees (we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the jaw-dropping sets from The Blind Shake and OBN IIIs as well), we thought we'd continue with the whole, 'let's party with past-curators' thing. Today, we're thrilled to announce that, thanks to the Commonwealth Bar & Stage, on Tuesday, November 19th, Sled Island 2010 curators, Fucked Up, will be back in town for another set of sweaty, shirtless and near-symphonic punk rock.

They'll be joined by a shockingly good and knee-weakeningly-loud line-up from top-to-bottom with Sabertooth, Sissys and Grown-Ups.

Tickets are on sale now!