Tell me about the history and your role in the Rowan County Jazz and Blues Festival:
In 1999, I started having fish-fry’s in downtown Salisbury. I was a member of the United Arts Council and I knew that my community wanted to see a festival. I pushed for a festival and I got it. It wasn’t easy. My first festival was with a homemade stage made from a single-wide mobile home. I even made the festival banner from shower curtains.
As the owner and creator of this festival, how have you been able to maintain funding?
Whenever people talk about money, fear follows. I have always raised the funds to support this festival. I have to hire performers, and tech men, and men to help setup the event. I’m in my eighties now; most of the people know me in this town. I use to go to all the local markets, shops, and state agencies asking them to support my festival because the community deserves it. Lots of places provided in-kind donations and support to the festival. I have been partnering with the local Sheets gas station for several years. I never maintained funding. I never knew if I would raise enough money to continue the festival from year to year. The community helped me to maintain the festival.
Do you use any particular methods to log or track donations from supporters?
Everyone who has ever supported the festival is in my log book. My log book is just a book that I use to remember who donates, when they donate, and how much they donate. My daughter puts all of the information into the computer for me. She has been helping me out for about the past 5 years. I am too old to be fooling with the computer.
What advice would you give to someone like me or an up and coming entrepreneur?
Take care of your community because they will help to take care of you. Surround yourself with people who want to see you successful. Funding is important to everything. I mean every business needs funding to operate. I am not a business, I operate a festival and I still need funding to produce the festival. This year was the 16th annual Rowan County Jazz and Blues Festival. People came together to help make it happen. If you surround yourself with good people, trust in them to help you.
Photograph:
Beverly Burnett, NC Association of Black Story Tellers (Left) with Eleanor Qadirah (Right)
