PORT ANGELES — A music festival looks like a carefree idyll — but in fact, it’s a big risk, a double-edged sword.
The artists deserve to be compensated, of course, said Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts Executive Director Dan Maguire.
But when scores of singers, dancers and players are paid to visit Port Angeles for the festival May 24-28, it means a ticket price too high for some.
So this month, Maguire introduces a new financial aid policy to enable low-income individuals and families to attend the weekend — and other Juan de Fuca Festival-presented events coming up — for less.
Qualifying local residents can enjoy 50 percent off passes to the May festival, as well as half off tickets to see Arlo Guthrie on April 15 at the Port Angeles High School Auditorium and 50 percent off tuition for the Juan de Fuca Discovery Art camps for children in June and July.
Application forms are available in the lobby of Chase Bank, 101 W. Front St., and at the Juan de Fuca Festival website, www.JFFA.org.
For more information, phone the festival office at 360-457-5411.
The Juan de Fuca Festival board of directors recently approved the new policy, which is actually an old policy for Maguire, who instituted a similar financial aid program at the Clallam County YMCA.
He was the Y’s executive director from 1996 through 2009.
Amelia Andaleon, a Juan de Fuca Festival board member, said this is the only arts-organization financial aid initiative she knows of on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Andaleon, Maguire and other board members have heard from some in the local community that the festival events were too costly, so lower-income people couldn’t come out to their hometown arts festival.
Andaleon couldn’t yet foresee how many people will receive the price break before the aid program is tapped out.
“We’re just going to try it,” she said.
The financial aid is possible thanks to local donors: the members and sponsors of the Juan de Fuca Festival, Maguire added.
“Art is too important to just be for rich people,” he said.
The aid initiative “is an attempt to make the festival and other events affordable to everybody.”
Festival passes will become available soon, Maguire said.
The early-bird price is $45 for the four-day event.
That will rise to $55 on May 1, and those who buy passes on festival weekend will pay $60.
To receive the 50 percent discount from the financial aid program, festival-goers must apply in advance, Maguire emphasized.
Qualifying applicants may also use their discount to attend Guthrie’s concert in April.
Tickets, to also go on sale soon, will range from $21 to $30.
March concert
The half-off discount won’t be available, however, for the Juan de Fuca Festival benefit concert featuring Playing for Change, the multiethnic band that has gained worldwide fame via the Internet and its viral video of “Stand by Me.”
Playing for Change will arrive in the Little Theater at Peninsula College on Saturday, March 17, and the Juan de Fuca Festival director and board will host a festive reception in the adjacent Pirate Student Union, or PUB.
Tickets for the reception and concert are $85; net proceeds will benefit the Juan de Fuca Festival’s programs.
Information about tickets is at www.JFFA.org while videos of the band are at www.PlayingforChange.com.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.