Volunteers and Billet hosts are the heart of Sappyfest. You are the reason things run smoothly and that everyone from audiences to artists are happy, comfortable, fed, and having fun!
Volunteers are needed for a variety of crews, including bar, box office, band food, doors, merchandise, stage support, recycling, transportation, site set-up, band food, artist hospitality, the safety squad, and more!
Billet hosts are needed to provide a clean, comfortable and safe place for artists to sleep so they can put their best work forward. Each year we rely on the kindness of Sackville residents who open their homes to visiting artists, fulfilling a crucial role!
If you'd like to volunteer your time or space in exchange for tickets, sign up here!
CALL FOR VENDORS
We are excited to invite vendors to participate in Sappyfest 18 this August 4th-6th, 2023. The Sappy Street Market is an essential component of the festival experience, and it provides an opportunity for guests to check out regional food, craft, and product in the heart of downtown Sackville, NB. Our market will run all weekend on Bridge Street at our main festival grounds. If you're interested in selling food or other goods Sappyfest, please find rates, details, and a registration form here!
SAPPYFEST 18 - FIRST LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT!
With so much excitement, we are thrilled to share a sneak peek of artists with you! By Divine Right, Flour, Love Language, Mother Tongues, Nico Paulo, Sluice and Witch Prophet will join us for Sappyfest 18 this August 4th-6th, 2023, in Sackville, NB. Visit our lineup page to learn more about these incredible artists and visit our ticket page to purchase your Early Bird pass! Early Bird’s are $139.60 (taxes and fees included) and are available until they sell out. We’re over half way there so grab yours soon!
In addition to Early Bird passes, we have a special limited edition print taken by Matt Horseman at Sappyfest 17 available for purchase on its own or as a ticket add-on. Thank you to Matt for supporting this important fundraiser!
We are delighted to share that Sappyfest 18’s visual artist is Jadyn Klassen. We can’t wait to show you all that Jadyn has dreamed up over the next weeks and months!
We have so much fulfilling work ahead - connecting with artists for continued programming, volunteers, organizers, community members, supporters, and partners - and so much more to share with you in the coming weeks. This is the beginning!
Sappyfest 18 Early Bird Weekend Passes & Limited Edition Print on sale now!
Sappyfest 18 - August 4th-6th, 2023 - Sackville, NB
Hello friends! As we work towards another special in-person festival this summer, we are excited to share that Early Bird Weekend Passes for Sappyfest 18, taking place August 4th-6th, 2023 in Sackville, NB are on sale now! Passes are $115 + tax and fees. Limited quantities are available, so get them while you can! In addition to Early Bird passes, we’re delighted to launch the sale of a special limited edition Sappyfest print by Matt Horseman, taken at Sappyfest 17 and featured here. Prints are $56.52 + tax and fees and can be purchased on their own or as a ticket add-on. For full details on early bird passes, prints, and event info head on over to our ticket/merch page!
We can’t wait to share more with you in the coming weeks and months!
Matt Horseman is a photographer and writer based in Nova Scotia. His work explores devotion, human relationships, memory, and time. He released his first monograph, Two Rivers, in 2020, and was nominated for the National Gallery of Canada’s New Generation Photography Award in 2022. He hasn’t missed a Sappyfest since his first visit to Sackville in 2015.
We’re thankful for Matt’s generosity and support with this important fundraiser! Please check out his website and follow along on Instagram. For a closer look at the image, visit www.matthorseman.com/sappy-forever#e-1
SAPPY AGM - SEPTEMBER 19 2022
SappyFest Inc. would like to invite its membership and those interested in becoming members to the 2022 Annual General Meeting on the worldwide web via Zoom on Monday, September 19th at 7 PM AST. To RSVP and receive Zoom meeting ID / passcode email producer@sappyfest.com ahead of the meeting. This is an open meeting with presentations from staff and board members on the organization's activities, financials, as well as elections to the SappyFest Board of Directors. Voting in elections to the SappyFest Board of Directors requires a $20 voting membership, e-transfers accepted.
The agenda, last year's minutes, current bylaws and the agenda, are available by request.
Key agenda items will include:
-- Elections to the SappyFest Board of Directors (2 year term).
-- Approval of 2021 Financial statements.
-- President of the Board of Directors statement.
-- Creative Director's statement.
-- Questions from the floor.
Hope to see you all there!
Thank you to Amery and Jadyn!
A huge, huge thank you from the Sappyfest team to Sappyfest 17 visual artist Amery Sandford for her work creating the Sappyfest 17 poster, Sappy merch, and Bridge Street Stage backdrop, as well as for providing illustrations for the program! Amery’s whimsical, gorgeous illustrations captured the spirit of Sappyfest perfectly: a big, bright community, all coming together. And a huge thank you to Sappyfest 17 graphic designer Jadyn Klassen for doing the program layout and technical design. We are so glad to have had you both! Be sure to follow Amery and Jadyn on Instagram and check out their websites for more of their work!
Sappy Thank-Yous / SHOTGUN JIMMIE LIVE @ Struts Gallery: Friday, Aug 5 @ 12:00 PM
Dear Sappy friends,
Thank you one thousand times over for believing in us and supporting Sappyfest. Thank you for welcoming us home and for allowing us the space to figure it all out together, hands held! Tremendous gratitude to everyone who volunteered this year. We see how hard you worked, all in the spirit of Sappyfest, and we are forever grateful. Thank you to the artists for making space and time to come to our stages and share your work with us. You cracked us open and built hearts back up in ways we almost couldn’t imagine feeling again. You are needed. Your work is needed, and we are forever grateful. Thank you to our funders, partners, the local business community, and everyone who welcomed us back and continued to make Sappyfest what it is! We love you!
And with that, we aren’t quite done yet! In partnership with our friends at Struts Gallery, Shotgun Jimmie is playing a FREE SHOW at the Struts BBQ on Friday at 12:00 PM. Many of you know that Shotgun Jimmie is a longtime friend of the festival, and we are very excited to welcome him back to Sackville! Come out at lunch and enjoy some free music and say hi.
One final note before we retreat for naps: make sure to mark down the dates for Sappyfest 18 in your calendar! August 4th-6th, 2023! We’re looking forward to making magic together again!
Thank you to Bagtown Brewery!
We’d like to give the folks at Bagtown Brewery an extra-special thank you for all the hard work they’ve put in to providing drinks for Sappyfest 17! Not only has Bagtown been providing extra-tasty beer and cider, but they’ve also prepared delicious non-alcoholic drink options to make sure everyone at Sappyfest has something to sip on. We are so overjoyed to have had Bagtown here for their first Sappyfest, and we are so looking forward to having them back!
DJ NEALL Surprise Show @ Ducky's Bar @ 12:00 AM!
Creative DJing. Live guests. Somebody loves you. Organized by DJ Neall, continuing a proud Sappyfest tradition of Sunday night parties. DJ Neall was born and raised in the Greater Toronto area, and moved to Sackville in 2002. In grade eight, he DJ’d for his school’s year-end dance party using mixtapes and never stopped. Now, he spins on moving platforms, in backyards, in frat houses, on rooftops, in patios, pubs, and our very own Ducky’s bar, where he’s been a resident DJ for 7 years. Don’t drop the beat. See you there!
AL & PALS PARADE @ SAPPYFEST
Al & Pals will be parading through Sackville at 2:30 PM at the Bridge Street Tent! Come meet us at the back of the tent at 2:15 PM to get ready for the celebration!
No floats, only levitation with joy. Must be willing to wander in the company of bandleaders and children on parade. Bring your own instrument, voices included! Children’s music dance party with DJ Sky Rat and DJ Roof Troll to follow. Costumes welcome. You, reading these words, are welcome. Absolutely no kazoos.
SAPPY KARAOKE @ THE LEGION
The clock strikes midnight on Sappyfest Saturday. Inspired by all the great music surrounding you, you search for a way to test your singing chops. Bring your enthusiasm to our host of Sappy Karaoke Graeme Patterson and Geordie Miller. Sappy Karaoke takes place at the Royal Canadian Legion at 12am on Saturday. All participants are encouraged to participate through singing, dancing, chuck and jiving and watching for surprise guest appearances!
The hosts will clean and provide protective coverings for all of the microphones before each performance. Participants can visit karafun.com/karaoke/ to view the catalogue as there will not be physical copies at the event. With all the wonderful music around you we can’t wait to hear the music you bring forth at Karaoke. See you there!
Sappyfest artist roster featured in indie rock newsletter Some Party
Sappyfest was recently featured in weekly Canadian indie rock newsletter Some Party, curated by author Adam White. He describes it as an “act of therapy”, a Swamp Magic talisman with which he wards off misfortune, embarked upon just before leaving his home in Ontario and coming to the East Coast. Not only does Adam profile every single artist coming to Sappyfest 17, but he also manages to squeeze in interviews with Vancouver band Tough Age and Sackville local Klarka Weinwurm. You can read the article here: https://www.someparty.ca/2022-07-23-guide-to-sappyfest-17/
JOYFULTALK Surprise Show at Ducky's Saturday Night 12:00 AM!
So you may have noticed the Surprise Show on the schedule, featuring an artist rhyming with BOY GULL SQUAWK. (We hope you appreciate our sense of humour.) But the jig is up. We can’t hide it any longer. We’re bursting at the seams to share that JOYFULTALK is performing at Ducky’s on Saturday!
JOYFULTALK is the brainchild of composer, producer, arranger, instrument builder, multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist Jay Crocker. Since relocating from Calgary to a rural Nova Scotia homestead a decade ago, Crocker has been broadening the scope and pace of his work in tandem with his musical exploration. He creates instrumental compositions that straddle analog and electronic sound explorations. Guided by graphic scores, handmade kinetic sculpture, and the junked/recuperated, Crocker weaves between human interaction and machine clockworks.
Doors at 12:00am! BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
JOYFULTALK Surprise Show @ Ducky's - Saturday Night 12:00 AM
So you may have noticed the Surprise Show on the schedule, featuring an artist rhyming with BOY GULL SQUAWK. (We hope you appreciate our sense of humour). But the jig is up. We can’t hide it any longer. We’re bursting at the seams to share that JOYFULTALK is performing at Ducky’s on Saturday!
JOYFULTALK is the brainchild of composer, producer, arranger, instrument builder, multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist Jay Crocker. Since relocating from Calgary to a rural Nova Scotia homestead a decade ago, Crocker has been broadening the scope and pace of his work in tandem with his musical exploration. He creates instrumental compositions that straddle analog and electronic sound explorations. Guided by graphic scores, handmade kinetic sculpture, and the junked/recuperated, Crocker weaves between human interaction and machine clockworks.
Doors at 12:00am! BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
PHONOAUTOMAT with Jake Nicoll, Ariel Sharratt, and Mathias Kom
The Phonoautomat is a solar-powered mobile recording studio built by engineer Jake Nicoll (The Burning Hell, Kelly McMichael) and manned by Jake, Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom (The Burning Hell). Sign up for a half-hour session, step into The Phonoautomat, and record 5 minutes of material in a fully analog chain, copied onto four limited edition cassettes for you and your band. While you wait for your song to be mixed (quickly!), make your album art in the art lounge outside and walk away with four rare cassingles for keeps or trade. The Phonoautomat is equipped with a backline and instruments: all you have to bring is the music!
Want a B-Side? Come to the Phonoautomat with another band's tape and get their track dubbed onto the other side of the cassette.
Jake, Ariel and Mathias will be operating the Phonoautomat from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Saturday and Sunday at Sappyfest! Come visit the Rod Allen Co. Parking Lot (Struts Gallery) for more details!
Co-Creating Care: Accessibility, Safety and Wellbeing in the Arts
Please join us on Saturday, July 30th from 10:30 AM-12:00 PM for Co-Creating Care: Accessibility, Safety and Wellbeing in the Arts, a Panel Discussion presented in partnership with Struts Gallery.
Moderated by Kate Lahey of Weary, Kim Edgar (Bird Feet), Ami Dang, Daniel Monkman, Adam Sturgeon (OMBIIGIZI) and Ysabelle Vautour come together in this artist-focused panel to imagine radical possibilities for change and transformation in the areas of accessibility, care, safety, collectivity, and wellbeing. Panelists share strategies, insights, dreams, and interventions on the broad themes of disability, chronic illness, mental illness, addictions, healing, and resistance from their own unique perspectives.
Location: Royal Canadian Legion, 15 Lorne Street, Sackville NB, main floor
Cost: Free - no Sappyfest or pass required
Access notes:
The venue is a community space within a bar, however, alcohol will NOT be served during the event. There are VLT’s on site, in the back corner, out of sight from the panel area. You must pass by these to enter the space.
Please note that this event may discuss topics that are triggering to you. You may leave any time you need to. There is no pressure to stay for the duration.
Level cement entry, wide door, no automated button to open. Once inside, there is a second door to enter, again, no automated button to open. Washrooms on the main floor are gendered, each with a wheelchair accessible stall. A single occupancy gender neutral wheelchair accessible bathroom is located upstairs. If you need to access the second floor, there is a wheelchair accessible lift that is key operated. You must ask a legion staff member for the key. The main area is an open room with flexible seating configurations and plenty of room for wheelchairs.
Panelists will be mic’d. Mini whiteboards will be on hand. Chairs safe for 300-400lbs pounds, including chairs without arms on site. Large print panel descriptions and crisis support resources will be on hand.
This is a scent-free event. Please refrain from wearing perfumes, colognes, aftershaves, essential oils, scented sanitizer, etc.
This panel will not be recorded and posted online.
Like all Sappyfest 17 events, masks are required unless actively eating or drinking.
Due to sensory sensitivities, if you need to eat something while attending this panel, please move away from the main audience area and have your snack quietly. Please refrain from chewing gum while at this event.
Panelists:
Kate Lahey (Weary) - Moderator
Kate Lahey lives in Holyrood, NL in a saltbox on the ocean with their partner and dog. Kate is the frontperson of Weary, who is playing at Sappy! Kate is also a course instructor at the Gender Studies department at Memorial University of Newfoundland, a PhD candidate at the Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto, a board member of Girls RockNL, and a community arts organizer. They have a permanent disability, mental illness and are in recovery/sober since February 2020.
Kim Edgar (Bird Feet) - Panelist
Kimberly Edgar (aka Bird Feet), is a visual artist and musician based on Tr’ondek Hwech’in land in so-called Dawson City, Yukon. Their work reflects on experiences of both the medical system and the ennui that comes with being sick with no end. Kim’s work envisions the sacred nature of thresholds, and how those who occupy or cross these liminal spaces, such as trans and disabled people, hold a special kind of knowledge.
Ysabelle Vautour - Panelist
Ysabelle Vautour is an interdisciplinary artist and founder of the NB Disability Art Collective. A graduate of Artslink’s Catapult Arts Accelerator Program, Ysabelle explores accessibility and ableism in a fun and playful way through visual and installation art. The legally blind artist collaborated with Theatre New Brunswick and the JRG Art Society for the Arts on Atlantic Canada’s first Disability Arts Symposium, has had several solo exhibitions, served as the artist residence at the Fredericton Arts alliance and Connexion ARC, and was awarded an Artsnb artist in residence grant to work with the NB Coalition with Persons with Disabilities.
Daniel Monkman (OMBIIGIZI, Zoon) - Panelist
Daniel Monkman (OMBIIGIZI, Zoon) is an acclaimed Anishnaabe artist whose artist moniker comes from the Ojibway word Zoongide’ewin, which means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” Daniel has spent the better part of his 28 years channeling that courage in the face of deep adversity. Daniel’s music paints a message of hope and fortitude, lessons he learned studying the Seven Grandfather teachings after experiencing the lowest point of his life.
Born and raised in Selkirk, Manitoba, a small prison town outside of Winnipeg he describes as “one of the roughest places,” Monkman has faced an uphill battle his whole life. But with the spiritual guidance he learned from 12-step therapy, Monkman entered into recovery and began to follow a passion for music he discovered from a young age growing up within the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.
Adam Sturgeon (OMBIIGIZI, Status/Non-Status) - Panelist
Adam Sturgeon (Nme’) is an Anishinaabe artist and community worker who spent a decade carving a path through Canada’s DIY scene before leveling up with the acclaimed Status/Non-Status long player album Warrior Down (You’ve Changed Records). This album tells us about colonial injustice loudly and confronted Sturgeon’s complex family history and identity.
Adam is ‘non-status’ as defined by the Canadian government, as a result of his grandfather’s difficult decision to enfranchise and enlist in the Armed Forces to support his family. Enfranchisement was a pillar of the government’s assimilation policy and a requirement for any Indigenous person who wished to enlist. These acts of colonial violence have resulted in disconnection amongst generations of Indigenous people from their communities, languages, land, and identities. Today, voices like Adam are rising up and — through acts of reclamation via art, language, music, and community — taking back spaces that have been dominated by settler culture for so many years.
Ami Dang - Panelist
Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang is a South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, composer and producer from Baltimore. Her work references her hybrid identity as a first-generation South Asian-American, Sikh upbringing, musical education, as well as the chaos and spirituality of the landscapes of both Baltimore and urban India. Picking up her first sitar when she was twelve years old, Dang has studied North Indian classical music (voice and sitar) in both New Delhi and Maryland, and she also holds a degree in music technology & composition from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Following in the footsteps of artists like Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, she seeks to advance the sound of contemporary experimental, pop, and electronic music with the sounds of South Asia and vice versa. She aims to bring a broader sound palette to the legacy of South Asian music. These goals are a lifelong mission.
After contributing a track to the compilation Healing Together: A Compilation for Mental Health Recovery, featuring 23 ambient-electronic artists from around the world, Ami spoke publicly for the first time about her experiences with persistent depressive disorder. Ami’s track was inspired by her struggles with depression, something that was swept under the rug her entire life. Noting that as a society we have begun to more openly discuss mental health issues, Ami is empowered to speak up.
COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Though we have returned to an in-person festival, we understand that the pandemic is still ongoing. In the spirit of community care and to help protect our team, artists, and audiences, masks are required at Sappyfest 17 except when actively eating or drinking.
Please practice good hand hygiene, cough or sneeze into your arm (yes, even when wearing a mask), practice consent when touching people (ask for those hugs and handshakes!),give people the space they need and stay home if you are experiencing ANY symptoms!
Wearing a cloth mask or forgot your mask? Not a problem. Grab some kn95’s from our box office or at any Sappyfest venue. We encourage N95 masking. We also have a supply of rapid tests available for anyone in need at our box office!
Sappy-goers who begin experiencing symptoms during the festival should leave and isolate immediately. There will be signage throughout the festival reminding attendees of our COVID-19 protocols.
Thank you for your understanding and compassion!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Planning your trip to Sappyfest, but not sure when your favourite artist is playing? Want to catch the Mini Zines and Mighty Buttons workshop? Looking forward to poetry readings, art exhibits, panels, movies, softball, farmers’ markets, fashion, food, and parades? Does your heart yearn for Sappy Karaoke? Do all of these things apply to you and more?
Our schedule is finally here! Check the Schedule of Events here. Make sure you don’t miss out!
SAPPYFEST 17: FINAL LINEUP
We’re never quite done! With much excitement, please offer up a warm welcome to these very special artists:
Michael C. Duguay ft. New Hermitage & Joyful Joyful, bringing a unique, unprecedented performance assembled for Sappyfest. Imagine spontaneous, improvised arrangements of Michael's songs and poems featuring voice, electronics, guitar, saxophone, cello, and more.
Harris McSheffery, a highly talented and dearly cherished Sackville-based multi-instrumentalist bringing his originals and incredibly special covers of Sappy artists (Julie Doiron, Juice Girls!!) to Struts Gallery Community BBQ on Friday at noon! With many thanks to Open Sky Cooperative!
Zaki Ibrahim, bringing her hypercurious process of transposing atomic-level details into big ideas, merging elements of hip hop, soul, house and 70s pop together, filtered through the prismatic and often contradictory lenses of personal, historical and scientific relativities.
Valmy, who’s been chasing the ocean and finding a home on the East Coast, bringing her folk-inspired music to tell stories about loving and stumbling your way through the dark.
We are so excited to see so many faces, old and new, near and far, joining us here in the marshlands. You can find day passes and weekend passes on sale on our website. Schedule coming very, very soon, we promise! What you can expect: joy, reunion, community, music, art, dreams, and lots of birds.
Art by our amazing resident artist Amery Sandford!
Altar to the Threshold: Kimberly Edgar (aka Bird Feet) at Struts Gallery
Kimberly Edgar | Altar to the Threshold
Struts Gallery exhibit, 12-6 PM July 26th-August 13th
In partnership with Sappyfest, Struts Gallery is hosting an exhibition of drawings by Kimberly Edgar (aka Bird Feet), a visual artist and musician based on Tr’ondek Hwech’in land in so-called Dawson City, Yukon. Their work reflects on experiences of both the medical system and the ennui that comes with being sick with no end. Kim’s work envisions the sacred nature of thresholds, and how those who occupy or cross these liminal spaces, such as trans and disabled people, hold a special kind of knowledge.
A recipient of grants from CUE, Canada Council, Culture Quest, and the Advanced Artist Award, Kim also has pieces in the Yukon Permanent Art Collection and the Ottawa Direct Purchase Program. They hold two Broken Pencil Awards for Best Comic, and have been nominated for two Doug Wright Awards for their comic The Space in Between (2020). Kim is the founder of the small comics press Hecate Press, dedicated to celebrating northern comic artists and building opportunities for them to get paid work.
To see more of Kim’s work, click here.