Earlier this year, Big Fan announced the launch of their new initiative, ‘New Fans’, an all-ages show series creating opportunities for rangatahi to get involved in all aspects of the scene – not just performing, but also paid opportunities for the next generation to learn the ropes of the industry. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work as Promoters, Crew, and Artists, learning under the guiding hand of the Big Fan team as they put on their own show at the end of each intake.
The first intake is currently in full swing, gearing up towards an all-ages gig on Friday, 12th June. We had the opportunity to sit down with Savina Fountain, General Manager of Big Fan, to chat about the new initiative.
Growing up in Auckland, Savina was only 15 years old when she put on her first all ages show. “I lost like, a bunch of money. I was just booking my friend’s bands, and I did it for a number of years, before I even realised that it was even an actual job that exists. I was just doing it for fun. It took me a long time to get to that. New Fans is something I’m really passionate about, actually just highlighting that there are all these different aspects that come together to create a show. It’s not just the bands on stage, it’s people putting on shows, and people working at shows. I wish I had it when I was growing up, but unless we can provide these opportunities for young people coming up, there’s not really as many things for people to go to now, and less all ages venues.”
As a teenager, Savina describes herself as a “failed musician”, having formed a band and entered the Smokefree Rockquest during her high school era. “Back then when I was doing it, we were the only females in a whole region. And it was East Auckland, it’s a big region. I feel like that’s why they put us through the heat, so we got to regionals, but we weren’t good. We just played covers, and I had terrible stage fright. I actually thought that was the end of the career for me in music.”
As luck would have it, the experience had the opposite effect.
“But through that process, I was meeting other bands in the Rockquest region, so we’re like ‘come play at my school, and I’ll play at your school’. And I was like, ‘I’ll put in the show’, and I booked the council hall and I just kind of worked it out. It was kind of for selfish reasons back then, of my band wanting to play, becuase I had no idea that could kind of be a job. And then it’s cool to know that there’s all these other things that exist, if you don’t want to be on stage, which I also didn’t have the talent for it either… I’ve been really lucky to have this awesome career in music and events for the last sort of 25 years, and it’s cool. I’ve done everything on, off, and around the stage.”
For a lot of younger people, the thought may not go far beyond being a musician and performing, but through New Fans, Savina hopes to change that. “I think for a lot of young people, they don’t really see a lot. They don’t have exposure to the music industry other than being part of a band, and a lot of people don’t realise that there’s things you can do that don’t involve being on stage, but you’re still part of the scene, and you can still make your mark in your own way.”
For those who still want to perform, having a knowledge and understanding of the various skillsets is something which Savina sees as a real asset. “Even if you want to make it as an artist, or a session musician, these are all valuable skills for you to know. How a show works, how to get people along, how to do stage hand stuff, or lighting, or photography. These are all part of what helps you complement your skills as an artist these days, becuase that’s what people need. You can’t just be a great performer, or write great songs. You’ve got to have the business around that as well.”
Having this knowledge can be a real asset for a young artist, as it gives them an understanding of the effort that’s required to put on a successful show. “Buying tickets early and supporting local, it’s like until you try to sell your own tickets, you don’t really appreciate that as much. We have another programme called ‘Ignite‘, which is a much deeper way of teaching people this. It’s an 8-week programme, and a lot of young people that come out with it tell me all the time that it’s so nerve wracking because the show is on Saturday, and they’ve only sold a small amount of tickets. But often, they end up selling out, but you don’t know it because it doesn’t happen til they day before or on the day.”
The current intake of ‘Ignite’ is in its final days, with the young people involved putting on their own shows and music production students in the studios, working on their tracks. “This intake finishes at the end of May, but we’ll be opening another one in September for 18 to 25 year olds, so catching slightly older people. It’s really cool because through that, they get mentors, they get to actually do the thing. I’ve found there’s so many seminars and workshops, but there’s only so much you can learn by people talking at you. Until you actually try and do the thing yourself, it doesn’t really solidify that learning. So through Ignite, and also New Fans, the thread that has come through with what we’re trying to do is to get people to actually do the thing, because that’s how you learn.
If anything, ‘Ignite’ has helped to shape the ‘New Fans’ programme. “What we’ve found is that when young people come through Ignite, they’ve done it. We have found people who graduated from the Ignite programme, and they’re putting on more shows, so we know that people definitely get the bug.”
Also fuelling the initiative is, surprisingly, international shows. While part of the same ecosystem, international acts do take up a lot of people’s disposable income, which means people aren’t supporting as much local live music. New Fans is Big Fan’s answer – growing new audiences, new fans. “Let’s get young people experiencing local music as their first live music experience, instead of the show at the arena, becuase a lot of people we’re meeting now, when we say ‘oh, what was your favourite show or what show have you been to’, it’s something like an international artist at those bigger shows.”
“For me, I grew up on all ages shows. I grew up on local music, and I feel like once you go to local music, you find your people, you find your community. You’re a fan of local music for life. That’s the only experience for me, and it’s how I met Joel (Little), we grew up in the all ages scene together. I feel like that part is just missing, in the New Zealand ecosystem at the moment. So, we’re just trying to help facilitate, help new people, young people, find out about local music early and get them really into it, as well as giving them these opportunities for young people playing and young crew working at it, it’s sort of ticking all these boxes, but at the core of it, we’re trying to grow new local music fans.”
Through New Fans, Savina hopes to help shine a light on local music for the next generation of fans. “We’re trying to make them affordable and relevant, becuase it’s like, there’s no point someone in their 40s booking a show for young people.”
The intakes for New Fans run every two months, with the current intake well underway, working towards the first show in Friday, 12th June. The promoter for this intake, at 16 years old, will be responsible for putting on the lineup, design, and promotion of the show – with the guidance and support of the Big Fan team. “We’re really curious to see what kind of lineup she’s keen to put on, so we’ll see what happens. If we’re trying to attract young people through the show, let’s let them make the call, so its going to be very much a truly authentic, all ages show, not an old person telling them.”
The response for the first intake has been massive, even for the promoter positions. The most surprising thing for Savina perhaps being that the split of applicants, between artists and crew, has been fairly even. “This is really cool for me personally, and I feel inspired by that because there are people that want to come and work at the shows as well. We know that there are heaps of performers and bands out there thank to things like RockQuest and Play It Strange, but it’s really cool that people want to learn how to work at these shows as well.”
For young people keen to get involved in the next intake, we asked Savina what could help their application stand out.
“The biggest thing is actually just showing your passion for live music, so you don’t need any skills or experience. Just showing you’re passionate about live music, and local music. So if we ask some questions about what kind of artists you’d like to see, maybe don’t write all international artists? Show you do like local music, of you’re aware of it at least, that would be cool.”
‘New Fans’ will run bi-monthly throughout the year. If you’re a young person keen to get involved in the music industry, or like us, keen to check out some of the live events coming up, stay tuned to the Big Fan website for details of future intakes and shows.
