When Feels Good announced back in September that Paul McAllister would be stepping down after eleven years as Folly Fest’s festival director it was tempered with words like “eventually.” There was an understanding that finding a suitable replacement might take some time; possibly even years. Less than two months later, the festival has chosen McAllister’s successor.
In general, there is one very easy method for determining the most important people at any festival: they’re usually the ones frantically running about. It makes them pretty easy to spot. Anyone with a keen eye might have mistakenly assumed that Tynan Dunfield, Folly Fest’s newly appointed Festival Director, had held that position for years, but they wouldn’t be that far off either.
“Tynan has been on board since the very early years, knows the heart of the festival, has seen every little bit of what Folly has to offer and taken it in stride. It was a perfect match,” says McAllister.
Dunfield is immediately recognizable as one of Folly’s key components – usually dashing about with cables in hand, stationed at one soundboard or another, or judiciously scrutinizing a stage’s backline.
“I started working at music festivals when I was 18,” says Dunfield. “On the night of my first ever festival shift, my flip phone died and I didn’t have an alarm. To make sure I didn’t miss my shift the next morning I slept onstage under a drum riser. I’m pretty sure Zach Atkinson found me under there the next morning.”
It’s not just Folly Fest, either. Dunfield has maintained a seriously active presence throughout the festival scene – working with Halifax Pop Explosion, Evolve, Paddlefest, Sappyfest, Harvest Jazz. He’s also worked as a stage manager for Symphony NS, studio engineer at Echo Chamber, and filled several roles at CKDU in Halifax. He can also be easily spotted an one-half of electronic pop duo Vogue Dots.
“I started working at Folly Fest 10 years ago as an inexperienced and sub-par sound tech. I think I was technically volunteering,” say Dunfield. “I slept in the shed at Yippie Stage for my first few years, and upgraded to sleeping in the barn after I became Technical Director 5 years ago.
“Having worked behind the scenes at a bunch of festivals over the years, the thing that strikes me about Folly Fest is how much the staff and board of directors care about the festival-goers. I mean, most people care about the people who turn up for the show, but it feels different here. Like, they go out of their way on a personal level to make sure things are alright. Generally speaking, not even a great idea, you delegate, but I think it’s admirable. There are too many anecdotes to pick one.
“I guess all of this to say I have strong feelings about everyone I work with. I have so many memories of the festival and I’m honoured to be given this responsibility. I didn’t tell him this but before I called Paul to accept the job I drove to Gagetown and wandered around the site for a bit.”
Undoubtedly, it was a not a small decision for Dunfield to make, but anyone familiar with Folly Fest, and the very special atmosphere the festival has cultivated over the last decade, will know that the challenges ahead of him will also be balanced by something very rewarding.
“There are a few people I’ve seen every summer for a decade and I only see them at festivals, and I like them a lot but never really got their name and it’s way too late to ask now, so I’m crazy anxious about that,” Dunfield says jokingly. “I don’t know. Maybe people will get mad at me for banning hula-hoops. People haven’t been responding positively to Hornet Barn either, I think they’ll come around.”
“The festival landscape has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, and I think directing a festival is a delicate balance,” adds Dunfield more seriously. “You need to mitigate risk to make sure you can continue putting the thing on and that you’re not jeopardizing the stability of the festival, but you also can’t keep doing the same thing every year because it gets tired. I believe that music and art festivals generally should inspire and also provoke the communities they exist in, so bringing in new and relevant artists is a must. Representation and inclusion are also extremely important to me. I don’t know, there are a hundred things I could say here but it’s also not a one-person thing and I’m not making any decisions alone. Ultimately it’s a team effort and I have confidence in everyone at Folly Fest. Onwards and upwards situation for sure.”
McAllister, who is staying on as Feels Goods Executive Director assures us that the behind-the-scenes transition will be an organic one. McAllister will be shifting his focus back to other Feels Good community events and year-round projects, remaining in the background but never far off, while Grace Stratton has been hired as the festival’s Technical Director, taking over the role from Dunfield.
“The festival as we know it will stay very much the same,” says McAllister. “We’ll still have the same schedule flow, the same community spirit, the only noticeable change will that the whole core vision of what Folly represents will be clarified.
“Tynan has always without fail been an absolute treat to work with, couldn’t be happier about this set up. We’re all in for a real treat.”