The weather’s turning warm (and then cold again and then warm again, but let’s just forget the blustery part for now), the kids are clamoring to begin their video-game and amusement park-filled vacations, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy is in stores again—yes, this can only mean one thing. Summer—a blessed time in Michigan, and an especially exciting time for Ann Arbor-ites. Three of our summer weeks will be occupied by the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, an eclectic offering of culture, art, and family fun.

The Summer Festival was 1984-born. This year’s attendance is projected at some 60,000 popcorn-eating, music-listening, Festy goers. Despite the rosy outlook, the Summer Festival is having something of a midlife crisis. Its fund-line is receding, and its bulging attendee base isn’t as flush as it once was. What to do? It reinvents itself in an effort to recapture that cool-person vibe. It revamps its appearance, piling new programming on top of the old and brings in shiny, fun toys (like the gigantic luminarium). It feels hip and modern and hopes that attendees will perceive it that same way.

Some may snicker at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s attempts to reinvigorate itself; others will be drawn in by its new look. Either way, the Festival’s Director, Robb Woulfe, is confident in his abilities to put a fresh face on the middle-aged local institutions that are Top of the Park and the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

A2Politico: Summer Festival has a very eclectic range of attractions featuring music, dance, comedy, theater, spoken word, circus, fringe, and family entertainment. What is the common thread that holds all of these together?

RW: That’s the beauty of an arts festival: it allows you to mix a wide variety of disciplines and genres, venues and audiences, under the umbrella of one multi-faceted experience. We actually pride ourselves on the eclecticism and diversity of our season.  Where else do you get to see a New York drag artist share billing with Texican rockers and Aussie acrobats? Certainly artistic merit is key, but we also look for programming that is relevant to this community and appeals to a wide audience.  If there is a common thread in festival shows, I would say it’s a sense of fun, adventure and entertainment value.

A2Politico: 2008 and 2009 were difficult years, financially, for the Festival. You ended 2009 with a $115,000 deficit. You were forced to cut staff and bookings. The 2010 budget was projected at $1.1 million. Where’s the Festival, now, financially?

RW: Things have really stabilized for the festival over the past year, but not without much work, perseverance, and support. In 2010, we changed up our budget model to one that targeted 40 percent in contributed revenue – versus the 25-30 percent seen in prior years – forcing us to be much more creative with fundraising and to aggressively grow and diversify our funding portfolio. This, coupled with less promoter risk on the indoor concerts and a few modifications to the hours of operations at Top of the Park, helped the festival come out of the red and break-even in FY10. The big issue now is about growth and sustainability.

A2Politico: There has been clamoring for Top of the Park to bring back weekend movies (Friday/Saturday). Any chance of that happening? Were the weekend movies cut for financial reasons, or some other reason?

RW: Good question. The outdoor cinema series is one of my favorite programs within the festival season, but the truth is that the cost of film licensing, projectionists, and other related production expense can well exceed the cost of an artist fee for a great dance band.  Plus, we consistently see vendor and concessions sales dramatically drop off whenever we screen a movie at Top of the Park. For an event that relies heavily on beverage sales to help support the free entertainment, it would be hard for us to lose part of that revenue, which can easily be $10,000-$15,000 on a weekend night. If we could make that much in popcorn sales, we’d definitely look at bringing back movies on Friday and Saturdays.

A2Politico: The Festival has a 31 member Board of Trustees who oversees the work of, well, you and one other staff member. The Ann Arbor Summer Festival board is three times larger than the board of the international Saltzburg Festival and only slightly smaller than the board that oversees the Spoleto Festival. What’s the primary function of the board? Surely, you don’t have 31 people simply overseeing the work of two full-time staff members, do you?

RW: It is unusual for an organization our size to have such a large board, but we’re somewhat an unusual organization.  With some of the intricacies of our organizational structure, specifically the City/University relationships, as well as our having such a limited staff, we really do look to our trustees to help in the planning and implementation of the event. Our board only meets four times a year, so much of their work is done at a committee level.  So, no, it is not about a large board simply overseeing the work of two full-time staff members, but rather assisting and collaborating with us to make this event happen each year.

A2Politico: In 2008, Summer Festival launched a major green initiative. What are some of the programs you’ve implemented? How are you measuring your results/success?

RW: Since launching this effort three years ago, we’ve really seen this program gain momentum, which I think is due largely to the fact that Ann Arbor is such an eco-conscious town.  Our success is due to a number of smaller partnerships that each focus on specific greening initiatives – an extensive onsite recycling campaign; using more compostable and biodegradable materials; the promotion of alternative transportation options to the festival – all of which have ended up making a notable difference to our environmental impact as well as to our bottom line. For the past two years, for example, we’ve raised thousands of dollars from the bottle and can returns at Top of the Park.

A2Politico: You publicize the Summer Festival’s five-year vision on its web site. The stated aim is “to be a nationally recognized arts festival and enduring local treasure – a widely anticipated, interactive hub of creative and community energy.”  I can’t imagine a summer without Top of the Park/Summer Festival, but obviously other people can, as ticket sales and revenues were down in 2008 and 2009. Do you consider 2011 as a kind of test of whether the Summer Festival can bounce back and show it has what it takes to be enduring (and profitable)?

RW: I feel we have bounced back.  The Ann Arbor Summer Festival is not going anywhere, but it will continue to change and evolve.  It has to. We continue to leverage what’s working and eliminate what’s not.  It’s a constant challenge and balancing act, but we try to make decisions based on our festival’s mission and the strategic directives that we, as an organization, have chosen to embrace. I feel we have a very clear roadmap, but no journey is without a few bumps in the road or unplanned detours. To me, that’s the adventure of it all.

A2Politico: How successful was the “Give $3 to Keep it Free” campaign last summer? Are you planning to repeat the direct appeal to folks again this summer?

RW: Since its introduction in 2009, the Give $3 campaign has proven to be a very effective fundraising initiative for the festival. The public has been incredibly supportive of the effort, willingly and generously giving to volunteers at Top of the Park who helped to collect donations for the past two seasons.  Last year, we raised just over $50,000 in onsite donations (versus $10,000-$15,000 in annual onsite collections prior to launching the suggested donation effort).  What’s most inspiring for me to see a number of other festivals around the country using this same model for their free events with equal success.

A2Politico: What’s your anticipated attendance this year?

RW: More than 60,000 festival-goers are expected over the three-week period.

A2Politico: The special programs line-up will be announced in May. Can you give us any hints of what’s to come? Of all the attractions, programs, excitement, which are you most looking forward to this year? Which event do you anticipate will be the most popular with the public?

RW: We’ve got a lot of fun and interesting things this year. Definitely the Architects of Air project at Palmer Field is not-to-be-missed, but there are so many great events inside and out this season. As for my pick for indoor show, I have to say that Tom Tom Crew is the must-see attraction – it’s sort of an urban club-circus fusion for all ages.  And outdoors, we have 26 acts making their festival debut at Top of the Park, so there certainly should be a little something for everybody.  My favorite band name this year is a toss-up between: “Patrick Elkins & the Rainbow Vomit Family Band” and “The Boogers.” Good stuff.