Gary Cristall

Description

I started in this curious profession as a founder and the co-coordinator of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. That was in January of 1978. In that capacity I produced the first two Vancouver Folk Music Festivals. In the fall of 1978 I started to produce concerts. This was a logical outgrowth of the first Folk Music Festival. In 1980 I founded the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society, Aural Tradition Records, and Festival Distribution. I was both artistic director and coordinator of the festival and the society. In that capacity for the next decade and a half I produced and booked an annual festival and hundreds of concerts. Festival Records evolved into a major distributor of independent releases and dozens of labels from around the world, while Aural Tradition released a couple of dozen fine releases. We also booked tours for artists in the early 80's and toured a number of international artists in the 90's as part of their participation in the Vancouver festival. Over those years I worked with thousands of artists. Some have gone on to international renown; others remain great but obscure. All three of these entities still exist, guided by other hands. Festival Records became Festival distribution, Aural Tradition continues to put out some new releases and keeps much of the old catalogue alive, and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival continues to be held annually.

Companies nearby