Partnership with Charlotte-based mobile app will help sustain long-running Festival
CHARLOTTE (September 8, 2015) — Festival in the Park returns for its 51st year in Freedom Park September 25-27 with a new technology partner and a myriad of visual arts and crafts, performance arts, and live music to entertain the entire family.
“We have a fifty year tradition of bringing this free event to the Charlotte community, which now features nearly 200 arts and crafts exhibits, 5 stages, and more than 1,000 family-friendly entertainers,” explained David Dalton, Festival board chair. “Our patrons may not realize that the Festival is entirely self-sustaining and does not receive any tax dollars to stage the event.”
The September tradition is organized by Festival in the Park, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit with just one full-time employee. More than 250 Festival volunteers assist the artists, musicians and patrons to ensure a successful weekend.
Private donors, known as “Friends of the Festival”, help cover the Festival’s cost of renting Freedom Park from Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation and the hiring of off-duty Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers, Medics and Charlotte firefighters to keep patrons safe.
In 2015, Festival in the Park has partnered with uBack (www.ubackforgood.com), a free mobile app that makes it easy for donors to support the annual event with just a couple of screen taps. uBack is a Charlotte-based company that enables people to support their favorite charitable organizations with any size donation. Donors can find uBack in the App Store and on Google Play.
“Mobile giving presents tremendous potential for organizations. It’s easy to use our phones for transportation, making purchases, reservations, and engaging with our networks. Supporting great causes should be just as easy,” said Jason Bodford, a founding member of uBack. “We are thrilled to partner with the festival and help drive support for this community staple.”
Supporters can also promote donations with their social networks through the app. The festival and uBack will be using #BackFITP to drive support.
Named one of the nation’s top festivals by Sunshine Artists Magazine, the Festival boasts an outdoor open-air amphitheater unrivaled in the area. The Festival has also been honored as Best Charlotte Festival by Charlotte Magazine.
This project was made possible, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council; the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources; and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
Festival in the Park is hosted by Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.
Piedmont Natural Gas is the 2015 Green Sponsor. Aetna is the 2015 Main Stage Sponsor