For Immediate Release - August 4th, 2014
The Board of the East Coast Blues Society is pleased to announce that ECBS member Mell Kirkland has accepted the position of International Blues Challenge Event Coordinator for this years edition of the Maritimes area IBC, to be held in September and October 2014 at Monte's Showbar & Grill in Dartmouth, NS.
Mell will play a key role in organizing and coordinating this years event.
Mell is a tireless volunteer and supporter of arts and culture events around town. In addition to running the very busy Arts and Culture HRM Meetup group she brings a wealth of volunteer experience to the table from the Halifax Jazz Festival, Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival and many others she probably hasn’t even told us about.
A fairly new member of the ECBS, she joined a few months ago after the ECBS began to partner with and ultimately sponsor her Arts & Culture HRM Meetup Group which organizes individuals interested in attended cultural events around the HRM.
The Board is extremely grateful she has agreed to embrace this role and is looking forward to working closely with her to make this year’s IBC even more successful than last year.
Artist submissions for the IBC are set to open this coming Friday August 8th, coinciding with the start of the 10th Anniversary of the Dutch Mason Blues Festival taking place at the NSPE race track in Bible Hill (Truro), NS (Stay tuned for more details).
What is the IBC?
The world's largest gathering of Blues acts representing an international search by The Blues Foundation and its Affiliated Organizations for the Blues Band and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to take their act to the international stage. The IBC is a judged "Battle of the Bands" in which competitors take the stage and play a short set for a panel of judges. The acts are judged based on an established set of criteria. Each Affiliate of The Blues Foundation has the right to send a band and solo/duo act to represent the organization at the IBC in Memphis, TN. Affiliates are required to stage a regional preliminary IBC competition, where the winner of that competition earns the right to represent the Affiliate at the Memphis international competition. In January 2014, a record 255 acts from 16 countries (across four continents) filled the clubs up and down Beale Street for the quarter-finals on Wednesday and Thursday, the semi-finals on Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday. The 2015 International Blues Challenge will be the 31st year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition.
The 31st annual International Blues Challenge runs in Memphis, TN on historic Beale St from Wednesday January 21st – Saturday January 24th, 2015.