TUCSON TO BE SITE OF THE 2012 FINNFEST USA FESTIVAL
Tucson,
Arizona will be the site of the next FinnFest USA Festival. The festival dates, November 8-11, 2012, will
permit the festival to commemorate Martti Ahtisaari Day, an official day now in
Finland, a day that Finns use to honor and consider the subject of
international peace mediation. For
FinnFest USA, International Peace will become the theme of the 2012 FinnFest
USA festival . Attendees will see its
influence in all elements of program planning.
The FinnFest USA Board of Directors will function as the organizers of the festival. Local residents in the Phoenix and Tucson area will assist as they themselves decide to define their participation. They will be meeting with Ryan Braski, festival chair, in early September. At this point, it can be said that festival attendees will find that America’s Southwest will indeed become part of the festival. However, holding the festival in Tucson, while organizing it with leadership living elsewhere, means that the 2012 festival administration will have a different look and feel.
FinnFest USA is now 28 years old, and the original organizing format needs to respond to audience requests for changes in programming and administration. Wanting to stay far away from competition with more traditional “FinnFest” style festivals, the FinnFest USA Board chose a location far away from festivals already in place. The intention is to develop a festival with programming that specifically appeals to contemporary concerns and programming approaches.
The FinnFest USA board decided to use 2012 and Tucson as a time and space to explore how these new programming formats and festival administration can work with the traditional programming that attendees have come to expect and ask for at FinnFest USA festivals.
Not to worry! The long standing tradition of FinnFest USA festivals will continue. Already set your calendars for a large national gathering to occur in 2013 when FinnFest USA returns to the Upper Peninsula, this time to the Keweenaw Peninsula and a Juhannus centered festival, June 19-23, 2013.
Look to the FinnFest USA website for updates and further information: www.finnfestusa.org