Re: Salwar kameez getting accepted in US
I think Pakistanis should get the credit for the popularity of Shalwar Kameez in US. At Houston IFEST most Pakistanis came in their ethnic dresses.
iFest earned $2.9 million — $300,000 over expenses.
• Tickets sold: 52,000 at the gate; 13,000 discounted
• Attendance: 200,000 +
Propelled by fair weather, a return to downtown, and, possibly, a reduction in ticket cost, paid attendance at this year’s Houston International Festival more than doubled last year’s and pushed the annual spring cultural extravaganza into profitability.
“It’s Phoenix rising,” festival president Jim Austin said of this year’s attendance tally, which showed 52,000 tickets were sold at the gate for $10 each. Discounted advance tickets sales totalled 13,000. Those figures reflect the festival’s best performance since 2002, when 70,023 tickets were sold.
Total 2005 attendance topped 200,000, promoters said.
IFest chairman Robert Sakowitz said the four-day festival spotlighting India earned approximately $2.9 million — about $300,000 more than expenditures.
“The festival this year is a good story,” he said. “We are in the black. We paid our debts, paid off the contractors and vendors from last year, and we have the money to pay the bank revolvers.”
This year’s festival, held April 23-24 and April 30-May 1 in and around downtown’s Sam Houston Park, marked a dramatic rebound from last year’s rain-plagued run at Reliant Park. That event, which attracted 27,061 paid visitors and left the festival $600,000 short of its $1.2 million goal, continued a downward attendance trend apparent since 2001.
Weather a blessing
The biggest boon to iFest 2005, Sakowitz said, was mild sunny weather for three of four festival days. The second Saturday was marred by cloudy skies and occasional rain, and attendance fell by 40 percent. But even at its most inclement, this year’s weather was a blessing compared to the windy and rainy days of last year.
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IFest 2005 was boosted, too, by its return to downtown and enthusiastic support from Houston’s sizeable Indian and Pakistani communities. To further enhance the appeal, Austin said, the cost of tickets was reduced from last year’s price, which was $12 at the gate.
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Sakowitz and Austin described this year’s roster of performers as particularly strong. Among them were Grammy winners Delbert McClinton, Toots & the Maytals, Ozomatli and Brave Combo.
“We had four Grammy winners, but we booked them before they won, and we didn’t have to pay Grammy prices,” Sakowitz said.
Grammy nominees
Also in the festival lineup were Grammy nominees Taj Mahal and Zap Mama and a variety of local Hispanic, zydeco and blues performers. Those musicians complemented a range of Indian dancers, musicians and artisans who were the focus of this year’s festival.
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So strong was support from the Indian and Pakistani communities, said to include as many as 150,000, that a permanent stage for Indian performances may be added to future festivals, Sakowitz said. Next year’s festival will spotlight Jamaica.
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IFest, which traces its history to a 1971 downtown arts festival, is the city’s premier showcase for multiculturalism, Sakowitz said.
“As Houston has grown and become more diverse, every community likes to have its celebration,” he said. “But the International Festival isn’t like those. It’s the city’s overall festival — the all-encompassing grandaddy, and you can’t put it in the same framework of one individual cultural festival or a holiday like the Fourth of July. It’s unique.”
Impact of 9/11
Prior to this year, paid attendance at the festival had steadily dropped from 93,033 in 2000. Sakowitz and Austin attributed lagging attendance to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a lackluster economy.
“I don’t think there is any festival in the United States that did not have a negative impact from 9/11,” Sakowitz said. “The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Bumbershoot (in Seattle), Memphis in May — all have had diminution and have gradually come back. There’s been an upswing in the economy, and people have a greater feeling of security.”
Last year, the Houston International Festival relocated to Reliant Park after the city moved to significantly raise fees for security, garbage cleanup and other services at the event’s downtown site. The event returned to Sam Houston Park after negotiations, supported by Mayor Bill White, resulted in lower costs to iFest.
“Quite frankly,” Sakowitz said, “people sometimes don’t know what they’ll miss until they miss it. I think it was like that with the festival. People said, ‘Wait a minute, we liked this thing downtown.’”
