BeachGlow Music Festival: A Family of Volunteers Supporting Charity [Exclusive Interview]

Dane: Tough question, but I enjoy all of it. I really enjoy promoting, setting up, and I love seeing the festival come to life of course.
Heather: I know for a fact that Dane loves designing the stages as well.

Gerard: I’m not sure that any other big festival could do this. This is an entirely volunteer organization, no one at BeachGlow or involved in the organization makes a dime off of this.
Heather: Not even Dane.
Gerard: It’s an entirely altruistic endeavor. We’ve been spending a great amount of money over the last four years as we’ve traveled out to larger venues. Our purpose has been investing and building the brand in order to build awareness in the next generation of charitable givers. The fact that we spin off so much for charity, I’m not sure the larger festivals could even do that. They’re money making enterprises, so they need to clear a profit. We’re so fortunate to have such a great group of volunteers to make all of this happen.
Heather: It definitely isn’t easy to be all volunteer. Everyone that volunteers has a full time job or is in school; so every single dollar and sponsor counts. It takes a lot of money to produce a festival like this and it’s more and more each year. BeachGlow Concerts for Charity is the only non-profit EDM festival producer out there.

Dane: We love Atlantic city, however we felt that Wildwood was a better choice location wise. There were also some other events in Atlantic City that were making it difficult to plan an event there.
Gerard: It’s also important to note, Wildwood has some of the most amazing beaches in America. The surprising thing about the geology of that area is that the beaches keep getting wider each year. Sand is being naturally scraped off of other beaches and being deposited at the bottom of New Jersey, near Wildwood and Camp May. The distance from the boardwalk to the water is around a quarter of a mile. This allows for the festival to have a tremendous amount of space to set up, spread out, and have a great time!

Gerard: Well, I should first mention that Dane is the curator of the show. I’m surprised he didn’t say before that it’s his number one, least favorite thing to do.
Heather: Dane is responsible for the entire lineup. I know he didn’t mention it because it’s his least favorite thing to do as it’s really tough work. Going through all those contracts and managers is difficult and he does it single handedly.
Dane: I do want to note, Nico & Vinz is donating their entire performance to BeachGlow this year. We’re definitely looking forward to their performance, their whole band will be coming down.
Gerard: We’re really looking forward to seeing Nico & Vinz in person because they’re a great group of guys. Dane has a difficult job of reaching out to all these performers and getting them to perform for free or cut their rates. It’s really hard because we understand this is how they earn their living. At the same time we’re hoping somewhere in the mix of their performances they can find a little bit of time to come to BeachGlow and participate. We’re the only ones doing something like this and we want it to be a movement for a generation.
Heather: We’re hoping other artists will be inspired to donate their performances in future years after seeing what Nico & Vinz did this year.

Dane: If you’re doing what you love, it will come easy to you. I didn’t know much about events until I started doing more and more of these. Practice definitely makes perfect. Also, surround yourself with a team that is passionate about the endeavor you’re working on. Your team needs to be able to coecivesely work together where you can trust they will put the effort that you put in.

I know our team puts 100% of the work they can because they support the mission and the company. I really respect that, I’m definitely thankful I’ve been able to surround myself with a team that is so committed to the goal. Definitely follow what you love to do, but I just love producing these shows. I’ll keep doing this until I can no longer do that. Build a great team, I think teamwork is the most important thing right now in regards to making sure this company succeeds.

Gerard: Great question, I’ll go first although I know Heather wants to go too. I’m obviously very proud of what he has done. When he first pitched the idea we told him what we told his older sister, if you have an idea, show us a business plan and we will support you. He did just that, came up with a simple but clear business plan that showed how he would generate money to pay for the charitable cause and at the same time produce a great event. To see the impact on not only the fans, but to see a press conference in Philadelphia where inner city school kids were using instruments that this organization funded for is really remarkable. It’s great to see the effects his idea is having on so many people, as well as the attention the festival is now getting worldwide.
Heather: Obviously I am so incredibly proud as a mother. At first, I wasn’t crazy about the idea of him Djing. But from him taking on Djing, this whole idea of charity blossomed. Dane performs at the festival, but he also works 24/7 to set up and get everything ready. The day of he is getting involved in every aspect of the festival and eight hours later changes his clothes and runs out on stage to do his set. It’s an amazing feeling to see people respond and get involved in the charity and giving back.
Dane: I’ll just expand on what Gerard said there a bit, people are definitely noticing this all over the country and the globe. We had people from Canada come last year and fans from over 30 different states.

Dane @ BeachGlow 2014

Gerard: We don’t publish the exact numbers on that, but if you look at studies other festivals have done around the nation, there is absolutely a great financial impact generated for the town. Whether it’s in parking, hotels, or restaurants, all the cities’ services will benefit. Also, we spend money on leasing the beach, public works, police, EMS, and fire.
Heather: Don’t forget catering, restaurants, and vendors.
Dane: Also, having the festival on a Friday and Saturday evening is definitely beneficial to the town as well. This allows people to stay over night, come and spend the day at the beach, and go to restaurants. Then on Sunday everyone can really relax and enjoy the Wildwood beaches and town.

Dane: We’re putting a lot more into BeachGlow than just the music this year. It’s our most diverse lineup yet, but the experience on site is going to be a lot better this year. We’re investing a lot more into activation responders and other partners coming in. We’re amping up our beer garden area for the 21+ crowd. We’ll have more food vendors and merchandise vendors. If you want to dance and jump around or just sit and hangout with your friends, or even just have a beer and play games, come on down because we’re open to everyone. I’m definitely excited for the two day event this year.
Gerard: I certainly want that fans to recognize that we believe that this is a great value even if there was no charity involved. To have a two day event on the beach for under $100 for both days is a deal. But then on top of that, to know that the money contributed by your ticket is going to build this organization as well as donate to inner city kids is a great cause. It’s a win win for everyone, so I’m hoping that as the fans have a great time they remember that it’s also for a great cause for the community and society.
Heather: The first year we started the process of researching and finding a charity, we opened it up to the fans to decide which charity they would like to give to. We had some requirements at first, for example it had to be in the interest of young people. We researched hundreds of charities, we had a lot of different ideas from people. We researched these charities, interviewed them, assessed them, and finally visited them. Little Kids Rock was actually a charity that was initially brought up and suggested by one of the fans.
Dane: Moving forward we’re definitely going to stay with Little Kids Rock. They’re a great organization to work with because it fits with our mission and our festival in general. The goal is to eventually be able to support multiple charities in the same year.