Common Ground Festival considers lineup, format changes - Lansing State Journal
LANSING – After 16 years of the Common Ground Music Festival, organizers are open to more changes so it stays competitive and keeps attracting younger audiences. Scott Keith, board chair of Center Park Productions, said several options are on the table including changes in the number of days and stages. Common Ground has ranged from five to eight days in July with either two main stages or a main stage and side stage. It filled the void left by the annual Labor Day weekend Capital City Riverfest that ended its 20-year run in 1999. Attendance for Common Ground's six days of events last week is estimated at about 48,000, an increase of at least 1,000 from a year... Center Park Productions partners with Lansing-based Meridian Entertainment Group to produce the festival and receives about $130,000 in support from the city annually. Keith said Common Ground would be "at a break even point" if it factored out the first three years of festivals because those generated "significant losses. "Not everything is going to be a home run," Keith said of Common Ground's challenges. Keith, who is also the Lansing Entertainment & Public Facilities Authority's president and CEO, didn't want to speculate how this year's Common Ground was affected by first-day headliner. Source: www.lansingstatejournal.com
