Indian River Festival gets new executive director

The Indian River Festival has just announced its new executive director will be Don Quarles, the man who oversawthere-branding of the Summerside Lobster Festival.

Quarles, who moved to P.E.I. three years ago, said he has only been to a handful ofconcerts at Indian River, but he loves the space.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful historic church, and it seemed the opportunity was hard to overlook," says DonQuarles.

Quarles grew up in Montreal, butcame to the Island from Toronto where he worked in the music industry and event planning.He used to run the SongwritersAssociation of Canada, and prior to that did some work at what was the Hummingbird Centre, a 3,000-plus seat theatre which has since become the Sony Centre.

"My interest is certainly helping Canadian songwriters and musicians and talent excel," said Quarles.

"I feel very fortunate, I've had a chance to see a lot of great talent right across the country."

Exploring newways to use the venue

Quarles wouldn't share specific ideas he wants topitchto the Indian River board, but he did say he sees opportunities to expand on uses for the venue.

"I see the space as being something that can certainly be used for a number of purposes, not just the festival but there maybe some opportunities outside of that as well," he said.

"Really to just expose people to the space. I think that there's probably a lot of people who haven't been through the doors and it would be really nice to expose people in a number of different ways."

'Timing isn't perfect'

The City of Summerside put Quarles in charge of bringing new life tothe Summerside Lobster Carnival, a move that led to it being re-branded the Summerside Lobster Festival two years ago. Quarles admits the timing might not be the best, but he feels he got the ball rolling.

"Timing isn't perfect, 'cause I would love to do more. Certainly, I feel very proud of what we've done in the last three years," he said.

"The event has really grown and I think it certainly will continue to do exactly that. You know, it's bittersweet."

CBC News asked the City of Summersidewhere things are in terms of finding a replacement for the executive director of the Lobster Festivalbut hasn't had a response.

Hints about new direction

Quarlesofficially begins his work with the Indian River Festival Nov.3. His first assignment will be sitting down with the board to go over options for artists to book for the 2017 season.

"There are a lot of options, not just with different genres of music, but also just with performers that are going to be traveling through the area as well," he said.

"We're going to take advantage of that, if we can."

A post onthe festival's website said current executive director Andrea Ellis, who has held theposition for three years, is "moving on to further develop her private music studio, as well pursue a number of opportunities as a freelance musician and arts administrator."

Ellis did not respond to a request for comment fromCBC News.