KindieFest is the world’s first-ever family music conference that fully embraces today’s market in all its diversity. Focusing exclusively on music for kids and families, KindieFest will help uncover the fastest-growing aspect of the music business: family entertainment.
KindieFest, which grew out of industry showcases in 2007 and 2008, got started on Saturday, May 2, 2009, in Brooklyn (under the name StinkFest), with a sold-out day of panels and a night of music and fun. Read all about 2009’s event here.
In 2010, KindieFest expanded to three days, including a first-night party and keynote and a Sunday public festival. Read all about 2010 here.
KindieFest is an event of KindieFest LLC. Who we are:
Tor Hyams (Executive Producer) Grammy® nominated producer Tor Hyams has over 20 years of experience in the music and film industries, from writing and performing his own material to producing world-class recording artists, live music festivals for children, short films and digital programming, and composing dozens of scores for both film and television. Among his 46 commercial releases, Hyams wrote and produced an award-winning, star-studded children’s CD called “A World of Happiness,” and has since had a sheet music/activity book published with Alfred/Warner Chappel by the same name. He co-founded Kidzapalooza and produces the family stages at Austin Kiddie Limits and the West Beach Music Festival. He has his own label, Happiness Records with E1 Entertainment, has led the children’s music panel at South By Southwest the last three years and is a music judge for the NAPPA Awards.. http://tor.net
Stephanie Mayers (Executive Producer) fell into the kids’ music world while managing publicity at World Cafe Live, a concert venue in Philadelphia. There she created and produced the award winning kids’ concert series Peanut Butter & Jams and earned a solid reputation for her knowledge and insight of the changing industry. Realizing she found her calling, Stephanie then founded Kindie Rock PR, a public relations firm specializing in the promotion and marketing of independent kids bands whose clients have included AudraRox, The Terrible Twos, Randy Kaplan and others. She spent the past 3 years in Manhattan for Putumayo World Music as Promotion and Event Director for the international record label (including its hugely successful Putumayo Kids imprint) and has recently signed on with Festival Five Records (home of Dan Zanes) as its Marketing & Operations Director. stephanie AT kindiefest DOT com
Bill Childs (Executive Producer) produces, with his kids, the weekly radio show Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. The show, featuring “indie music for indie kids,” airs on a commercial AAA station, 93.9 The River (WRSI) in Northampton, Massachusetts and southern Vermont, and received a 2009 NAPPA Gold Award, among many other acknowledgments. He writes a syndicated kids’ music column published in regional parenting magazines and is the music stringer for Parenting magazine. He has produced numerous kids’ concerts in the Pioneer Valley and elsewhere, including annual showcases in Brooklyn and Austin, Texas, and series at the Iron Horse Music Hall and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. He co-produces the River’s annual Meltdown, (rivermeltdown.com), a family music and book event that draws thousands, and, starting in 2010, the family area at the Green River Festival. He also did college radio (WMCN St. Paul) and co-owned a record store, Tremendous Imposition Records, in Minneapolis. By day, he’s a law professor at Western New England College. http://sparetherock.com; show AT sparetherock DOT com
Mona Kayhan (Producer) is the Director of Putumayo Kids, the kids and education division of Putumayo World Music. Working with the company for over five years, she has been instrumental to the development, success and expansion of Putumayo Kids and its mission of introducing children to other cultures through music from around the world. Mona has also served as Executive Producer for a number of award-winning Putumayo Kids CDs including Jazz Playground, Picnic Playground, European Playground, Sesame Street Playground, and their upcoming release, Rock n’ Roll Playground. In addition to her work at Putumayo Kids, Mona currently contributes to the world music community as a founder and board member of the Persian Arts Festival, a non-profit events organization dedicated to showcasing the magnificence and diversity of Persian art and culture through its voices, artists and visionaries.
