BIRMINGHAM, AL (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — AEG's Messina Group has pacted with City Stages in Birmingham to help produce the annual music festival. The Birmingham News reported that City Stages director Denise Lovoy Koch said the deal was worth as much as $80,000 but she declined to be more exact.
The festival is set for June 19-21 in Birmingham and the initial clutch of artists for this year's lineup will be announced in March.
"One thing that stuck out is Ali's [Messina's Ali Harnell] dynamic personality and go-getter attitude," Koch told the Birmingham News. "I had the sense that she got that our festival is different. It's a community-based festival and a non-profit festival. It takes somebody who understands that. It's hard to be all things to all people, but at City Stages, we do want to try."
The event had formerly been produced by festival veterans AC Entertainment but the event has suffered in recent years from slow ticket sales and an increasing debt burden. The 2008 event lost approximately $168,000 and subsequently, AC and City Stages parted ways in a split that was described as "amicable."
"We mutually agreed it was in our best interests not to continue the contract," Koch told the Birmingham News. "We both went in different directions." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
