Las Vegas Weekly

Still no love for ladies: Turnout at GirlFestival remains low

Red Car Slow performs at the nearly empty Beauty Bar as a part of GirlFestival.

Photo: April Corbin

The first half of Las Vegas GirlFestival was marred by low turnouts, and unfortunately, that streak continued Saturday night, as one of the festival’s final shows failed to draw any real audience at all to Beauty Bar.

However, for some participants, poor crowds didn’t mean the festival was a complete bust.

Kristin Pitman, violinist for Reno-based Red Car Slow, said she is happy with her GirlFestival experience, despite the fact that only about a dozen people witnessed her band’s performance Saturday at Beauty Bar. Getting to network with the other musicians at the festival was one benefit, she explained, and the connections made here could help bring her band’s soulful, indie rock back to Vegas – hopefully to a bigger audience next time.

Experimental duo Cyan Ides came from Los Angeles to participate in GirlFestival. The female half of the duo, Francis Allen, also expressed no regret about being involved with the festival.

“I think it’s cool to get that message (of female empowerment) out there,” she said after her performance Saturday night. She added that the message is especially important for a town like Sin City, which is notorious for being male-focused with its wealth of strip clubs and reputation for prostitution.

The GirlFestival performance was Cyan Ide’s first in Las Vegas. That, in itself, was a great reason to participate, Allen says.

Similarly, Erika Welton of Daymes Rocket, said via e-mail that performing at the Platinum Hotel’s pool overlooking the Strip was a great experience for her Hollywood-based band, even if it wasn’t shared by many others.

GirlFestival organizer Sharon Ludlam admitted that turnouts at many of the shows were low. She chalks it up to potential audiences failing to hear about the events. This year was the third installment of the festival, and the first year social networking was used to promote the event.

Ludlam added that she’s committed to continuing GirlFestival for another year, but says the fourth installment will be tweaked and will probably not span 10-days like this year.