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Six-Strings in St. Joe

Anthony Glise puts guitar in the spotlight with his annual festival

May 08, 2007

St. Joseph International Guitar Festival & Competition director, Anthony Glise has a very different handle on the guitar world - and life. He lives part-time in the US and part-time in France and along with 9 music diplomas from 7 countries, he also studied medicine, historical dance, is a fencing coach and has also studied business management and administration at Harvard University. As an active performer, author and composer, with these additional business skills from Harvard, he's a bit of an eccentric rarity in the music industry. Urban Guitar recently spoke with Anthony about his annual festival.

Urban Guitar: Why did you originally put together the guitar festival?

Anthony Glise: I think people launch a festival for very different, but very specific reasons: First, it's a great way to recruit students into a university guitar program, second, it's a way to further develop a higher national and international profile for your school and community and thirdly, it's a way to further build your own circle of like-minded colleagues.

In addition to all these aspects, even though I've lived and worked in a half dozen countries in the last 25 years, I have a bit of an obsession with my hometown, St. Joseph, where I decided to found the festival. It's a tremendous mid-sized city with an underground arts and music scene that is rare in cities twice the size.

I wanted to use the festival to develop the international profile of St. Joseph as a cultural and artistic center.

Urban Guitar: Is founding a festival a worthwhile venture?

Anthony Glise: I'd encourage anyone with the energy to found a festival, but you have to have a lot of patience (it usually takes 2-3 years for a festival to become internationally recognized) and be prepared for a terrifying time commitment and unless you have some financial support, you'll probably never see any financial gain.

For example, I have absolutely no staff, and put in between 600 and 800 hours a year on the St. Joseph festival. Last year was the first time that there was any budget for my festival directorship and that only came to around $3500. Do the math: over the past 5 years that comes to $1.14 per hour.

You have to really want a festival, and be a little crazy at the same time!

What a festival shouldn’t be is a mercenary tool to manipulate others. There are a few festivals that run: “You do this for me and I'll hire you into my festival!” That causes a festival to simply become almost a type of “professional blackmail.” There's no honor in that, and honor in the business - and in life - is everything! The music, school and community has to always come first.

Urban Guitar: How has The St. Joseph Festival grown or changed over the years?

Anthony Glise: One of the greatest boosts was when I added the competition. Through my endorsement contracts, we've ended up with commercial support from Audio Technica Mics, Marshall Amps, LaBella Strings, Mel Bay Publications and a host of other supporters.

This year we've added additional prizes to include paid concerts in Boston and Houston.

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