1 Posters for this year's ATP series
Deborah Kee Higgins invites us to All Tomorrow’s Parties
The festival organizer tells us about the plans for this weekend's installment in New York
By Jordan Young
Published: September 3rd, 2010 | 1:01pm
This weekend, All Tomorrow’s Parties celebrates is 10th anniversary by taking over Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, New York. Unlike other festivals, every ATP event (they’re held around the world) invites a curator to choose the bands and films that will play at the festival—previous curators have included My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vincent Gallo, and even Simpsons creator Matt Groening. This year’s curator, Jim Jarmusch, the independent film director, sets the scene. Deborah Kee Higgins, who organizes All Tomorrow’s Parties alongside her husband and ATP founder Barry Hogan, tells us about the festival and how she came to be a savvy and successful promoter.
Venus Zine: What are All Tomorrow’s Parties and how did they begin?
Deborah Kee Higgins: ATP was started by Barry Hogan—he was courting Belle & Sebastian at the time, and they were doing an event at a holiday camp in England. It turned it into a three-day affair. The following year, he wanted to carry it on so he changed the name. Originally it was called the Bowlie Weekender.
VZ: Do artists really stay in the same accommodation as the fans?
DKH: When Nick Cave first came to ATP and found out he was staying at the same accommodations [as the fans], he was like, “no this is impossible” and made us scramble around and try to find a hotel in the local area. But after one day of being at the festival, he changed his mind and said, “I’m staying here.” It contributes to the whole atmosphere to have everyone together.
VZ: Is anything ‘extra special’ on board for the New York version of the festival?
DKH: There’s something that I’m particularly excited about. I’m a big reader, and this is the first time we’ve started an ATP book club. We got Jim Jarmusch to recommend a list of books, and we’ve chosen two of them. So, we're going to do a book club and a discussion, and I’ve actually managed to get the authors of those two books to come in and participate in the discussion panel. One is The Invention of Everything Else, which a novelization of Nikola Tesla’s life. It’s written by Samantha Hunt. The other is Luc Sante’s book Lowlife.
VZ: What is your background?
DKH: I’m from Australia, but [Barry and I] live in London. I used to work for a music magazine called Rock Sound, and I used to produce music video clips and work on the production side, so I was always involved in music. I had actually promoted a few gigs myself but not as heavy as when I started with ATP.
VZ: How did you end up working with music videos and Rock Sound?
DKH: I had a marketing background in Australia, but not in music. When I got to England I started temping. I was temping for a company for six weeks and they offered me a full time job, and I stayed with them for three years—that was at a television station. It was a bonus I knew how to use computers and knew how to type and I was able to get into a good temping position, which then got me into a job at a television station in the U.K. From there I moved over to the magazine and through the magazine met contacts to make music videos. It is definitely advantageous to meet people along the way in various jobs.
VZ: Any advice you can give to other women interested in your type of work?
DKH: I think there’s opportunity now more than ever for anyone who is good at what they do, to show the world they are good at something. There are so many forums, whether it’s starting your own website or going to work for one, or going to volunteer for another website. I feel like the world and the marketplace has opened up a lot for women and for men. But for women, it means you can get out there more and you can really kind of shine and develop yourself. Even from a young age you can develop what you want to do and hone your skills. There are so many forums and media to sort of get out there.
Issue #41
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