PYSK | Andy Haynes
PYSK: Andy Haynes
-Liesel Schmidt
Being the director of the oldest songwriters’ festival in the nation isn’t just about keeping this event a popular item in the playlist of songwriters across the globe—it’s about maintaining the festival’s impact on the present and future of music, both now and in the years to come.
Appointed to directorship of the Frank Brown International Songwriters’ Festival in 2016, Andy Haynes’s day-to-day involves all matters associated with the activities of FBISF as well as the 501c3 nonprofit that produces the festival, the Frank Brown International Foundation for Music. “This includes the planning and production of the festival, which has historically seen the event taking place in several dozen area venues and hosting over 200 Grammy award-winning and up-and-coming songwriters,” Haynes observes. “There is no ‘for-profit’ motive with the festival. Each year is a challenge regarding generating sufficient funding to stage the festival and to have enough left over to accomplish our community objectives.”
With 2023 marking its 39th year, the FBISF is indeed a legendary event. “There was a time when it was described as the largest gathering of songwriters at one time, anywhere in the world,” Haynes notes.
