Official Cooperation Announced Among Organizations Supporting Female Fronted Metal

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

Belgium-based, METAL FEMALE VOICES FESTIVAL (MFVF) and US-based FLIGHT OF THE VALKYRIES FESTIVAL (FOTV) along with SONIC CATHEDRAL announce a mutual support of each others efforts and joint promotion between events designed to bridge and grow support for female-fronted metal groups in Europe and the US. All three organizations feel it necessary to collaborate together to promote the incredible talent that exists around the world in this metal genre. Fans hoping to attend both festivals benefit immediately by enjoying free entry to either festival when they present their ticket stub from the other festival (official rules posted soon on the festivals' websites).

Phil, owner of MFVF states: "We hope offering this deal will motivate audiences and bands to follow both festivals, traveling abroad and supporting female metal across the continents." The main goal of this partnership is for FOTV, SONIC CATHEDRAL & MFVF to work hand-in-hand for the fans and bands, building a stronger bridge across the ocean.

Bobbie Dickerson, co-founder of the FOTV says: "We look forward to working with Metal Female Voices Festival and Sonic Cathedral in cooperation to expand and promote this growing community surrounding female fronted metal."

The ninth edition of MFVF will take place on October 21-23, 2011 in Wieze, Belgium. FOTV recently hosted their fourth festival with East Coast edition on November 6 in Baltimore, Maryland and plans are underway for both the Minnesota and Maryland editions of FOTV in 2011. Sonic Cathedral is celebrating their tenth successful year supporting female fronted metal through their online store, webzine and community.

http://www.flightofthevalkyries.com
http://www.metalfemalevoicesfest.be
http://www.soniccathedral.com

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

I have posted these comments below on a few other threads where this news was shared, but wanted to share some of my additional thoughts here as well:

FotV has already worked with many other organizations that support female fronted metal (Femme Metal, Ravenheart, etc.) and I personally would be willing to open up this network to them as well. As Melissa Ferlaak (from Eve's Apple) has suggested, we are all stronger together. I'm hoping that this alliance between MFVF, FotV, and SC can be the start to forming many more (and stronger) relationships among everyone in the female fronted metal community.

I would like to bring all groups into this alliance who support female fronted metal. I hope that within the coming months this alliance may grow to officially include organizations like Eve's Apple, Femme Metal, Ravenheart, Metal Maidens, and others who have shown their support for the female fronted metal scene around the world. FotV is already working with many of these organizations and together we can be nothing but stronger and increase the support for the great women in metal!

To add to that, I mentioned to Melissa when she suggested this alliance that I did not want to take part in such an alliance if that meant that FotV would be consumed by MFVF (with their name and brand) or that Nathan and I would not be allowed to run things as we see fit here in the states. All MFVF, SC and FotV have done is state a mutual support of each other efforts ... which if I recall is something similar to (although maybe a little more formal than) what Femme Metal and FotV did when we started to support one another a few years ago. Announcing this support for MFVF and SC, does not mean that FotV's support and cooperation with any other female fronted metal organization has stopped.

What I think is sad is a lot of what is being said in other discussions I have seen around the web based on speculation and rumor, which a lot of folks are treating like fact. Speculating or bad-mouthing any of these organizations is accomplishing nothing, and instead what we should be doing is looking for a solution to how we can all work together in harmony towards the goal of promoting women in metal and, in particular, female fronted metal bands.

My contribution to the solution - As the weeks go by I plan to encourage MFVF, SC, and Nathan (FotV) to announce other organizations as members of this alliance. I will continue to encourage those in this scene to work together to support one another and the women in metal ... just as I have always done from the moment I started working with FotV in 2007. I hope that others will be able to put their differences aside and work together towards common goals and continue to support this growing scene that we all love. \m/