Bele Chere Festival 2011

The Bele Chere Festival, which has brought in such big name acts as Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Gov't Mule and more,is an annual 3-day music festival on the streets of Downtown Asheville featuring 40-50 artists performing live, original music all day and night for 300,000 festival-goers on 4 stages. Surrounded by the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, artists have the opportunity to perform at one of the largest free outdoor street festivals in the Southeast./n/nThe Bele Chere Festival, which has brought in such big name acts as Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Gov't Mule and more, is an annual 3-day music festival on the streets of Downtown Asheville featuring 40-50 artists performing live, original music all day and night for 300,000 festival-goers on 4 stages. Surrounded by the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, artists have the opportunity to perform at one of the largest free outdoor street festivals in the Southeast.

The Bele Chere Festival will select at least 10 Sonicbids artists to perform. All selected artists will be compensated for their performance. All submitting EPKs must include current biography, photo(s), at least 3 original songs and a stage plot. Incomplete EPKs will not be reviewed.

The festival is committed to a diverse musical line up and features local, regional and national performers in genres including everything from Americana, bluegrass, world and reggae to rock, blues, singer/songwriter and more. Featured past performers include The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Cracker, Dar Williams, Old 97’s, Family Stone, Travis Tritt, The Wailers, Original P Funk, Train, Cowboy Mouth, Rusted Root, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marty Stuart, Gin Blossoms, Shooter Jennings, Martin Sexton and many more.

The 33rd Bele Chere Festival will be held July 29-31, 2011 and will continue to feature incredible free entertainment as well as a variety of food, arts and craft vendors, children's activities and special events.


Bele Chere Entertainment Selection Process:

Each year the festival receives more than 750 applications to perform at Bele Chere. The selection committee is made up of local community members involved in the Asheville music industry and scene.

• Music is divided into various genres.


• The selection committee reviews each act's submitted materials, listens to a portion of 3 songs and scores each act on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest).


• Each committee member is advised to keep the following criteria in mind: Overall quality of music, appropriate music for the Bele Chere Festival, and crowd appeal.


• The scores are tallied accordingly in their individual genres.


• The highest scoring acts from each genre are contacted directly by the festival's production manager after consideration has been made about the act's requested performance fee, local vs. non-local acts and ensuring a variety of music genres are programmed.