Graham Pollock, the new chair of the Summer In The City board, is encouraging members to think outside of the box.

Pollock says he became the board chair so that core members who had been running the festival for the last few years could take a less hands on role and focus on building Summer In The City into a bigger better festival.

“With me coming in, one of the messages I gave to the committee was just think outside the box in your area of responsibility, whether it is cultures or the car show or whatever it happens to be. Let's try to incorporate something a little bit different that is going to raise the bar and make it a bigger and better festival. That is the goal.”

Pollock says he is not the only person on the board with a new role. He notes they have a new marketing committee with three members that are brand new to Summer In The City.

“They all have different areas of expertise, Amber Reitsma is kind of a web design communications expert if you will, Carly Koop is a professional photographer, and Erica Schellenberg is a student in University who worked very closely with Kieth Unger who did our marketing last year.”

Pollock says there are plenty of things to look forward to this year, with things like Artists in the City and Cultures in the city returning. He notes Bretton Selent is bringing back the hip hop battle from last year, but is going to make it bigger this year. He adds they also plan on making the kids area larger with more activities for children.

Pollock says the have not quite finalized the main stage performers for the festival.

“There is lot's of things to be ironed out when you are dealing with professional performers. There are contracts, and that is the stage it is at right now. People are dealing with their representatives over finalizing contracts, In the next week or two we are hoping to make an announcement.”