This coming Sunday, September 3rd, Safe & Sound Entertainment will welcome a roster of Canada’s top talents in R&B to the West Coast for an immersive festival that is set to take over New Westminster, BC’s Pier Park.
Located in Metro Vancouver, Safe & Sound Music Fest will be headlined by OVO artists Majid Jordan and dvsn along with Jessie Reyez and special guest k-os. Accompanying the lineup are numerous notable West Coast artists and DJs, such as: David Morin, Hayleau, Prado, Omar Khan, Tonye, SJS, The Freshest, Jay Swing, Andishae, DJ Arems, and Flipout.
We recently had the opportunity to speak to Paul Stoilen, President of Safe & Sound Entertainment, who was able to offer insight into the management company, the greater goal of the festival, and its’ overall curation. Read our full conversation below.
Safe & Sound Playlist
Q&A: Paul Stoilen, Safe & Sound Ent.
HipHopCanada: Describe what Safe and Sound is – for our readers who are learning about the festival for the first time.
Paul Stoilen: Safe and Sound Entertainment is our hospitality management company that oversees the marketing and operations of nightclubs, cocktail bars, restaurants, and special events in Vancouver, Canada. We officially launched the company in March 2017.
HipHopCanada: What inspired you to throw an all R&B festival with a fully Canadian lineup?
Paul Stoilen: Hosting and creating special events outside of our venues was part of the vision for our newly formed company and a music festival has been on our agenda for a while. The amount of new internationally recognized talent from Canada has been growing at a very fast rate over the last few years and we were very lucky to land two OVO signed groups in Majid Jordan and DVSN along with rising start Jessie Reyez. I’m also very excited about having k-os on the bill who is the first ever Canadian hip hop artist to go platinum.
HipHopCanada: The festival is set to take place in New Westminster, which is located just outside of Vancouver. Why did you choose this location to host the event?
Paul Stoilen: We chose New Westminster Pier Park because of its’ natural beauty and nothing like this had ever been created there before. Also, New Westminster has such a rich history and is probably the most accessible location in Metro Vancouver in terms of transportation from all directions.
HipHopCanada: The lineup features a number of local artists, as well. How important to you was it to integrate West Coast artists, and what criteria motivated your picks?
Paul Stoilen: We have strong relationships with many local artists through our existing businesses and those who are part of the festival all have a unique sound and creative music style who nicely compliment the lineup for what we feel will be a great vibe from start to finish.
HipHopCanada: How has the festival been constructed to offer a unique experience for attendees?
Paul Stoilen: Our goal is to create a unique music experience in a beautiful setting that will feature everything we do in our day to day hospitality world and beyond.
HipHopCanada: With an already warm reception to the announcement of the festival, what kind of potential do you see for Safe and Sound to be a reoccurring annual event?
Paul Stoilen: We are grateful for the warm reception so far and we see a strong potential of continuing this event for many years to come.
You can purchase both general admission and vip tickets through the official Safe & Sound Music Fest website here.