The new artistic director for Coldsnap 2012 is not your typical artsy-fartsy festival fanatic with a flare for the dramatic.
She is a geo-technical engineer with a huge love for music.
"They say you can tell if an engineer is an extravert when he's looking at your shoes when he's talking to you," Sue Judge laughed. "We are known to be notoriously shy."
Judge said her favourite pastime is going to concerts and festivals.
Coldsnap is a winter festival where international artists come together at a variety of venues throughout Prince George to present concerts and workshops with a common theme.
Coldsnap is presented by the same volunteers who brought the Prince George Folk Festival to Fort George Park for four summers before shifting it to an indoor January event three years ago.
To say the least, it's a pretty big leap from geo technical engineer to artistic director of a folk music festival, Judge said.
"I found I have the time right now to do something like this and it's something I've always wanted to try," said Judge. "Once I retired from engineering I thought it would be kind of cool to be in this line of work. The opportunity was there and it was knocking so it seemed like a good idea at the time."
Jo Beattie, former artistic director of Coldsnap, is doing a teacher exchange for a year in England and has nothing but praise for Judge.
"It was extremely important to me that in giving up the festival that someone with ethical, community-minded values and a passion for the festival would take over," Beattie explained. "It was very important to me that this person would apply themselves to this volunteer role with the same work standards they apply to their every-day job. I have every confidence Sue will present a marvelous Coldsnap 2012 with her own slant."
At this early stage of organizing the festival, it's quite fun to start the process, Judge added.
"The people you meet are just so fantastic," said Judge, who volunteered with the Prince George Folkfest Society since it began in 2003.
Judge's new duties include making arrangements for the artists, creating the schedule, getting the venues and tickets lined up. She will also be deciding who will play at what show, and who will do the workshops with whom and what theme will be chosen.
"There's a little bit more that comes up every day," Judge said. "We are a small working board [of seven] and we all wear many hats. We're sharing the duties on a sponsorship drive and the publicity. All this was done by Jo, who took it on by herself. I will be trying to get a bit of help because, as you know, we're not all Super Woman!"
A little delegating will go a long way.
"It says a lot that the board even wanted to carry on with the festival without Jo because she is such a dynamo," said Judge.
The Coldsnap Festival has become popular with the Prince George audience but also with musicians who want to play here.
"There is no shortage of people who want to play this festival," said Judge. "That's been the easiest part of the job so far."
