Me vs. The Music Festival
A person has asked me, by email, to outline what I’d like to see in an Albany music festival. Figured I may as well share my response in this space; I tried to keep it short.
I’d like to see a weekend festival that:
1. Features multiple venues all over town, including performances on both the UAlbany and Saint Rose campuses… college kids are the Albany arts community’s greatest untapped resource.
2. Includes at least one noteworthy, contemporary national headliner per show.
3. Does NOT favor local bands… Sonicbids should be used to allow artists to apply for showcases from anywhere (and the application fee can go towards paying the national headliners). I think we serve the region best by making it a magnet for artists and art-lovers, not by simply gathering a pile of the same local acts people here can see anytime. Don’t get me wrong – locals should play; I just think competition from outside is a good thing, for many reasons.
4. Encourages all performers to busk around town, at malls and on college campuses to promote their appearances, and encourages non-participating venues to independently host art and musical performances for the weekend.
I also think the best time for this is in the fall, no more than a couple of weeks into the school year, when college kids still have summer-job money left and they’re still wide-eyed enough to be open to new experiences.
I thought Rest Fest was a great start – they just need to think bigger than one venue (and an acoustically unsound one at that).
Anyway, those are my basic thoughts… it would be a significant undertaking, but even if it builds slowly, I think we could have something very special here in a matter of years. It’s not so much about consolidating the current music scene as it is about changing the culture, enouraging locals and students who have never thought twice about music and art to become interested and proud of it…
Comments are open… will I regret this?
Dig it.
There was something like this in Raleigh: Hopscotch, I think it’s called. There were multiple venues throughout downtown that hosted bands, local and national alike. Didn’t attend, myself, but the people I knew who did were pretty happy with it. Look it up, and see if there’s any ideas it spawns.
Hopscotch is a great model to aspire to… what an awesome lineup!
I’d go.
Well we have a fest, which is simular called the Lark Fest, albeit not in a building. Your ideas are cool however, and it is fun to see a mix of local and travelling groups. The Rest Fest was really fun and well put together, but it is in the wrong season for your idea, and is a summer weekend festival.
Lark Fest is a lot of fun, but it’s more a street fair than a music festival. It’s only one day, it’s free and the touring acts feel like kind of an afterthought. As though the organizers simply asked a booking agency who on its roster might be available and affordable, rather than working to curate something (this goes for Tulipfest and the various summer concert series, too). It’s definitely at the right time of year, though.
I thought Rest Fest was fantastic, particularly in light of the weather situation… they really pulled through. I’m interested to see how the B3nson folks grow it from here, and whether they can maybe push it back just a couple of weeks next year.
It’s funny u post this, I was speculating this idea to myself earlier today, having just gotten back from CMJ. I think if it was done properly, it could really go off. But people just don’t attend things around here.
You want to focus on out of town bands that kill (and are relevant,) to make Albany a magnet for the tri-state area. Montreal and N.Y.C. are both just three hours away. Long Island bands pull big, and non-students come here to visit hometown friends and stay a day (or three) around the band’s date.
The only other thing I’m thinking about is indeed venue. Being the capital this is a really cold, empirical place for public spaces. The Plaza would be awesome, as would Washington Park, but they make it so controlled and exclusive, esp. in recent years. If u want to keep it indoors, that leaves pretty small places for the most part. The Armory would have to be going so hard for the duration of the fest.
I don’t know. Totally flapping my jaw/fingers. I’m not optimistic about it.
Leon, I’m starting from the premise that generally speaking, Capital District residents are not interested in leaving their homes for local art or music. That seems to be the prevailing sentiment here so I’m going with it.
Local apathy should not have to be the artists’ problem. I think we need to do exactly what you say: bring people here from out of town. To make music, to hear music, to be excited about music. Over time, that sentiment will rub off on the residents.
How do you do this? By putting together a quality event that music lovers will travel to see. Perfect regional example: Solid Sound.
Leave the public spaces for busking. Festival shows should be held mainly in clubs and music venues. That’s why we have those. It’s okay if they’re all packed… it creates excitement. There should be more than one thing to do at any given time, anyway. Picking and choosing which acts you’re going to see is expected at festivals of a certain size.
Coordination is key, and right now there is too many little musical fiefdoms with people trying to protect their turf. It’s as if the area pulls a blanket over its head to keep insulated from outside forces. Art Nights and the like are a baby step in the right direction, without the regional/national draw. MoHu might be a bigger step in the right direction, if only because there are people(s) with the drive & resources to coordinate such an event.
One last thought – in no way, shape, or form should a government “arts” entity be involved.
Years ago, I began putting together one such project. The venue was the Empire State Plaza, as I would only have to cut a check to the Parks Commission and hire my own security. Two stages (one at the amphitheater and another at the opposite end of the park).
@Andrew
Yeah, I don’t really get the whole “collective” thing. The term is misused (the way “scene” was in the ’90s)… I think “fraternity” would probably be more appropriate.
Question – why no government funding? In my opinion, we should take what we can get right now.
@Shawn
Did it happen? How did it go?
Jed,
I am part of the “fraternity” that put Rest Fest together the past two years. This summer I joined Sgt. Dunbar on a trip to Nelsonville Ohio to play at The Nelsonville Music Festival headlined by the Flaming Lips. I hunted down the man who started the festival 7(?) years ago and struck up a conversation about how he grew the festival. Basically it started eerily similar to the way Rest Fest started. A few key curators with a passion for local music started small and every year they set sights a little bigger, a little more national. B3nson is in the process of building infrastructure for Rest Fest and I expect the vision to morph in the years to come.
The music festival you’re talking about sounds awesome. It sounds a lot like the New Music Seminar that spawned SXSW. I hope you’re able to make your music festival a reality because it will certainly help our region and be loads of fun. You can’t build a festival like that without positive energy, good will, and local support.
How to build a festival… how to build a festival…
No Jed, we should just recreate UtopiaFest. Let’s find a big field, four sisters, and put secede stickers everywhere.
Eric, I rave about Rest Fest to anyone who will listen. I think it’s the most promising thing the Capital Region arts community has to hang its future on (on which to hang its future?). My only problem with the festival at this point is the venue – I realize that the church is central to the premise, but the event has already outgrown that premise. The church is too acoustically messy for loud rock acts and confining the whole festival to one location minimizes the number of performers and limits potential for building the cachet with more nationals and out-of-town acts.
I have a friend in Texas who is involved with musical events statewide, including SXSW; he visited Albany recently and was struck by how perfect our combination of resources – location, venues, and especially number of colleges – could be for creating another Austin.
It does seem to me that because there are so many small groups of people trying to affect simultaneous change according to their own perspectives, a bigger picture is being ignored. There’s a lot of spaghetti being thrown against the wall here… Rest Fest stuck. Now, rather than trying to start a million other little projects, it might be best for everybody to get behind one thing that’s nascent but working, and then build outward from (or parallel to) that when it’s really humming.
Maybe I should point out that I have no intention of starting up a festival according to my blueprint or any other… the above is just a list of observations for anyone to run with if they choose. The folks who are putting together the MOVE Festival solicited me directly for ideas/thoughts; my post is exactly what I sent them in response. I’m happy to do worthwhile gruntwork or share ideas, but I’m not interested in being in charge of anything, or being at the center of anything.
Nicole, first step in recreating Utopiafest: call Foot Patrol!