Post by DeEtte on Sept 18, 2008 7:29:13 GMT -5
It’s a no-brainer on the face of it. The popular Music is Art Festival, which grew in popularity for four straight years starting in 2003 as a parallel event to the annual Allentown Art Festival—and spent last summer out at the Erie County Fair—is moving back to the city, to a new home centered around the back steps of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Now that the plans are in place, the location makes perfect sense. Since its inception, the festival was an effort to ensure that music is “recognized as an important part of the local arts scene,” and to stage it now on the grounds of the area’s most prestigious art gallery seems to announce that the event has, at last, arrived. Attendance may also benefit with local colleges back in session. But like most “no-brainers,” this move took a lot of thought, a lot of negotiations, and a lot of luck to pull off.
For the first four years, MiA survived a rocky relationship with the Allentown Village Society—organizers of the Allentown Art Festival—who annually cited noise concerns. As the fifth year approached, it became clear that negotiations among MiA, AVS, various city departments, council members, and mayor Byron Brown were going nowhere, so in an effort to keep the festival going, last year’s event was moved out to the Fair under rushed circumstances.
It was an experiment that didn’t quite pan out. Attendance was off, at least in part due to the fact that it had lost its urban base. Festival goers also had to pay admission to the Fair to experience an event that had traditionally been free.
Other sites in the city were then considered, including the courtyard area around HSBC Arena, but nothing really seemed to be coming together until MiA founder and Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac got involved with curating a show of late, local musician/artist Mark Freeland’s work at the Albright-Knox. That exhibition is currently underway, and runs through September 28 in the collectors gallery at the museum.
While Takac was planning that event with A-K Director Louis Grachos, he mentioned his ongoing negotiations with HSBC. “If it doesn’t go well for you down there this year,” Grachos offered, “please feel free to come back to us, we’d love to host the event.”
A few days later negotiations ended with HSBC and Takac gave Grachos a call: “Hey Louis, remember what you said the other day, about hosting the festival?” “Yeah,” Grachos replied. “Well, how about this year?” Takac inquired. There was a pause. “Oh...uh...al-right,” Grachos cautiously said.
The problem was the A-K was already deep into the planning for this year’s Rockin’ at the Knox gallery fundraiser concert scheduled for September 27, which features headliners the B-52s. In spite of the complexities and time constraints, in true rock and roll fashion, they decided to dive in. Somehow, everything began to fall into place.
“The response we’ve gotten from the artists, the response we’ve gotten from the sponsors, the musicians...people are really excited to be involved this year, at what is the cultural epicenter of the city, really,” says Takac. “Just to have this across the board display of local music, dance, and art. We’re super-glad that the Freeland thing evolved into this, because I really considered him one of the forefathers of making these sorts of things happen.”
Stepping up to the plate as major sponsors this year are Niagara University, NFTA, Try-it Distributing, bot beverages, New Era, and Time Warner. Over thirty bands—including this year’s winner of the MiA high school battle of the bands Inlite, and Dali’s Ghost, winner of the Artvoice Battle of Original Music—will play on two stages.
A third stage will feature over a dozen dance companies including Rince Na Tiarna School of Irish Dance, Bella Dea Bellydancing, as well as an all-star incarnation of Klear featuring Takac, with Buffalo Sabres Ryan Miller and Drew Stafford. You can also catch Takac’s project Amungus with video projections by Jordan Lima.
Val Dunne, Tammy Wetzel, and over a dozen more photographers will be on hand, along with visual and performing artists of every stripe. Get Fractal’s Beat Gallery will be set up in the middle of it all, with an eclectic array of DJs and projectionists spinning everything from Reggae to Trip Hop in between. Again this year, there will be the popular Kids Village to provide lots of interactive activities—including drum circles, dancing, and storytelling for youngsters.
The festival takes place Saturday, September 13, beginning at 11am. Admission is free.
artvoice.com/issues/v7n37/music_is_art
Now that the plans are in place, the location makes perfect sense. Since its inception, the festival was an effort to ensure that music is “recognized as an important part of the local arts scene,” and to stage it now on the grounds of the area’s most prestigious art gallery seems to announce that the event has, at last, arrived. Attendance may also benefit with local colleges back in session. But like most “no-brainers,” this move took a lot of thought, a lot of negotiations, and a lot of luck to pull off.
For the first four years, MiA survived a rocky relationship with the Allentown Village Society—organizers of the Allentown Art Festival—who annually cited noise concerns. As the fifth year approached, it became clear that negotiations among MiA, AVS, various city departments, council members, and mayor Byron Brown were going nowhere, so in an effort to keep the festival going, last year’s event was moved out to the Fair under rushed circumstances.
It was an experiment that didn’t quite pan out. Attendance was off, at least in part due to the fact that it had lost its urban base. Festival goers also had to pay admission to the Fair to experience an event that had traditionally been free.
Other sites in the city were then considered, including the courtyard area around HSBC Arena, but nothing really seemed to be coming together until MiA founder and Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac got involved with curating a show of late, local musician/artist Mark Freeland’s work at the Albright-Knox. That exhibition is currently underway, and runs through September 28 in the collectors gallery at the museum.
While Takac was planning that event with A-K Director Louis Grachos, he mentioned his ongoing negotiations with HSBC. “If it doesn’t go well for you down there this year,” Grachos offered, “please feel free to come back to us, we’d love to host the event.”
A few days later negotiations ended with HSBC and Takac gave Grachos a call: “Hey Louis, remember what you said the other day, about hosting the festival?” “Yeah,” Grachos replied. “Well, how about this year?” Takac inquired. There was a pause. “Oh...uh...al-right,” Grachos cautiously said.
The problem was the A-K was already deep into the planning for this year’s Rockin’ at the Knox gallery fundraiser concert scheduled for September 27, which features headliners the B-52s. In spite of the complexities and time constraints, in true rock and roll fashion, they decided to dive in. Somehow, everything began to fall into place.
“The response we’ve gotten from the artists, the response we’ve gotten from the sponsors, the musicians...people are really excited to be involved this year, at what is the cultural epicenter of the city, really,” says Takac. “Just to have this across the board display of local music, dance, and art. We’re super-glad that the Freeland thing evolved into this, because I really considered him one of the forefathers of making these sorts of things happen.”
Stepping up to the plate as major sponsors this year are Niagara University, NFTA, Try-it Distributing, bot beverages, New Era, and Time Warner. Over thirty bands—including this year’s winner of the MiA high school battle of the bands Inlite, and Dali’s Ghost, winner of the Artvoice Battle of Original Music—will play on two stages.
A third stage will feature over a dozen dance companies including Rince Na Tiarna School of Irish Dance, Bella Dea Bellydancing, as well as an all-star incarnation of Klear featuring Takac, with Buffalo Sabres Ryan Miller and Drew Stafford. You can also catch Takac’s project Amungus with video projections by Jordan Lima.
Val Dunne, Tammy Wetzel, and over a dozen more photographers will be on hand, along with visual and performing artists of every stripe. Get Fractal’s Beat Gallery will be set up in the middle of it all, with an eclectic array of DJs and projectionists spinning everything from Reggae to Trip Hop in between. Again this year, there will be the popular Kids Village to provide lots of interactive activities—including drum circles, dancing, and storytelling for youngsters.
The festival takes place Saturday, September 13, beginning at 11am. Admission is free.
artvoice.com/issues/v7n37/music_is_art