Proposal Title
STILL ILL Music & Community Festival
Please describe your proposal?
I plan on organizing a 2 day outdoor music festival. With a strong emphasis on showcasing the hardcore/punk/DIY community thru local,regional, and nation bands, as well a street market for local and DIY vendors (crafters,food,distros,etc). Over this weekend I plan on:
-curating a hardcore cultural forum which will include a flier and photo exhibit, authors, a hardcore cultural roundtable talk, and late night film screenings.
- a "DIY PARADE of SHOWS": to help showcase the great DIY efforts of Columbus the Friday before the festival I'm inviting all the DIY house and artspaces to organize mini shows throughout the day, with attendees hopping from space to space, hopefully on bikes!
The festival itself will have two stages and throughout the weekend the goal is to have close to 100 bands perform.
Location: old town east/downtown areas for festival.
Other weekend events: All over Columbus
What is the timeframe for the proposal and its completion?
The festival is being planned for the weekend of August 6-8,2010
Presently writing and seeking grants, contacting city officials for permit and location details.
March-April: location secured, permits and grants approved. Booking of performers,vendors,ammenities enacted. Web presence developed and launched.
April-Aug: Promotions, coordination with volunteers, festival starts. How will you use the award money to complete the proposal? With the aim of producing a festival that will be open to the public with a free/donation based approach we hope with grant money we can accomplish this goal. I have not removed the idea of a small cover charge for the festival, but with grant money this will help aid in keep the cover charge affordable and fair.
What makes this the proposal to vote for?
Because Columbus can not afford to keep losing creative youth. As a teen growing up in late 80s Westerville all i thought about was getting out of that place. I applied and was accepted to the commercial arts career program at Ft. Hayes, and my junior year my outlook on where I was in life was opened immensely. Not only was I being challenged artistically, I was gaining friendships with kids from all over the city. The biggest bond between these friends I still carry today, and that bond is the hardcore punk community. This scene introduced me to a whole world of self confidence, empowerment and a do it yourself ethic. When you are a 16 year old and you all of a sudden surrounded by other kids your age that are taking things into their own hands thru booking shows, designing fliers, setting up tours, and let me remind you this is pre internet and pre-photoshop. That spark hardcore gave me reminds to this day that every kid sitting in his or her room needs a spark too. It's well over 20 years since I first felt apart of something bigger than me, bigger than columbus, and that I had a hand in creating it. Thats a powerful message to convey to teens. I over those years have watched young men and women grow into themselves, some grow out of punk rock some to this day still involve themselves. I've seen them become special needs teachers, union organizers, band members that have traveled the world, amazing parents, and incredible artists. And I feel no shame expressing my pride in helping foster a community for these wonderful people to grow up in. I wish to develop another era of that spark and I would be overly appreciative to recieve this grant. |
