Lowell XFest:
experimental sound, light and movement
Friday- Saturday February 27- 28, 2009
Performances featuring combinations of well-know artists from outside New England with local and area artists.
Patterned after the 'highly' successful High Zero Festival in Baltimore, MD.
http://www.highzero.org/
http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=16254
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=20637
Artists from outside New England:
Audrey Chen, cello, voice & electronics (Baltimore)
Benton-C Bainbridge, video (NYC)
Nicole Bindler, movement (Philadelphia)
Shayna Dulberger, double-bass (NYC)
Katt Hernandez, violin (Philadelphia)
Matt Plummer, trombone (NYC)
Dave Ross, guitar (NYC)
Lauren Strobel, trumpet (NYC)
Artists from area:
Mitchel K Ahern, homebrew instruments, narration & video (Swampscott)
Derek Beckvold, baritone sax (Jamaica Plain)
Marc Bisson, tabletop guitar & objects (Manchester, NH)
Andrea Blesso, movement (Billerica)
Lou Bunk, tabletop guitar & objects (Jamaica Plain)
Joe Burgio, movement (Somerville)
Lou Cohen, laptop (Newton)
Teresa Czepiel, movement (Northampton)
Kit Demos, double-bass & electronics (Lewiston, ME)
Jon Damian, Rubber Tele (Newton)
deiX, voice & electronics (Manchester, NH)
Mike Dailey, drums (Lowell)
Andrew Eisenberg, percussion (Jamaica Plain)
Mike Fun, analog synth (Merrimack, NH)
Josh Jefferson, alto sax & bass clarinet (Jamaica Plain)
Paul Kafka-Gibbons, movement (Cambridge)
Forbes Graham, trumpet (Waltham)
Greg Kowalski, video (Salem, MA)
Karen Langley, cello & electronics (Lowell)
Ron Lessard, noise (Lowell)
Setheyny Pen, drums (Lowell)
Andy Phelps, noise (Lowell)
Andre Pensado, laptop & voice (Salem MA)
RAT, video (Lowell)
Phil Reese, keyboards (Lowell)
Jessica Rylan, analog synth (Reading)
Eric Sack, video (Lowell)
Id m Theftable, voice & objects (Portland, ME)
Emile Tobenfeld, video mix (Framingham)
David Sleininger, guitar (Lowell)
John Voigt, double bass (Cambridge)
Walter Wright, analog synth, laptop & video (Lowell)
These are my suggestions. Please feel free to propose additional artists in either category. All the artists have performed in 119 Gallery's 'new music' series. 10 of the 30 area artists are from Lowell.
The artists from outside New England would play on both Friday February 28 and Saturday February 29. Each night they would play with different local artists. On Friday night Audrey Chen, Mitchel K Ahern, and Derek Beckvold might play together and then on Saturday night Audrey Chen, Joe Burgio, John Voigt, and Walter Wright might perform as a quartet. Area artists would not necessarily perform on both nights.
Artists will be invited in mid November and the schedule determined by mid December allowing time for publicity.
Budget:
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Expenses
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Honorarium for 8 visiting artists, 8 * $250
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$2000
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Publicity
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$500
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Materials
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$250
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Administration
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$250
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($3000)
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Income
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Tickets, 100 * $10
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$1000
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Sponsors
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$500
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Grant (LCC)
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$1500
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$3000
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Total
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$0
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hi walter -
after lookin over the event proposal, i have a few questions.
- mira
1. who will this proposal be sent to?
COOL and the LCC also to the LTC and (hopefully) UML Music Dept
2. who are the people who have volunteered to help, and in what capacity?
I haven't recruited anyone BUT expect local artists will all be happy to pitch in providing both food and lodging ... Frankly, I don't expect a large audience ... that said, having 30+ local artists bringing family and friends will produce a good audience. I will ask 119 Gallery volunteers to help with the door and security. I will ask the LTC and UML MUsic Dept to assist with recording the performances.
3. where will the money come from? if it's a grant, when is the deadline to apply?
LCC is coming up in mid Oct, it's a single page + budget. It would be a good idea to research performance grants as well ...
4. who will curate? what will the process be like? will artists be submit works or will it be strictly closed (such as with high zero)?
I will curate/host, like high zero, i will invite the artists. Artists will not be required to submit work. All the artists I listed have performed at 119 Gallery. I have seen them perform and am confident in their abilities. This is similar to the method John uses to select artists for High Zero. He has seen them perform at The Red Room, a bookstore/performance space in Baltimore that supports new music. There's a fair mix of younger and older artists. The one common element is that they are all good improvisers.
5. how will artists be paired?
I will determine the lineup, see below ...
I will mix up disciplines, because there are more musicians there will be groups that are all musicians.
However, I will try to group sound, visual and movement artists together. There may be one or two duos, more trios and quartets, and may be one or two larger groups.
All the artists listed have performed with other disciplines - musicians with visual artists, visual artists with movement artists, and movement artists with musicians. This multidisciplinary form of improvisation is something 119 Gallery has supported for 10- 12 years. We produced a series called 'Immersions' at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge. We have produced several music/video/dance events for Cyberarts and in 2005 went to the Philly Fringe Festival with 'Electrovideomove.'
7. will all of the performances take place here or will we be enlisting the participation of other venues?
For this first year, I expect all performances will be here at the gallery BUT I'm open to performing in other venues such as ALL Gallery, Brew'd & Mambo Grill. I don't want to pay for other venues this time round.
8. what will be the deadline for choosing artists?
Artists will be contacted mid-November, the lineup will be set mid-December. The XFest will run Fri- Sat Feb 27- 28, 2009. CDs & DVDs will be available on April 1, 2009 8^)
9. will we be actively looking into merch for the event?
I expect that artists will bring CDs and DVDs. The venue(s) should have a 'merch table.' It would be nice to have a T-shirt with XFest logo and 119 Gallery logos. Perhaps Dei would volunteer to design the logo and t-shirt. It's my goal to record every performance on CD and on video, CDs & DVDs of the XFest will be available April 1 8^) Hopefully the LTC will assist in producing the CDs & DVDs.
10. any ideas on community partners (LTC, LCC, ALL) to boost participation?
As above, I expect all these organizations to participate. I hope to persuade UML Music Dept and Art Dept to help out ...
11. i am concerned the name 'xfest' might be confused with 'xgames' which is a totally separate entity http://expn.go.com/xgames/sxg/viii/
I don't see any problem ... it is a totally separate entity ... our target audience will get it. Anyone expecting death defying BMX bike racing will just have to deal 8^)
12. do you have any contacts within high zero or another similar fest that might be able to provide us with advice?
Yes, I know John Berndt and many of the artists who have performed at High Zero including Nicole Bindler, Katt Hernandez, Jack Wright, Catherine Pancake, Tatsuya Nakatani, Bonnie Jones, Andy Halek, Id m Theftable, and more. The structure of the festival is also modeled after Frantasia. The artists will be familiar with the process.
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