electro-music 2008

egw · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:24 am Post subject:

We would like to keep the electro-music festival in the Philadelphia area, to build on the momentum we have accomplished in the first three years. It has been difficult to find a suitable venue in Philadelphia, so we are expanding our search. As Howard mentioned, we have a couple of places under consideration. Suggestions are welcome. If things don't work out well this year, we will consider moving to another city next year. It would be a shame, as Philadelphia has been one of the best areas in the world for electronic music, especially experimental and space music.

The kind of facility we require must be indoors, and have at least two performance venues, i.e. theaters or galleries. It should accommodate at least 200 people, and should have additional rooms for the jam sessions, food, demonstrations, reception, vendors etc. Air conditioning is needed if we will hold the festival in summer. And the cost has to be reasonable, since most of it must be paid by the participants.

The CAC was just about perfect in all of these respects, except for the lack of air conditioning in the large gallery. It was a big disappointment to us they they are not interested this year.

If we move to another city that is not in Eastern Pennsylvania, we will need to find someone local to the venue to work with us on logistics - sound systems, food, lodging and transportation etc. If you live near or know a place that might be good, let's start discussions now, even if we're talking about 2009. It might be possible to do two festivals per year in different locations.

saintshe · Joined: May 13, 2007 Posts: 5 Location: philadelphia

try contacting space ten-twentysix. i can't remember what the layout is like in their building, but if they are unable to meet the requirements for the conference.. they might know a space in philadelphia that does. a community event like electro-music is definitely on-par with what they do year round.

here is a link to their contact information--
http://space1026.com/space.php?action=contact

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject:

bbinkovitz · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:22 pm Post subject:

I can't believe it. I seriously almost started crying when I heard it's not going to be at CAC. I love that place.

ckmurf · Joined: Nov 26, 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Hickory, NC, USA

Just wondering if there was any progress on EM 2008. I dearly hope that it still happens.

sbowman · Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 38 Location: Media, PA

Does anybody want to share what the budget is for a venue? If I knew what we have to work with, I might be able to make a few calls and see if I can come up with something in the west-of-Philly burbs, or possibly in Philly.

A new venue could be a blessing in disguise if we can find a place that is easy to find, travel to, and promote to a more general audience; or even a place, like World Cafe, that can help do some promotion. It might require changing the financial model--a more expensive, less rustic venue could be affordable if we can project a certain amount of ticket sales to individual days or evening concerts. Having our clubhouse and playing sets for each other these last three years has been constructive and fun, but maybe the fates are telling us it's time to look outward and share our wonderful sounds with a broader audience. (Of course "broader audience" is a relative term. We'd do good to attract an extra 200-300 people.)

Steve

laura woodswalker · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:09 am Post subject:

>WXPN rents out their facility on the Penn campus,

My 2 cents.... parking in that area is almost impossible.

As a suburban who drives a car rather than takes buses, I am very reluctant to go to venues in Philly because I feel so vulnerable to 1)a parking ticket 2) being robbed... or both.

sorry...I guess I'm just Lame.

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:33 am Post subject:

ckmurf · Joined: Nov 26, 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Hickory, NC, USA

Showman mentioned that may be it's time to move on from "Having our clubhouse and playing sets for each other". I don't know, there already are more formal, more metropolitan venues doing electronic music fests- NY and Atlanta come immediately to mind. The clubhouse atmosphere was some of the charm of EM. Having a huge room for space jam with friends and colleagues coming and going, while downstairs world class acts are performing- well, it was perfect. Personally, I'd love to see more of exactly what we had, just in a new building. With air conditioning Wink

deknow · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:33 am Post subject:

...in order to provide food and lodging onsite, a college or university is probably perfect if we can find somewhere to host it.

i've emailed a contact where i went to school (skidmore, in saratoga springs, ny)...and i'd suggest that perhaps this is a good thing to do...contact schools you have connections to, especially if they have electronic music departments. the other schools that come to mind around here are:

MIT
Clark University
Emerson

perhaps we should compile a list, and send out requests to music departments?

...or even some smaller community college?

deknow

sbowman · Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 38 Location: Media, PA

Responding to ckmurf: I would love to continue as we were in our CAC "clubhouse." The relaxed spontaneity, the learning and sharing of music and gear, instant friends, surprisingly good jams--all wonderful!

I'm only saying that, in response to the tragic news that CAC won't have us back, it's not the end of the world if we can't have it as it was. We adapt. Ideally we can find a conducive space where we can have the best of both worlds--the collegial conference atmosphere plus some sort of performance series packaged for the "general" public (again, "general" public is relative; I'm thinking all the people who are open to adventurous music in general). That shouldn't be too hard if we're flexible and open to changing how the time and events are programed.

I'm suggesting that to make it financially feasible, we shift our model a little to make some revenue from the rich music offerings we create, so that we can afford to rent a more conventional performance and meeting space. With air conditioning.

But before I can call some of the colleges and meeting spaces near me, I need to have some ballpark idea of what the budget is.

Steve

deknow · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:32 pm Post subject:

well, i imagine that the actual "budget" is what someone is willing to fork over.

if you figure 100 people at $60/each, that's 6 grand...200, it's 12 grand. i would expect that unless someone else is willing to take responsibility financially, howard and/or greg would want to look at the specific space/deal to determine what a budget might be. for instance, if at a college and food/lodging is provided, i would imagine we could get $200/person (as in the past those folks have had to pay for hotel rooms).

i think you we will all have to use our best judgement to come up with "proposals" of sorts.

what has been nice about the events so far, is that there are very few expenses outside of the venue (all equipment is volunteered). it is very important not to oversell this....it would be a shame for anyone to loose money on this, so a cheap venue is imperitive.

deknow (who is going to another community style conference this week, where the organizer is going to loose somewhere on the order of $5-10k because of planning for too many people).

BananaPlug · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:32 pm Post subject:

Here's some possibilities I'll try to find something out about:

Swarthmore - Small college with a music department close to Philly. Easy parking, walking distance to train (about a 20min ride to Philly, reasonably frequent service on weekend), pretty short drive to airport too. There's a little town where you can go for lunch/dinner.

Philadelphia College of Sciences - Small college (used to be the College of Pharmacy) within blocks of Univ. of PA, has a variety of spaces and I don't think they charge much to use them. They have some parking and transit is great (on trolley line from downtown & 30th street station). Some fun restaurants and cafes within a few blocks.

Community Education Center - A space not unlike the one in Abington, just beside Drexel's campus in the Powelton neighborhood of Philly. Not sure if it's got enough different rooms. Not expensive. Parking would be a little challenging, transit is good.

mosc · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:58 pm Post subject:

ckmurf · Joined: Nov 26, 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Hickory, NC, USA

While folks are looking locally, keep in mind that towns often have community theater spaces. Something like that might be great. They often have a good auditorium, a rehearsal space that could house jams, a reception area which could be cd sales etc and food, and parking.
Certainly worth a look.
While we are looking at more $$$, Howard, would Cheltenham reconsider if the purse was a little higher?

egw · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the suggestions and help in looking for a venue! For those who may be investigating places, keep this in mind:

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject:

laura woodswalker · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject:

kkissinger · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

blue hell · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:10 pm Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:59 pm Post subject: