Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2011
In case you didn’t notice, we live in a festival world. There’s nothing humans love more than celebrating themselves and their accomplishments. From ribs to beer (we’ll let that one slide) to ethnicity and film-music, seemingly every niche of life is represented. Not to rain on one’s parade, er, festival, but the market is saturated. Still, here we are talking about a relatively new Northeast Ohio celebration: The second annual Weapons of Mass Creation Festival (WMC Fest) taking place Sat 6/11 and Sun 6/12 in the Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland. A Pre Fest Mixer kicks things off on Fri 6/10.
If you’re part of the Northeast Ohio design and web world, odds are you already know about it. For those newcomers, the event is equal parts design conference, art show and music festival. A creation of Go Media co-owner Jeff Finley, WMC Fest decidedly has more of a web and graphic arts industry slant with speakers including designers, graphic artists and more; however, DIY bands – ranging from national acts Memoryhouse and Nana Grizol to local bands American Werewolves and The Lighthouse and the Whaler – give the event a cool soundtrack of sorts. CoolCleveland talked to Finley about his fledgling concept.
CoolCleveland: Let’s get the basics out of the way. What exactly is WMC Fest?
Jeff Finley: WMC Fest is a weekend festival. I combined all of the elements of a great conference multimedia event like South By Southwest, The 99 Percent Conference or any type of industry networking event with speakers and lecturers. It combines that with the punk rock, indie rock concert music festival like Bonnaroo or something like that. This year we have over 60 bands, speakers and designers participating. It will be two epic days.
How did you conceive the WMC Fest?
Two years ago I had the idea I wanted to start a fest. At that time I wanted to bring things in that I was interested in. I was going to music festivals like DIT (Do It Together) Fest and Berea Fest. As a designer I kind of gave back to them to show my support by doing design work for them like t-shirt designs, posters, artwork. And then through doing that, I had a craving to start my own fest, the way I wanted it. Then I could design everything. Last year we had 300 to 400 people attending two days and it took place in Gordon Square at a couple of different venues. This year it’s taking place at Happy Dog and Reinberger Auditorium and the Wall Eye Gallery. We’re hoping to get about 600 to 800 people throughout the whole weekend.
In a nutshell, who would be interested in attending the WMC Fest?
Mostly the people who are interested in this are kids going to art school and graphic design kids, college students. As far as the design goes, it’s for people trying to get into the creative industry and creative profession as the designer, illustrator, as an artist trying to make a living doing art in their career. So that’s totally the niche but it’s also for the mainstream people who are designing t-shirts for the bands they’re into, doing the album artwork for the metal or punk bands they listen to or the ones who are coming up with cool stuff like iPod apps they’re using. Just earning a living as a creative person and doing their own thing. So there is definitely this entrepreneurial feel to it. Like you don’t have to wait for opportunities. You can be inspired by other people who have decided to take matters into their own hands. They’re kind of young and kind of reshaping business here in Cleveland.
But it’s not all Cleveland-based speakers, designers, right?
It’s split. There’s Cleveland-based [ones] like Todd Saperstein, who is the graphic design chair for Virginia Marti College of Art and Design. There’s Joseph Hughes; he’s the art director at Melamed Riley – an ad agency downtown. But there are national acts coming in like Mig Reyes of Threadless. He’s kind of a cool name and Aaron Draplin has done work for the Obama Administration.
For the average person attending WMC Fest, what’s the spirit of the event?
I want them to hopefully be inspired enough to start something of their own, to take their passion and do something about it. Get off their ass and stop waiting for people. The job market is tough, so it’s like there is something you can do to help yourself to get more exposure. I just want people to get out there and be inspired.
Weapons of Mass Creation Festival starts on Fri 6/10 with a Pre Fest Mixer Show from 8 – 11:30PM. The fest runs noon – 11PM on Sat 6/11 and Sun 6/12. Tickets are $16.81 for a one-day pass and $30.53 for a two-day pass. Individual events range from $5 to $10. For more information, visit http://WMCfest.com.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio.
When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.
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