Elsewhere Fest: No Place like Home.

For anyone who does not know me personally, allow me to first say hello. Thanks for visiting. I am a Wichita native and spend a lot of my time creating art or consuming it. Music and live entertainment have been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. Over the last 15 years I have accumulated over 300 performances across the United States. For the sake of clarity, if a music festival has 7 artists performing and I was present for each set, that would count those for my purposes as 7 performances. My creative outlets come in the form of painting, writing, and graphic design. If you are reading this, check out my book Abstract or my portfolio on realfakeart.net

Now that I have listed my background, let me give some perspective on the conference and festival I attended in Wichita, Ks this past weekend.

The face-value of having a recent Grammy winner in the form of Killer Mike, an international Electronic Music Icon, Steve Aoki, and alternative hip hop star Vince Staples being billed in the same event in Wichita is already a massive win for the health and growth of the city’s culture. Not to mention the collaboration involved in having 5 separate venue sites for concerts as well as numerous art showings in the same stretch of the city was inspiring for someone who wants nothing more than the ICT to become the next hot spot for art in the Midwest and United States as a whole. Elsewhere Fest not only covered all the standards of a traditional music festival, but it also incorporated a two-day conference of some incredibly talented people ranging from non-profit leaders to music industry experts. Though the focus of the conference was music, the topics covered could be applicable to everything from community involvement to operating a small business.

Admittedly, I likely would not have gone to a separate show of any of the festival’s headline names if their solo concerts were going on in town, but the beauty of an event like Elsewhere and so many other music and arts festivals is the opportunity of being exposed to new. New people. New Music. New Perspective.

Growth happens when your comfort zone is stretched, and positive experiences can be had when the correct infrastructure is in place. With that in mind, I see no reason why the city of Wichita can't capitalize on this event as a catalyst for the community to take pride in. As someone who has spent many years looking for the next big music and arts scene, I didn’t realize that the next big thing could be in my back yard.

Why go elsewhere when you can bring elsewhere home?

Previous
Previous

Rejected AF 0001

Next
Next

Detour Wichita Series: Homage to the Past