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Music

A music festival all our own

Ogle, Edwards and iAM Music fill a void with ambitious, artistic bazaar

Pagosa Springs has a few. Tiny Salida has a massive one. And you can’t walk a block in Telluride without finding yourself in one. But Durango? When it comes to a dedicated music festival, not so much.

“Don’t we live in the coolest town around here?...This is where all the real happening people are, and we don’t have anything?” asked Jesse Ogle of Hello, Dollface and Ace Revel. “No one wants to do it. I know why now; it takes a ton of work!”

Ogle and Ashley Edwards, also of Dollface and Revel, saw a void and an opportunity, regardless of the legwork that would be required. They wanted to bring musicians, artists and the community together. Enter the inaugural iAM Music Fest, which kicks off Friday evening and continues Saturday afternoon at multiple downtown Durango venues.

Though showcasing local and touring musicians is Edwards’ and Ogle’s primary purpose, they also wanted to include visual and performing artists, dancers, acrobats, comedians, street vendors and educational workshops for artists. They are also encouraging festival-goers to come in costume. Call it Burning Man meets Mardi Gras meets South By Southwest.

“There is a comical undertone,” Edwards said. “We want it to stay fun. We don’t want it to be serious. It’s not a fine arts festival.”

Though Ogle and Edwards have personal connections to each act (“When we’re on the road, we’re staying at these people’s houses,” Ogle said), they wanted to showcase artists who’ve had a positive impact on their communities, working for some sort of greater cause. Take the festival’s headliners, the Denver rock/hip-hop band The Flobots, who, through grants, awards and their organization Youth On Record, are bringing music and music education to under-served communities, such as schools, nursing homes and Native American reservations. The vision is also in line with Edwards’ and Ogle’s nonprofit iAM Music Institute, the sole beneficiary of the music fest, funds that will be used for such things as scholarships, free instrument rentals and community outreach.

Organizing a first-time music festival was far from simple. Beginning with an idea in February, Ogle and Edwards wanted a weekend for the festival that wouldn’t compete with too many other events. Investigating different venues – the Smiley Building, Buckley Park, the Durango Arts Center, for three – they found each had conflicts, and they couldn’t afford to shut down Main Avenue.

Wanting venues ranging from intimate, indoor listening rooms, to big outdoor stages with a beer-in-hand party atmosphere, they began pursuing smaller venues, like Lost Dog and Studio &, as well as vast, unused spaces, like downtown parking lots.

They ran into their share of management and logistical issues: Herding 30-plus acts, securing sound equipment for eight venues, enlisting the help of 60 volunteers and obtaining permits.

Trying to get sponsors was especially difficult, many potential organizations having already allotted their money earlier in the year. The newness of the festival and the iAM Music Institute didn’t exactly help either.

“People are like, ‘Yeah I want to be a sponsor with something that’s never happened before (and may not) ever happen again,’” Edwards said.

But Edwards and Ogle agree; they see this music festival as the first of many, a void filled in Durango.

dholub@durangoherald.com. David Holub is the Arts & Entertainment editor for The Durango Herald.

iAM music fest map (PDF)

iAM_program (PDF)

If you go

More than 30 musical acts and other performers including poets; comedians; visual and performance artists; aerialists; and dancers will take part in the inaugural iAM Music Fest, which begins at 8 p.m. Friday and resumes again at noon Saturday at multiple venues in Downtown Durango.

Single-day and two-day passes are available, as well as tickets to Saturday’s late-night show at Animas City Theatre, and range from $15 to $50. Tickets are available at Southwest Sound, the iAM Music Institute and iammusicfest.com

Go to iammusicfest.com for the festival lineup, schedule and map and to hear samples of the bands playing.

Sep 10, 2015
Variety is the spice of a music festival


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