Blue Dome Arts Festival
5/17/2006
Last year, it was many things for me. It was a nexus for creativity, a blossoming of what I (perhaps naively) considered to be an artful revolution in Tulsa. It's where PG5YP came together. It's where I met Jenna (the owner of Saffron), who has been a very good friend to me. It was one of the best weekends.
We worked our asses off to make that festival fun and relevant. I suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration by the end, but the festival created such a positive stir in me that I didn't care. I recovered.
But this year.... I'm not sure. I don't feel quite as positive about it. They're charging for booth space. Even though it's not nearly as much as what Mayfest charges, it still feels less like a healthy counter to the expensive Mayfest and more like an attempt to sneak some profit into things. The organizers deserve to recoup their costs, but I don't want to see it begin to develop into a commercial enterprise (like Mayfest has become). I know I seem a little too cautious, but Tulsa has seen this happen with Mayfest, increasing the booth prices and excluding more and more local artists. I hope that doesn't happen. I will attempt to suppress my instinctive distrust and struggle to remain open-minded, no matter how cautious I seem to be.
Also, my more personal and egocentric gripe: I approached the music organizers two months ago to book PG5YP for the festival. I even offered to donate the use of my PA to curb some costs for the festival. I know we're at least as good as the best acts they've booked, and we all worked very, very hard to make it a special thing last year. When I didn't receive a single response to my multiple requests, my faith was dimmed. Just a little - but enough to make me slightly more pragmatic and less hyped about the festival. It's partly my fault for getting my feelings involved in the first place. I tend to do that with things I love and have a passion for, and I'm learning to deal with missed opportunities in a healthy way.
(as a side note, I also wanted to be involved in the "Poets for Peace," but it appears I've been overlooked again. My fault for being too damn busy with the bands. I will kick myself.)
Last year , it was a protest of Mayfest. Now it seems to be graduating, but in that process I hope it doesn't lose its sensibilities. May the Blue Dome Arts Festival continue to offer an open door to starving artists, creative types of all kinds, and volunteers who are crying out to turn Tulsa into a more artful place. May it keep a watchful eye on its own activities and try to remain sensitive to the needs of the Tulsa Artistic Community. Open at the top. That is what we all want as artists.
posted by Edward Svengali @ Wednesday, May 17, 2006,
