3 days of Music, Arts, and Activism. Sept 28-30 (Ithaca, NY)
An Open Forum For Artistic Expression and Enjoyment!
- Welcome
This is a Not For Profit Festival all proceeds will go towards the purchase of a vehicle for a free food kitchen. There will be a recommended $50 donation at the door, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
We are creating a space where anyone can come and express themselves artistically, in whichever way they are most inclined. I hope to hear music from a wide variety of genres, but that is somewhat up to you. There will be Gypsy Music, Grateful Dead Music, Electronic Music, Roots, Rock, Reggea, Punk, Metal, Funk, Jazz, Rap, bluegrass, Theater Live Art, A fashion show, Polyamory workshops. Basically the idea is to collectively create an artistic space, where we can all be free to express ourselves in the ways that come naturally. Also we're expecting representatives from a number of different activist groups to come out and give presentations.
All vendors are welcome, as long as they run on a "donation" basis, and hopefully at the end they can help out the cause. There will be an electronic stage (for DJs and whatnot), a live band stage, an open stage for all to use and an acoustic \ spoken word stage.
Please send us some donations in advance if possible, it takes money up front to do this... but the show will go on, rain or shine, heaven or high water!
- Short bio for David Danforth (visioneer at Sweaterfest)
Ive spent the last 5 and a half years of my life travelling across the country, primarily by foot. Ive stayed for three months in 3 different locations, and other than that, I dont stay anywhere more than a few days or two weeks. In that time Ive participated in about 4 Rainbow Family Gatherings a year. Ive built kitchens, from the ground up, with my own hands that have fed hundreds of people. I know proper sanitation procedures, and how to quickly set up, and begin
serving in a very fast and efficient manner. In fact rainbow gatherings are the only place Ive been known to stay for as long as a month, between set-up and cleanup, participating in any number of jobs that make the gathering work. Whenever Ive had vehicles in that time, Ive always carried kitchen gear, food, water jugs, and am always prepared to serve. Any of the vehicles Ive had, also happened to break down often and in different ways, so now I know a little something about proper vehicle maintenance, and I can do a lot of mechanical work myself along with the manual and a phone call to a good friend (which would come in handy if Im expecting to have a school bus for a free food kitchen)
Ive also learned a lot about community, and about learning how to spontaneously work independently, and interdependently with whoever happens to be around. Ive been going to music festivals everywhere I go around the country, and particularly throughout the North East . Ive spent a few seasons hopping from festival to festival, sometimes for 3-5 months out of a year. In these spaces, we are given a more open forum than in everyday life in which to be creative, whimsical, magical, spiritual, and imaginative beings. Along with all of this,
there is a network of individuals spanning across the globe, that all form very strong bonds and connections in these moments which can never be replaced. This is a network we are all part of. Our unity and diversity gives us strength.
- American History informing the Present.
I think of the Acid Tests as being a pinnacle moment in American history, redefining how we explore and celebrate together. In San Francisco, The Grateful Dead played a backdrop to a stage, for so many, to come be art. I dont mean art in some philosophical, or high, or scholarly sense. Im talking about people doing stuff simply for the enjoyment of it, the only purpose being to find some harmony, or even a certain kind of discord with the others around you. When the Acid Tests left San Francisco to travel to other parts beyond, the Grateful Dead, and much of the community came with it. This is a little part of the story about how so many different communities have risen up, all out of a special moment in time.
What I am helping to facilitate in Sweaterfest, is taking a number of different activities that I have loved and known, and bringing them, as well as all of the different types of people who participate, together. As One Living Family, we all share so much in common, even if sometimes we have different preferences in music, or dress. There is an element in our society which would be happy to keep us all separated. My hope is for Sweaterfest to challenge us all in embracing diversity, and to focus on this world which we all love and share together.
updated by @david-thewook-danforth: 01/22/20 09:33:16AM
