By John Benson
For years there has been talk about bringing a music festival to Northeast Ohio. In fact, previously the Rock Hall teamed up with organizers of the popular New York City CMJ festival but, alas, such efforts failed.
Now such a notion is slowly taking hold in the grassroots Weapons of Mass Creation Festival (WMC Fest), which enters its third year Fri 6/8 – Sun 6/10 in the Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland. However, music is just one component, and a smaller one at that.
The WMC Fest, the creation of Go Media co-owner Jeff Finley, is billed as the premier art, design and music event of the Midwest with 20 speakers, 20 designers and nearly 30 bands enlightening the anticipated 1,000 or so attendees. Basically, the unique event brings together entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, students and fans to become inspired, to collaborate, network and celebrate the Rock Hall City.
Cool Cleveland reconnected with Finley to discuss the imaginative WMC Fest and its unlimited potential.
Cool Cleveland: Let’s start at the beginning: What was the initial idea for WMC Fest and how has it evolved?
Jeff Finley: The original vision was literally to bring some of my favorite creative people, musicians and artists to Cleveland and sort of make the city a destination. A lot of people I like tend to be from New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco. I wanted them to feel good about coming to our city and say, “Wow, Cleveland really has some cool stuff going on.”
Is it really that simple? As in, tell people about Cleveland and they will come?
We at Go Media have been doing design since 2004 professionally and a lot of our clients are national. I follow a ton of designers on the Internet and we’ve just made a lot of friends. And with the Internet and Twitter, everyone is so close. It’s just a matter of getting everyone to be in one place. Since I live in Cleveland, I want people to be in our hometown, [so] that’s where the gathering is. People are really excited because there’s not really anything like this going on in Ohio, let alone in the Midwestern region. People are really excited to call this sort of like the mini-South By Southwest (SXSW) of Cleveland or the Midwest. It’s a very Midwestern vibe, and I think that’s what people like about it.
How has WMC Fest evolved this year?
We’ve definitely made strides because a lot of our speakers and stuff from last year from Chicago and New York City are coming back as attendees. They’re paying their own way to kind of come back to relive the experience. To me that’s a success in my mind. That’s definitely part of the goal that has been achieved. As far as what new stuff is different this year, we have 20 speakers and 20 designers, fresh faces and some returning faces. We have 30-plus bands on two different stages this year, indoor and outdoor. We also have a mobile app and a street team.
Looking ahead, how big can WMC Fest get?
It started off as a small side project but now that this is our third year, I find myself having to do WMC Fest organization full-time for three months leading up to the event. It’s definitely blowing up fast. As for where it can go, that’s a tough question. There are a lot of different things. I think the community itself wants the WMC Fest to become a nationally renowned design and music festival like SXSW or something like that where there are celebrities coming out and that kind of stuff. I think they see this as something for Cleveland that can really put us on the map. Me personally, I feel like that’s a huge burden to shoulder and as much as I would love that, I feel like it’s not going to be able to be done by just us alone. We’re going to see a lot of the community coming together.
Is there a danger of it getting too big?
I still want to stay independent. I still want it to be an indie thing. I don’t want it to get too big. I want it to stay intimate and young and fresh and inspired. I don’t want it to become a massive corporate event that takes up the entire West Side and goes on for weeks and becomes less personal. I want it to grow, and I want it to get some national attention for us and our city, but I want it to keep the indie cred.
The one element that WMC Fest seems ripe for is a movie festival. Any thoughts on adding that?
I think film very well could be a part of it. It was actually part of the first year. I’m a huge film fan, and I wanted to bring in my favorite directors and screen some crazy obscure stuff. The first year we ended up screening Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, which later went on to win best picture at SXSW and now she has a new HBO show [Girls]. So that was pretty sweet but the second year I couldn’t do it because screening films is a whole other ballgame with projectors and theater screening and seating, which we didn’t have on an indie level. But being in the Gordon Square area right next to the Capitol Theatre I think film could be added to the program in the years to come if we got the right partners involved.
Finally, WMC Fest really seems to be more of an industry event targeting designers and creative folks. Is that right?
I want to say it’s definitely an industry event for creative types of people. For people who are kind of aspiring to be an artist and how to make a living being an artist, it’s for those types of people who maybe are working a 9 to 5 but they also have an entrepreneurial side to them where they want to be an artist or a designer or a musician or any type of creative person. It’s definitely for creative people. It’s not a general fest that kind of sprinkles into creative. The people that are part of this fest are the ones who live, breathe and die by their art and their design work. So that’s the spirit you see bubbling up out of it. They’re all entrepreneurs but they’re all designers and artists first trying to make a living doing their craft to bigger and better projects. They’re going to leave the event inspired and energized.
The Weapons on Mass Creation Fest, now in its third year, runs Fri 6/8 – Sun 6/10 throughout the Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland. 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.
Cleveland, OH 44102
One Response to “Weapons of Mass Creation Fest: The Midwest’s mini-SXSW?”
Wilson Revehl
Thanks for interviewing Jeff for a WMC Fest feature! Hosting the speakers at Reinberger Auditorium gives Weapons of Mass Creation a feel akin to a TED Talks event. These are accomplished creative professionals who divulge their experience and life lessons into 30min lectures that will inspire anyone regardless of industry. Surrounding thought-provoking talks with a live music and art festival on the Detroit Shoreway makes for an epic weekend!