Get Up, Get Into It
A good festival can define a city, showcasing its cultural identity to tourists, giving the natives a chance to celebrate their hometown, and, of course, providing a shot in the arm for the local economy. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is the most famous example, but for cities striving to create a tradition from scratch, South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas is an excellent model. Since its inception in 1987, SXSW has become one of the premier music festivals in the world, drawing thousands of musicians and tourists to the city every spring, and spinning off the equally successful SXSW Film and Interactive Festivals. In the process, Austin went from being a quirky city in the middle of Texas to a major arts and culture hub.
Our Renaissance City, which fancies itself the arts and culture hub of New England, has yet to establish such a signature event. However, if the folks at the Black Rep and the city's Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism (ACT) have anything to say about it, Sound Session is poised to be that event. For the past five Julys, people have experienced Sound Session as the Black Rep's week-long "Genre Defying Music Festival," and it has been successful as that. Last year's incarnation was the biggest yet, and truly established it as a musical force in the city.
The goal now is to nurture Sound Session so that it expands and matures into so much more than just a music festival, or a Black Rep event. Though the festival is primarily associated with that organization, it has been a collaborative effort with ACT, and its director Lynne McCormack since the very beginning. For her, Sound Session isn't just about the music, but the city as a whole.
"That's the point of this," she explains, "using this as a platform to celebrate what our city looks like. In terms of the branding of the city, in terms of tourism development, but also in terms of the soul of the city, we really feel, and I think everyone who comes to the festival feels that it's one of the times of year when it really shines."
"People are anticipating this festival in ways that they haven't in past years," adds Don King, the Black Rep's founder and artistic director. "This thing has really taken off. What you're also going to see is a lot more tourism coming into the city based on responses people had last year, saying, 'I didn't realize that this thing was this big. I would have gotten a hotel room."
Another big part of that tradition is Sound Session's culminating parade. It's the draw of internationally acclaimed musicians that brings the tourists into Downtown Providence, but the Saturday night parade is the locals' chance to answer back and say, "This is who we are, and this is how we do."
