Make Music Madison hopes to diversify music access for the solstice

As a young woman Beth Mastin enjoyed the spirit of the summer solstice in Sweden. She remembers fiddle music along with singing and dancing around a midsummer poll on the longest day of the year. She spent a few years in Sweden and has lived in Madison since 1992. Mastin jumped at the opportunity to coordinate Make Music Madison, a citywide festival on the solstice, which hopes to draw residents outside for all varieties of music.

“It’s a good opportunity for everyone to come out and play,” said Mastin, the event coordinator for the June 21 event. “People will just bump into music all over town.”

Make Music Madison strives to build community and decentralize the music scene in Madison if only for a day. While many music events and festivals take place downtown and on the east side, organizers and city officials hope this event will bring music to different parts of the city. This is the first year of the Madison event, and Mastin hopes it continues for many to come.

“We’re inventing it day by day … laying the foundation for something Madisonians could look forward to year after year,” Mastin said.

More than 250 musicians will participate at venues from south side neighborhoods to those in the east and west. A seven-year-old will perform a 15-minute set on the harmonica. Four firehouses, including Fire Station No. 3 on Williamson Street and others in South Madison and Hilldale, will feature piano open mics. FORWARD! Marching Band will play on pontoon boats along the Yahara River.

“I hope people will leave their element and explore a new neighborhood,” Alder Scott Resnick said, pointing out that many people don’t venture far from their home and work zones. The music performances will be scattered outdoors  -- if the weather cooperates -- and in, at traditional and unlikely venues.

For insurance and permitting purposes, the event will stay within the Madison city limits, said Mastin.

About 20 volunteers are helping with preparation, and Mastin is seeking others for the day of the event. Mastin is a private contractor who says she’s putting in “whatever [time] it takes” to prepare for the festival.

Mayor Paul Soglin and Resnick advocated for the city’s support of the event.

Resnick helped bring together the IT entrepreneurs who developed  a unique piece of software to connect musicians and venues for the event. Michael Fenchel of BuildMadison.org spear-headed the software project that is now being used in New York and other cities to pair artists with performance locales.

The city pitched the idea of the event at a town hall meeting in November 2012. Make Music Madison organizer Michael Rothschild, a former marketing professor, shared his vision with attendees. Rothschild wanted to bring an event like Paris’ Fete de la musique, which began in the 1980s, to Madison. Rothschild and Mastin both work with media consulting firm MasComm Associates.

Many from the music community were present at the town hall meeting, and not all were in support. Darwin Sampson, owner of The Frequency music venue, attended the meeting but chose not to get involved or host an affiliated event.

“I think it’s wonderful to try to bring music and awareness to the people of Madison,” said Sampson in a recent interview. “I would say that [the city] rushed into it.”

Sampson added that the funding for the project might be better spent on a smaller, more concentrated event in which the participating musicians could get paid. This sentiment has been echoed by other professional musicians in the area.

“Musicians are very tired of not getting paid,” said Sampson.

The city of Madison shelled out $25,000 for Make Music Madison, part of which goes to Mastin as the only paid staff member of the event.

“It’s a hard way to make a living,” said Mastin about the music profession. “We acknowledge that, especially in Madison, where we have such an enormous creative class.”

She said that similar music festivals throughout the world are also too expansive to pay participating musicians. Around 450 locales around the world are hosting festivals similar to the original, Fete de la musique.

Sampson said those festivals work better in a more densely populated area. But event organizers are excited to see music spread to the smaller nooks of the city, beyond downtown.

The Gomers, also referred to as “Madison’s house band,” are known for their live karaoke, or Gomeroke. Band members are pleased to be involved with Make Music Madison, and they helped create a promotional video for it.

“The Make Music Madison idea is cool, so we felt cool participating with everyone else,” wrote Gomers band member Biff Uranus Blumfumgagnge in an email. “The Gomers are always ready to serve, protect, and rock this town.”