HOMO A GOGO
This is the second installment of Homo a Go Go, a bi-annual queer music, art, film, spoken word and radical activist festival. Homo a Go Go continues the tradition of other Olympia festivals including Ladyfest, Yoyo a Go Go and the International Pop Underground Convention by providing a venue for underground, DIY and independent artists.
Our first festival was in September of 2002, for which artists, musicians, writers and activists came to Olympia from all over the world to create our own cultural landscape and community. The community we hope to create overlaps yet exists outside of the mainstream queer community and the independent music/arts community. We hope to encourage anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-classist and anti-ableist ideals while providing a venue for non-mainstream queer culture.
Proceeds from Homo a Go Go 2004 will benefit the Olympia based Gender Variant Health Project (GVHP). The GVHP is a non-profit organization devoted to health issues and healthcare needs of those of us who's gender identity differs from the gender assigned to us based on our biological sex. the GVHP offers educational programs and forums for healthcare professionals, as well as, referral services for gender variant individuals.
Proceeds from our 2002 festival made it possible for us to donate $6740 to the GVHP, making it possible for them to open an office, receive facilitator trainings and expand their referral services. Additional proceeds from the 2004 festival will benefit the continued development of the Q & A Fund, grant fund for queer artists who embody a spirit similar to Homo a Go Go.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the history of the festival?
The first Homo a Go Go took place in Olympia, WA in September of 2002. The festival was founded by Ed Varga, a musician, sound engineer and community organizer. Before moving to Olympia in 2000, he put on community building shows in Minneapolis under the name, “Homocore Minneapolis,” from 1995 to 2000. After moving to Olympia he was inspired by the people around him and especially his work on the Transfused (an original rock opera by the Need and Nomy Lamm), Ladyfest 2000 and Yoyo a Go Go 2001. He wanted to continue the spirit of Homocore Minneapolis on a larger national level and build an event like Yoyo a Go Go or Ladyfest that had a Queer focus, thus Homo a Go Go was born. Varga created a festival from his vision of extending the DIY community to include not only musicians, but also filmmakers, artists and writers. In 2003 Varga moved to Los Angeles but felt that it was worth keeping the festival in Olympia (see below).
What’s the purpose of this festival?
To present alternative, underground, independent, DIY Queer musicians, artists, writers, filmmakers and activists. We extend an invitation to festival goers that is worldwide. In doing so we seek to create an international community of Queers that overlaps with, yet provides an alternative to, mainstream G/L/B/T communities. By focusing on radical politics and non-mainstream art, film and music, we seek to give Queers an alternative to the classism and consumerism that is present in much of mainstream G/L/B/T communities We strive to keep ticket prices and pass prices affordable to as many people as possible and all of our events are open to all ages. We are also raising money for the Gender Variant Healthcare Project (see below). We also have a long term goal of creating a grant fund for independent/DIY queer artists and some of the festival proceeds will go to this project so that we can all support our future.Why Olympia?
Olympia is the home of many queercore bands, writers and artists. It has also been the home of many similar festivals including the International Pop Underground Convention, Yoyo A Go Go and Ladyfest. Olympia is the perfect place for a festival with an attendance of 1500 or fewer. Because it is a small town, the attendees take over the entire downtown area and it feels like it’s own queer town, it’s a pretty incredible atmosphere. As Seinberg says, “You can’t spit without hitting a queer.” (But please don’t spit on anyone, unless it’s consensual.) We also love the Capitol Theater, it is rich in history (both DIY music and otherwise) and ghosts.Will the festival always be in Olympia?
We are considering other locations for the 2006 festival. Write to us and tell us why it should be in your town. info@homoagogo.comWho’s organizing this festival?
Alix Kolar: steering committee member, workshops coordinator
workshops@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WAAnna Jacobson-Leong: steering committee member, Band logistics coordinator
hagganna@homoagogo.com
Brooklyn, NYBeth Stinson: Advisor, web helper
Olympia, WAColleen Dixon and Matthew Mullinnex: volunteer coordinators
gogohomovolunteer@hotmail.com or volunteer@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WADana Clark: Art curator and coordinator
art@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WAEd Varga: head curator, band bookings, production/technical manager, sound engineer.
ed@homoagogo.com
Los Angeles, CAJohannah Goldstein: promotions, publicity, fundraising, HAGG store manager, box office assistant manager, steering committee member
promo@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WALisa Ganser: film coordinator
Minneapolis, MNLois Maffeo: Box office manager
Olympia, WAMax Cohen: Program Ads, hospitality coordinator
Olympia, WAMordecai: street bazaar and craft fair coordinator
crafts@homoagogo.com
Los Angeles, CASara Seinberg: steering committee member, Spoken Word curator/coordinator, assistant curator for overall festival
haggseinberg@homoagogo.com
Boston, MASarah Adams: Fashion Show Cuator/Coordinator
fashion@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WATara Perkins: steering committee member, general organizer
tara@homoagogo.com
Olympia, WAAnd many, many other volunteers who have held fundraisers, staffed fundrasing events, created artwork, done street promo and many other tasks.
How did those people become organizers?
The organizers were invited to participate by Ed Varga. During 2002 HAGG had open meetings in Olympia, but the process was very difficult with high turnover rates among meeting attendees and difficulty holding volunteers accountable to meet deadlines and complete tasks. This lead to burnout and frustration among the core organizers and to a decision to organize the festival with a small group of people that we were familiar with. In 2005 we hope to make improve this process and reorganize HAGG to have an open call for job positions for the 2006 festival.Why isn’t my band or my favorite band playing at the festival?
Booking decisions for the 40 bands on the schedule were made from a list of over 150 bands. The bands on this list came from input from people all over the country and from submissions received from the bands themselves. Booking decisions were made with these guidelines in mind:
To have as many acts as possible that would sell out 1000 seats, to have a broad representation of acts from the US and Canada (due to financial constraints we are unable to book bands outside of North America), to have minimal repeat performers from the 2002 festival, to represent as many genders and nationalities as possible, to represent as many cities as possible and to represent a broad spectrum of musical genres (including but not limited to rock, punk, electronic, indie, hip hop, glam and acoustic).
From Ed: Booking is one of the most difficult parts of the festival. Many of the decisions are difficult in terms of trying to put my own personal tastes and friendships aside, in order to book the festival keeping the above guidelines in mind. It’s hard to turn so many awesome bands down just because we are restricted by time.How do the special events get decided on?
Special events make it onto the schedule based on:
How well the event did in 2002: for example the fashion show was a huge success in 2002 so we brought it back, the drag show wasn’t as successful so we decided to try karaoke this year.
Relevancy: we scheduled a mass, big gay wedding for Sunday afternoon this year because of the current political climate around this issue and because we wanted there to be an alternative to traditional (2 person) wedding ceremonies.
Space in the schedule
If someone comes forward to organize an event that we believe will have a good sized audience: for example, K’vetsch (open mic event) was at 2am in 2002 and still had a good crowd. The same organizer (Sara Seinberg) wanted to bring it back in 2004 at a better time slot (Thursday afternoon) so we said yes.
This is a punk festival, why did you book a major label band?
It’s true that we have a surprise guest on Thursday night that happens to be a major label band. This festival is not necessarily a “punk” festival. We believe that the DIY ethics of punk extend beyond punk music and so we have booked many genres of music that is not “punk.” We seek to expand the definition of the DIY community to include hip hop, electronica, glam and acoustic artists, as well as visual artists, filmmakers, writers and activists. Our “surprise guest,” approached us offering to play at our festival if we covered their expenses to get here. They offered it as a donation to our festival, our community and to the GVHP. We felt that it was a very generous offer from an act who has contributed a great deal to (Queer) music and so we accepted their offer. We also hope that their appearance will broaden our own community in many ways.Why is this a benefit?
Proceeds from Homo a Go Go will benefit the Olympia organization called the Gender Variant Healthcare Project (GVHP). The GVHP offers referral and informational services to trans and gender variant individuals. They also offer trainings to healthcare professionals on trans related issues.
The festival has a commitment to Olympia supporting each other. HAGG also believes that health issues are the single biggest issue facing trans people (as shown in the film “Southern Comfort, which screens on Aug. 7). As a trans person, it is part of Ed Varga’s vision that this festival support an organization like the GVHP. It is integral to the festival because the “T” in trans is often just tacked onto queer events without any kind of real analysis or support. Organizations and people want to be “inclusive” but they don’t know what that means, so they just tack on the “T” to say they’re being inclusive. HAGG seeks to go beyond that sort of empty inclusion to do something real for the trans community and thus build community between trans and non-trans people. We gave the GVHP $6700 in 2002 which allowed them to rent an office, pay for a phone line and give their staff special training.How do I get involved?
We need help staffing the festival. Right now we also need help with street and internet promotions (flyering and posting info about the event on web bulletin boards). To get involved email Matthew and Collen at gogohomovolunteer@hotmail.com or volunteer@homoagogo.com.What can I do from so far away?
Help us keep the festival going by buying a pass now! This is the single biggest thing you can do to help the festival.
Or, organize a fundraiser! We really need your help and if you organize a fundraiser we’ll give you a full-pass for every $200 you raise for HAGG. Contact info@homoagogo.com
Help us get the word out! This is sooooo important right now. We need people to come to the festival. Help us get the word out by flyering at rock shows, coffee shops, pride, relevant events. Post notices about the festival on relevant bulletin boards and lists, send emails to your friends. Get a t-shirt for being a street promo person. Contact: gogohomovolunteer@hotmail.comAre you still accepting submissions?
We are accepting submissions for visual art and from designers for the fashion show. For art email Dana Clark at art@homoagogo.com. For the fashion show email Sarah Adams at fashion@homoagogo.com
We are no longer accepting submissions for film, music or spoken word. Apply in 2006!How much does it cost to put on this festival?
A lot. Our current budget is $50,000 but it keeps going up. We manage to put on 5 days worth of music, film, art, performance and workshops without corporate sponsorship and still keeping pass and ticket prices affordable. Not even Lollapalooza can pull it off with corporate financing! It’s a pretty amazing feat. Most music festivals with this many acts charge $50-100 per day. It’s really hard work and we are flying by the seat of our pants hoping that it will all work out and we’ll be able to pay the bills. Pre-festival work is done by an all volunteer labor force.Where does the money from my pass or ticket go?
Based on our current projections for pass and ticket sales and the projected gross profit, $45-50 of your pass (depending on when you buy your pass, at the $55 or $60 rate) goes to the operating expenses of the festival: space rental, artist fees, artist transportation, insurance, equipment rentals, publicity costs, etc. That leaves $10-15 of your pass leftover. We don’t know the exact percentage breakdown right now but after expenses are paid the remaining cash goes to the GVHP, HAGG 2006 and the Q & A artist fund project. During the 2002 festivals, no volunteers were paid for their work, but this year we hope to reward the organizers, who have been working part or full-time on the festival for months, extremely small stipends.
To translate this into some numbers: if all goes well we hope for a net profit (money remaining after all the bills are paid) of approximately $10,000 to distribute to the above mentioned areas.