Behind the Scenes of Revelry Music and Arts Festival 2014
By Kayla Schmidt x’15
“We’re no Lollapalooza,” said Revelry public relations coordinator Bess Donoghue. “But we want to be a music festival for campus that stands out and is up to par or even better than other schools’ end-of-the-year festivals.”
Here comes Revelry.
For the second year in a row, Revelry Music and Arts Festival is gearing up for tunes, talent and artistry to celebrate UW-Madison’s school year coming to a close. Bringing in over 3,000 spectators last year at Union South, a new year brings a new location, new faces and new traditions.
Last year’s Revelry featured the popular American hip-hop singer Hoodie Allen.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Miller
While most students in early September barely have their textbooks purchased or pencils sharpened for the new school year, students on the Revelry planning committees are already securing finances, applying for grants and looking for sponsors for the festival that will occur nine months later.
“We started planning as soon as we got back to school,” Bess said. “October is when we begin considering musical guests based off of financials, and the logistics portion comes around December and January.”
Revelry’s executive planning committee is largely made up of students, and these 12 to 15 Badgers give their all to pull this extensive event together with the help of stakeholders from the Dean of Students Office, the UW Madison Police Department (UWPD), the Interfraternity Council and the Wisconsin Union Directorate.
“We’re fully supportive of this event and its mission,” said UWPD Chief Susan Riseling. “We believe it’s a great, safe opportunity for students to enjoy music and socialize the week leading up to finals.”
According to Chief Riseling, the UWPD sits in on Revelry planning meetings to offer advice and requirements regarding safety-related aspects of the Festival and they also plan on providing extra officers the day of the event to ensure security.
“The students and organizers have been great to work with, and have been very receptive of our requests, suggestions and requirements,” Chief Riseling said. “We look forward to a successful Revelry this year—and for many more years.”
There are several student teams on the Revelry committee that work toward improving the festival year after year, along with volunteers that want to get involved in the process.
“We have our main people like student director Josh Levin,” Bess said. “But we also have marketing and operations directors that have their small team of students working together along with the help of the Wisconsin Union Directorate.”
Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is one of the big acts students are looking forward to seeing at Revelry 2014.
All these teams work together to move Revelry to bigger and better things, and from its smaller and farther Union South Plaza venue last year to Langdon Street and Memorial Union this May.
“The Union South Plaza limited the number of people, and Langdon and Memorial Union give us a larger capacity,” Bess explained. But with new digs comes new complications. “There are more traffic and street permits to deal with by shutting down Langdon Street, even bus lines to reroute,” she said.
Obstacles aside, Bess said the fact that the new locations are closer to campus and historic landmarks like Bascom Hill and the Terrace will outweigh the negatives.
“As Revelry grows, we hope to move to Library Mall for an even bigger space for students to take part in the music and art of the festival.”
Some of the big artists to be heard on Revelry’s stages this year include rapper Waka Flocka Flame and electronic music producer Dillon Francis. But how are these and other Revelry artists chosen?
“Josh Levin helps comes up with ideas, we have input from WUD and it’s also based on budget,” Bess said. “But we additionally incorporated the interests of students by putting out a survey in September to see what the students wanted to hear.”
Electronic music was the favorite genre on this year’s survey, so the Revelry planning committee hoped to make the students happy with popular artists, and there are even a couple more acts to announce once paperwork is finished.
“There is great potential for other genres as Revelry grows,” Bess said. She dreams of one day bringing one of her favorite artists, singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson, to Revelry. “I got to meet him once after a performance and he told me that he really loves every time he gets to sing in Madison.”
If Revelry keeps on track with its growing popularity over time, there’s a chance Bess and other students will be able to see their favorite artists coming to Madison and truly revel in the year-end festival.
“We want Revelry to be a way to celebrate the end of the year by enjoying great music outdoors, checking out the art and in general just be something to look forward to each year.”
To learn more about Revelry, visit their website here.
