VEMF: The Evolution Continues

As VEMF continues to grow & morph with new artists, new products, new partners & sponsors, and new team members, we must too. For the last 5 years I have been an enthusiastic & committed member of the festival team, and serving as General Manager for the last 3. Through this time I have learned so much, a sort of free university course while delivering this complex and fast-moving event to the many thousands of participants each year.

I have been able to create opportunities for other managers & awesome team members including Florian, Kevin, Rowan, Laughlin, Tim, Drew and others. I have worked hard to introduce more arts & diverse performance including Urbanheart live art & bodypainting, the amazing Primal Fire performance at the end of the weekend, the inclusion of more flow arts throughout the festival, and of course the introduction of the VEMF Dance Crew! I’ve been so pleased to build out the vendors market to support local artisans & entrepreneurs, expand VEMF Interactive to a multi-day multi-site offering for producers & DJs, and play a role in the diversification of VEMF’s programming to include more trance, drum & bass, progressive, ethno-fusion, dubstep and even the opening scratch battle and beatboxing spotlight!

As much as I feel I have contributed to VEMF, it has certainly contributed to me. And, it’s time for some new explorations. Recently I have stepped down as GM for the festival, and am excited to make space for some new team members to get involved and bring their own unique contributions onto this huge musical canvas. I have recently completed a batch of updates on the website, and will be working closely with the festival to ensure a smooth transition from my own management into someone else’s! Likely this means some changes for the event, but also likely these will be largely invisible to us as participants.

Having said all that, change represents opportunity – and if you have an idea that you think might be a great one for the festival – now is certainly a creative time for VEMF and this might be the perfect moment to see your concept or contribution come to life. You can email VEMF via the website, and share your thoughts!

To the community – thanks for all your support of my efforts with VEMF over recent years! We have made many big requests of you, and largely you have answered generously & with great loyalty. I hope you will continue your VEMF love in my absence, and as the dust settles and my next projects begin to take shape I look forward to sharing with you more of what’s next!

Until then, looking forward to sharing dance floor with you soon. Best wishes…

Jason