This week was HUGE. Finally we have heard from Ursinus and they have confirmed that Stomping Grounds will officially be a part of Music on Main. This is amazing and allows us to fully form the vision we have had since day one. This experience is one that I value, as through adversity and stalemates, I learned you must keep pushing through to achieve your goal. I’m extremely excited that Ursinus has given us this opportunity to provide this stage for upcoming artists that we feel have immense amounts of talent. My work ethic for the project after getting this news went from dwindling, to exponential. This week will be spent reaching back out to artists and confirming that they are available and willing to perform. We are grateful for the partnership Ursinus had provided us and plan on making their decision much worth their while.
Month: December 2019
Weekly Reflection
During this week we continued to reach out to potential artists and businesses. Our main accomplishment was successfully reaching out to rapper Armani White. He has amassed over 22k followers on Instagram and 2.1 million streams on Spotify. Unfortunately we have met setbacks with progressing with Ursinus and partnering with them. They have not responded to any of my emails since our meeting and I’m beginning to believe we will be moving forward without their assistance. While this creates a much tougher road to our goal, we will continue to press forward on our journey to providing a music outlet for artists who don’t have an opportunity to perform on their own. Kevin and I have started to reach out to local businesses about sponsoring the event. Our first store was Vincent’s Pizza and we are waiting to hear a response from them.
Reflection on Marking Period One
With the gates shut on the first quarter of the school year, now is a great time to look back and analyze what was accomplished during this time. We began back in August with raw, unedited ideas. I know I was excited to begin the class and start to work on something I was passionate about. I had a few ideas at the time, but none were conclusive yet. I remember deep-thinking about what problem could I solve or what am I truly passionate about. Towards mid September, I found my mission. I was going to create a unmatched music festival in the area highlighting local talent that otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to participate in such an event. I finalized my idea and began researching many of the basic needs for a festival. Through my research I came to the conclusion I’d need a big team in order to get my project under way. So, through word of mouth, I’ve created a team of 6 peers that are helping me accomplish my goals.
In October, the true work began. Research was being done and we took baby steps reaching out to local areas that might be interested in hosting the event. By doing this, we scored a meeting with Ursinus College, who is having their own music festival in April. The goal right now is to partner with them and create our own stage. This still allows us to curate and organize our vision, yet letting it happening in a much more controlled way.
November was a huge month for my project, in terms of growth and outreach. We have contacted and secure multiple, area-famous artists to play at our festival. Some of the artists we have reached out include Ben Smith, Nate Dirocco, and Yung Tilla. We have also reached out to businesses about sponsoring our event. We want a number of diverse businesses at the event, so this is our next big challenge. I’m very optimistic about the future our project holds, while we have encountered a few setbacks, I am still confident it will come to fruition.
The future is now upon us. Our projects are about to come to fruition and our goals will start their journey. I am excited to start my journey and make my impact on the world. What I’ve learned thus far is that your age doesn’t matter. As long as you possess the drive to achieve your purpose, you can follow through with anything. I’m looking forward to the coming of this class.
November Reflection
November was a huge month for my project, in terms of growth and outreach. We have contacted and secure multiple, area-famous artists to play at our festival. Some of the artists we have reached out include Ben Smith, Nate Dirocco, and Yung Tilla. We have also reached out to businesses about sponsoring our event. We want a number of diverse businesses at the event, so this is our next big challenge. I’m very optimistic about the future our project holds, while we have encountered a few setbacks, I am still confident it will come to fruition.
Our biggest meeting during this month happened with Ursinus College about joining their event. We met with their Head of Special Events and Conferences and Entrepreneur in Residence. Unfortunately they haven’t responded to my recent emails and I am uncertain with we will be continuing with them. On the brightside, their meeting opened up a lot of opportunities we could take advantage of and poked holes in our idea that I previously hadn’t thought of. This sprung us into action and much of our success this month came after their meeting.
We also had the opportunity to present and ideate at FluxSpace on the 19th of November. This experience was excellent. We spent the whole day creating our logo and setting up our social media. You can follow us @stompinggroundsfest on Instagram. We also got to present our idea to two panels of critics, which both offered great feedback!
As we head into December, my goal for this month is to continue to reach out to acts interested in playing at out festival, gain more clarity with the Ursinus situation, and begin to focus more of our efforts on sponsorship and funding.