CRE8NW: Live Online Music & Arts Festival

Working on my laptop from my kitchen table in the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic, I watched as Governor Jay Inslee extended Washington State's Stay Home, Stay Safe lockdown another four weeks to May 4, 2020.

Texting with my Executive Director Tonya Swick following the press briefing, she suggested creating a safe, socially distant Cinco de Mayo celebration in our empty parking lot, as a reentry celebration of sorts on the 5th. However, we quickly abandoned the idea as the COVID-19 logistics were still just too restrictive and cumbersome.

Then something clicked.

Fingers flying, I spammed Tonya with text after crazy text of ideas for a live online festival with musicians, artists, crafters, makers, bakers, magicians, comedians, filmmakers, and more. The texts I sent quickly became the genesis of Samena’s wildly successful CRE8NW: Online Festival of Music & Arts.

Over the next few days, the festival idea kept me up at night and pursued me everywhere: working, driving, shopping, showering.

I spent hours developing the idea into something more tangible and then, on a Zoom call exactly one week after Governor Inslee's announcement, I pitched an over-the-top ambitious concept to the rest of the management team.

The pitch was a vision of an online music and arts festival, with as many vendors, exhibits, and performances as you would find in an in-person festival, including musicians, artists, filmmakers, skits, magicians, and much more.

I included detailed plans for fundraising, sponsorship, and partnership agreements, including a tiered structure offering brand mentions, logo placements, and inclusion in media assets like banners, posters, invites, and social and commercial media placements.

Enthusiasm on the call began to build, with team members soon contributing ideas like dancing demos, poi spinning, and even live, collaborative music creation in the form of a Producer’s Challenge.

“Timing is everything,” I told the management team in closing. “The event date must occur during the quarantine period before we reopen on May 5th. Things are happening quickly and being a first-mover is important.”

Within moments of ending the pitch, Nick Hefty, Samena’s Children’s Program Coordinator, appeared in my office doorway with more ideas and a palpable enthusiasm for the project. He immediately became the tireless and essential co-producer on the project.

Nick and I simplified and streamlined the event, divided it into two main stages, and over the next few days, we reached out to hundreds of artists, musicians, filmmakers, and performers through our networks and social media.

The ensuing days were a blur of project management logistics, scheduling, branding, press releases, vendor contracts, sponsorship agreements, tech troubleshooting, asset management, artist bios, show flow design, and contingency planning.

CRE8NW exceeded our wildest expectations in every way.

Performers showed up on time, including the musicians. Viewers enthusiastically participated. Connections were made.

Community was created. And everything laddered up to Samena's mission To Connect and Enrich our Community through Wellness, Education, and Fun!

And the post-mortem metrics backed up our intuition about how the event was received.

CRE8NW recorded over 200 hours of viewing, over 20K unique views, and raised over $1500 for the Seattle Foundation's, COVID-19 Response Fund.