Tech innovators headlined Friday's Northside Festival's events in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, right alongside musical acts. Now in it’s seventh year, the festival inundates Williamsburg and neighboring Greenpoint with music geeks, film geeks and — increasingly — technology enthusiasts.
"The first two years Northside was music only," recalls festival director Dana Kieth, who has watched the ranks of tech entrepreneurs presenting their wares as part of Northside's "Innovation" component grow over the last four years.
"Northside Innovation is probably the biggest growth piece of the festival. For music we have over 400 bands playing and its as big as it can be," said Keith. "Northside Innovation is growing as the (technology) community grows in New York City."
The festival's scope has expanded as its identity has solidified. This year, it takes place across 35 venues, with open artists studios throughout the neighborhood and interactive art installations along Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg's main drag. The film festival will give local auteurs a platform to showcase their work and a program of panel discussions will explore creative business and tech-related topics.
This weekend, while headlining musical acts The Very Best and Against Me! take center stage in McCarren Park, 150 exhibitors will pitch their inventions and services in a 50,000-square-foot tent. Does that make the scrappy start-up the new indie band waiting in the wings to grab the mic?
For musical innovators like Tlacael Esparza its just an opportunity to tap into both the tech and music worlds at once. An event like Northside affords Sunhouse Inc., the music tech start-up he co-founded, an opportunity to introduce a new electronic drum kit he'll be launching on Kickstarter in July to up to 100,000 attendees over the course of the week-long festival.
"We're really aiming this at the professional drummer who's already incorporated electronics into their sound," said Esparza from his booth in McCarren Park. "This will allow them to take it to the next level of creativity and control."
Musical start-up or upstart musician? Northside throws open the stage door to both as growing numbers of tech stars become pop icons and music takes increasingly technical turns.
The Northside Festival runs through Sunday, June 14. Check the schedule here to see the different venues over the festival's last two days. Four hundred bands, 150 speakers and 50 films are featured over its seven days. For general information, visit northsidefestival.com. Twitter: @northsidefest #nside
