This is my take on some of the main points of discussion and review related to the festival. I do realize that there are many more areas left for comment and discussion, however I choose to focus on location, organization, mission, and promotion.

Location. Location. Location.

For anyone who has been there, it goes without saying that Traverse City Michigan is beautiful. Located in the Northern Peninsula along Lake Michigan, Traverse City is a vacation hot spot for many folks in the Mid West. As a former Michigander myself, I fell in love with this place as a kid on family vacations. That is one reason it is difficult for me to say that the location is not the greatest. Really the only major Cities that are within reasonable driving distance are Detroit and possibly Chicago. The problem is that Michigan is basically a peninsula that is really only easily accessed coming in from is southern border. With Traverse City being located so far north in the Peninsula, it is not “travel friendly” for most folks unless they live Michigan or who are already located close to it’s southern boarder such as Northern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. A more central location may assist with increased attendance in the future. Even if CloverR took place 3 or 4 hours south in Michigan, it could still be held along Lake Michigan with the same “vibe” and be easily accessed from the central office of DEMF located in Detroit.

Organization/Professionalism

As an artist that performed at CloverR 2006, I must say that this is where the festival exceeds. From my first contact with artist relations to the thank you letter that was sent to me last week from the festival staff, it did not miss a “beat”. Carol Marvin, has been known to “run a tight ship” and CloverR was no exception. It was well staffed and friendly.

The physical esthetics of the festival were great! The layout of the physical space appeared well thought out, highly bannered and the tents were new, clean and WHITE. Even the program guide was well done and covered with a professional art piece created specifically for the event by Chris Dean, who is well know in the Detroit area for his art work in a downtown gallery.  Overall this was a “nice looking” festival with a grand appearance.

Mission

Make no bones about it; CloverR was not meant to be an outreach event. The mission and intent reads as follows:

CloverR's mission is connecting and energizing the spirits of young adults through the power of Christ and an exciting experience of life-inspiring dance music, art, fashion, electronics, games, activities, and entertainment interests which are important to global youth and dance music culture.

This special global dance event highlights the fact that living Christianity produces a highly creative and engaging life, not a boring one. The CloverR message underscores the point that the Bible guidelines for life are not meant to hinder us from having a good time in any way. On the contrary, these powerful words of encouragement and instruction are meant to bless us with the realization of our best possibilities.

Some may take issue, however I find it a bit refreshing. It seems that in the past decade that Christian “raves”, electronic music events, DJ shows, etc. have been only considered valuable if they are promoted as an “outreach event”. Honestly, it appears that many of us have fell into the trap of believing that the only way to plan and get support for an event is to promote it as an “outreach”. In fact, it may be out of guilt associated with the belief that if we get together based on our common thread for Electronic music and Christ’s love than we are some how being self-indulgent. Well, CloverR got it right. It is also necessary and valuable for Christians to come together and celebrate our life in Christ – period.

Promotion

This is an area that can be improved. The festival promoters were “late out of the gate”. Even the booking occurred only with about 5 weeks prior to the event. It is hard to promote an event with out confirmed artists. There were many legitimate reasons/explanations for this, however the low attendance was a result (not to mention the rain). A festival of this magnitude needs year round promotion. However, Carol Marvin, the festival CEO, down played the importance of this first year’s attendance and does not consider it a big issue stating “…several components go into measuring the success of a festival, especially in its first year. For us the biggest factor this first year is not how many people showed up, but rather did those that did attend enjoy themselves? Then we will look at the operational aspects of what worked and what didn’t work. We will seek constructive criticism from the participants and the community and work to build a bigger and better festival next year”.

The fact that it was  “free admission” makes the attendance less important from a financial success stand point, however does not help the reputation of the festival in general.

Conclusion

CloverR has a huge potential to grow and be a major event of the Christian Electronic Music Scene. If this in fact was the “Launch Year” for CloverR, as Marvin states, then time will tell. Future CloverR Festivals may in fact demonstrate one of 2 things; whether or not the Mid-west is prime and ready for a resurge of the Scene or if it is just the beginning of the end….