Moogfest, a combination music, technology and art festival, is moving from Asheville to Durham in 2016.
The 2016 event will feature 50 performers and 50 demonstrations and panels at downtown venues and public spaces, Emily Parker, Moog Music brand director said at a Durham event announcing the move Monday evening. The program includes a mix of paid and free events,
“The entire world is beating its path to Durham,” said Mayor Bill Bell, pointing to the spurt of development in the city’s downtown sparked by the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) near the Durham Bulls stadium. New hotels, businesses, restaurants, and apartment complexes have sprung up North of ATC.
Bell did not mention it, but Durham is home to a number of world class festivals, including the Full Frame Documentary festival in April and the American Dance Festival ongoing now at Duke University and local venues.
Michael Page, chair of Durham’s Board of County Commissioners, noted that Durham also has a history nurturing blues and jazz as well as “an innovation center.” The ATC’s American Underground and its downtown satellite space provide a home for hundreds of entrepreneurs and dozens of startups. The transformation of Durham’s downtown has been remarkable to anyone who remembers its boarded and shuttered streets of a decade ago.
While Moog Music, which manufacturers synthesizers and conducts the festival will remain in Asheville, organizers chose to hold the festival in Durham because of it support for creativity and entrepreneurs, organizers said. Festival Director Marisa Brickman said, “We really couldn’t think of a better place to be.”
Casey Steinbacher, president and CEO of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, said funding for the event will be sought from private sources, but organizers will also ask the City Council and County Commissioners for support after raising private money.
A limited number of pre-sale tickets are available now at www.moogfest.com. The festival is set for May 19-20 in Durham.
