The Improvisation Summit of Portland: Help make the 2nd year of this festival as amazing as the first.
There is nothing like the ISP or CMG:
The Creative Music Guild is an all volunteer, non-profit orgazniaton that has been supporting experimental music in Portland since 1991. In that time we have produced several hundred concerts with the best musicians from around the world (including many from right here in Portland).
Last year we produced the first Improvisation Summit of Portland bringing together the best musicians, dancers and film organizations in the city, combined them with a small group of visiting musicians to create a truly unique event. This year we hope to do the same with an unbelieavable lineup of artists at a beautiful space in NE Portland with contributions from all corners of Portland’s vibrant performing scene.
What We Need & What You Get
The CMG is committed to paying artists. For this to happen, we need your help. A fully funded campaign will get you this amazing festival:
Bands/Musicians: William Hooker (from NYC) leading an ensemble of locals and playing solo, Why I Must Be Careful Big Band, 1939 Ensemble, Daniel Menche, HITS (Lisa & Heather from Explode into Colors), The John Gross Trio, Grammies, Gulls, Elfin Elephant (members of AU), Doug Theriault, Like a Villain, Golden Retriever, Battle Hymns and Gardens, Thollem McDonas.
Film Organizations Cinema Project (presenting Wavemakers, a feature length documentary about the ondes Martenot, an early electronic intrument with the director in attendance) and The Experimental Film Festival PDX with a curated performnce from their festival.
Dancer/musician groupings: Linda Austin, Danielle Ross, Gregg Bielemeier, Lisa Schonberg, Jim McGinn, John Niekrasz, Noelle Stiles, Tere Mathern.
The total budget for the festival is about $7000. We’re asking the community to come up with $2000 which will pay for the venue (on an incredible deal), the insurance coverage, fire department permit and printing costs. In return you’ll get an amazing two-day event as well as a bunch of great perks including tickets to other great events, beautiful letter-pressed posters, naming rights to our new gear and more.
Why Another Festival?
As we demonstrated with the ISP 2012, there’s nothing like this elsewhere in Portland.
We bring together an unbelievable group of performers including some of the best musicians and dancers in Portland, we add in contributions from Cinema Project and the Experimental Film Festival PDX, hold the event in a non-traditional venue so the space becomes part of the event and come out the otherside with nothing like you’ve ever experienced.
Perks:
The Don Cherry:If you contribute $10, you have our most sincere thanks. Your name will appear in our program and on our website as a contributor (unless you request that we keep you anonymous). Every dollar helps us. Note: Anyone who gives at $10 or more will also receive this perk.
The Sarah Michaelson: If you contribute $20 you can choose either a beautiful letter pressed ISP 2013 poster or a CMG compilation tape (yes, tape!) culled from CMG performances from 2012 and 2013.
The Kidd Jordan: For a $30 contribution it’s your choice of either a coffee package from Stumptown Coffee Roasters (a free bag of beans and a free drink!) or naming rights to one of of brand new microphones. You can leave a last impression on the CMG and experimental music in Portland by deciding what we’ll be referring to one of SM58’s or SM 57’s as. All of the musicians who use the microphone will see your name (or another name of your choosing) when they play CMG shows.
The Archie Shepp: A $40 dollar contribution gets you a letter pressed ISP 2013 poster signed by ISP 2013 performers. We’ll put your poster in the green room and ask everyone to sign it. You’ll have a unique memento from the ISP 2013 that shows your committment to the CMG and cutting edge dance music and film.
The Noah Howard: For $50 you can choose two tickets to either Danielle Ross’ new dance how, Lucy Yim’s new show “LightNoise”, an as-yet-to-be determined performance by White Bird or a show by Blue Cranes, 1939 Ensemble or Golden Retriever.
The Jeanne Lee: If you want something different for a $50 contribution we’ll be happy to provide you with a small collection of 5 posters from CMG shows from the past 4 or 5 years. These are beautiful letter pressed posters by Heather Lane from Cinema Project made the Independent Publishing Resource Center.
The Dave Burrell: Planning on coming to the ISP andwant to help us out without getting any more “stuff” sent to you. Well, we love to make our shows accessible to all regardless of ability to pay. This is why almost all of our shows are on a sliding scale. But if you can make a committment to the ISP at the level of $75 we will happily give you a weekend pass to the ISP and thank you in our program and on the website. Seventy-five dollars goes a really long way in our world (for instance, this is the total performance fee for several of the performers playing the festival – you could cover their entire fee with your contribution).
Cocktails with the Board: For $100 you will be invited to join the CMG board of directors, some of our longtime and committed volunteers as well as a select group of performers for a coctail party hosted at the board president’s house. We’ll have a small cocktail menu prepared ahead of time as well as some snacks. It’s a great way to spend an evening and a $100 contribution goes a really long way for us.
Guest Curator: How awesome is the CMG’s Outset Series at Revival Drum Shop? How cool would it be to program your own? For a $100 contribution you could decide who is playing a future Outset show. We’ll work with you to get the people you want (and you’re welcome to program yourself into the show if you like) and then we’ll do all of our regular promoting. Obviously, some restictions apply (like, we probably can’t fit an entire Orchestra in the drum shop).
The Deborah Hay: For $100 you could name our new bass amp or one of the two Mackie speakers we just bought. Name it after your favotire musician, yourself or whomever you like. This is a great way to leave your mark on the CMG for years to come.
The Jerome Bel: Love CMG events? For $100 we’ll guest list you at the ISP as well as 6 Outset Series shows. You will be making a huge impact on the experimental music scene and get to experience the best of it at your events.
CMG Super Friends Show: For $400 we’ll put together a group of completely amazing musicians curated from the board, the volunteers and the rest of the Portland improvising music scene. We’ll come to your house (or find someone else to host) and put on a private concert for you and your guests. This is a really amazing opportunity to see truly the best in creative improvised music in Portland and support the ISP at the same time.
