Music, art, technology, science—that string of disciplines draws instant comparisons to South by Southwest, the legendary gathering in Austin, Texas. But Murmuration Festival co-founder Brian Cohen says there’s one major difference: “They look at film, music, and interactive, but they tend to look at them individually,” he says. “The lines don’t necessarily cross, and we are crossing those elements.”
Cohen, who also co-founded LouFest, is partnering with Cortex CEO Dennis Lower to debut the festival in the Cortex district September 23–25, two weeks after LouFest.
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
See also: LouFest Founder, Cortex CEO Launch New Festival for Music, Tech, and Art
The new festival will feature a ticketed portion for musical performances, talks, and panel discussions, as well as free events. Besides musicians and artists, Murmuration will showcase local startups. “We want St. Louis to be recognized nationally and internationally as a creative, innovative community,” Lower says.
When the co-founders first met, in September 2015, Lower pitched the idea of hosting science, technology, and arts events as a preamble to LouFest. Cohen had another idea: Let them stand on their own.
“I was interested in doing some sort of event that looked at the intersection of art and music,” Cohen says now. “Music is what I’m best at, but I’m also interested in art and how it interplays with different aspects of music.”
So late last year, Cohen sold his stake in LouFest and began this new venture. It’s one he says will offer a different experience than his former festival, not a competing one.
Cohen says “the calculus is completely different” for planning the two festivals. For LouFest, he says, it was about asking, “How do we get as many people through the door as possible but also have a lineup that is interesting and diverse?” For Murmuration, he searched for bands “who use technology in interesting ways to create their sound, bands who use art in creative ways in their live show, band members who have lives within the science community outside of their music.”
Take for example, Brooklyn-based band Sky-Pony. Members Lauren Worsham and Kyle Jarrow, who have a Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award, and Obie Award between them, will visit onstage with Sean Moeller, founder of the innovative recording studio Daytrotter. The conversation will “explore how they integrate art into their sound, into their live show and how their experience on Broadway influences their sound,” says Cohen. Sky-Pony will perform afterward.
Other events include a talk from Cirque du Soleil’s Calum Pearson about “how [Cirque] uses technology in shows to create an artistic endpoint,” says Lower. “If they are successful, you don’t see the technology, but it is at the center of the creative process.”
Cohen expects the festival to draw about 15,000 attendees per day for the conference and says he hopes that the number will grow in the years to come: “It’s certainly our goal and expectation that this becomes an integral part of the calendar for St. Louis.”
Murmuration by the Numbers
3: Days in September when the festival will take place
200: Acreage of the Cortex campus, where the festival will be held
10: Bands that will perform
17: Thought-provoking panels and talks
$140: Cost for an all-access pass
