Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival
Encyclopedia
Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival (MCMAF or “Mission Creek”) is a week long volunteer-driven music festival
in the San Francisco Bay Area
. It features local, experimental and contemporary artists who have made an impact on the scene.
The festival takes a hard stance against corporate sponsorship. Andre Perry, one of the festival's producers sums up the their position saying, "Basically, we're not interested in companies without any responsibility or connection to the local community
." The festival takes its name from the Mission Creek
watershed that once flourished in the neighborhood.
The project began in 1996, when San Francisco musician Jeff Ray decided to showcase eight Bay Area independent musicians in a one-day event at El Rio bar and called it a festival.
The festival prides itself on showcasing fledging musicians and artists who go on to headline their own shows. Producer John Fellman was the first person in San Francisco to book harpist Joanna Newsom
. Former Mission Creek acts include Devendra Banhart
, Deerhoof
, Erase Errata, The Oh Sees, Kelly Stoltz, Rogue Wave, and Vetiver, all of whom developed national followings. The producers also have an eye for talented visual artists. Among the local artists who have design posters for the festival is Jo Jackson, a key artist in the "Mission School
".
In 2009 and 2010, the festival has hosted free one-day outdoor concerts attended by 1,200 people in beautiful McLaren Park
, the second largest park in San Francisco.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. It features local, experimental and contemporary artists who have made an impact on the scene.
The festival takes a hard stance against corporate sponsorship. Andre Perry, one of the festival's producers sums up the their position saying, "Basically, we're not interested in companies without any responsibility or connection to the local community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
." The festival takes its name from the Mission Creek
Mission Creek
Mission Creek is a river in San Francisco, California that has been largely culverted. The only remaining portion above ground is in the Mission Creek Channel that drains into China Basin....
watershed that once flourished in the neighborhood.
History
The festival prides itself on showcasing fledging musicians and artists who go on to headline their own shows. Producer John Fellman was the first person in San Francisco to book harpist Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California.- Early life :Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California...
. Former Mission Creek acts include Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
, Deerhoof
Deerhoof
Deerhoof is a musical group consisting of Satomi Matsuzaki, John Dieterich, Ed Rodriguez and Greg Saunier.-Origins:In 1992, Greg Saunier, having recently graduated with a degree in music composition from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, joined a short-lived San Francisco quartet called Nitre Pit, on...
, Erase Errata, The Oh Sees, Kelly Stoltz, Rogue Wave, and Vetiver, all of whom developed national followings. The producers also have an eye for talented visual artists. Among the local artists who have design posters for the festival is Jo Jackson, a key artist in the "Mission School
Mission School
The Mission School is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-History and characteristics:...
".
In 2009 and 2010, the festival has hosted free one-day outdoor concerts attended by 1,200 people in beautiful McLaren Park
McLaren Park
McLaren Park is a park in south-eastern San Francisco. McLaren Park is the second largest park in San Francisco after Golden Gate Park. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.-History:McLaren Park was once a...
, the second largest park in San Francisco.