Get ready for a week jam-packed with electronic music, art and technology as the third annual Together Festival descends on Boston. With seven afternoons packed with tech demos and panel talks and nights showcasing impressive electronic dance music (EDM) artists and performances, Together has coordinated events throughout the city to celebrate the culture of today’s scene.
A full list of events is ever expanding on the festival’s website and official Facebook page, as “new events are being confirmed everyday,” according to Together Operations Manager Gareth Middlebrook.
Each night offers several choices for entertainment ranging from film screenings to exclusive dance parties. These nightlife options will be happening all around Boston and Cambridge at venues like Think Tank, The Phoenix Landing, Royale, The Middle East, Paradise, and RISE. Nighttime happenings are generally either 18+ or 21+ (all noted on the schedule on togetherboston.com).
This year’s selection of film screenings at the Brattle includes Take One, Don’t Think and The Electric Daisy Carnival Experience.
Parties boast a number of top-notch talent, a few being Nero, Dillon Francis, Poirier, Feed Me, Big Freedia, RJD2, Dubfire, and Voices of Black.
The daytime events include art installations, talks by experts on the newest equipment and techniques, and educational panels like those headed by Dubspot, an online and NYC-based DJ and production school. All daytime events are open and free to all ages, but Middlebrook recommends double checking all event details on the website before attending, as things can change quickly in the whirlwind of planning events during the week.
Middlebrook said there will be six official Together panels and another put on by an affiliated group. Topics include present and future art, greater Boston and the EDM movement and surviving as an artist. With two panels per day scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, informative lectures, meet and greets, and inside tips directly from successful professionals and manufacturers will be covered.
“DJs love to see [panels] like this,” said Coleman Goughary, Together’s director of business development. “It’s nice to hear straight from the manufacturer.”
In addition to various venues, some events will be held at the festival’s newest addition, the Together Center, in Central Square. Located at 579A Mass Ave. (the old Pearl Arts store space), the Together Center serves as what Middlebrook calls “operations central/go to headquarters.”
The Get Together on Saturday, April 7, creates an atmosphere of the electronic music culture outside of the club by incorporating installations, performances, vendors, a vinyl record fair, and demonstrations of music software and hardware developers.
Presented by UnHeardUv, the Together Soundstage provides music in the Together Center with daily lineups of the areas’s finest DJs and producers. Live sets cover the EDM spectrum from electro and house to techno and ambient.
“Central Square has reached out to us in ways we’ve never seen before,” Goughary said. Goughary is in charge of making connections and partnerships by “hitting up local businesses to see if they want marketing exposure” with the Together name.
“It’s been three years [since the festival was founded]; people know who we are now,” Goughary said. “Businesses want to be associated with Together.”
By making connections with so many partners in the area, Together ensures itself with basics like money, transportation and supplies, and its attendees with exciting new event opportunities, prizes and gift bags from area businesses, Goughary said.
Together merchandise has been branded with two different companies in an effort to bring everyone together.
“That’s the point of the festival, you know,” Goughary joked.
Together offers two tier levels of week-long passes: the plus pass allows the holder to attend every Together event during the week for $150; the regular level pass allows access to all events excluding the VIP launch and weekend RISE events for $100. (Passes allow entry to the venue, but not line privileges.) Passes can be purchased through Together partner, The Weekly Dig, here.
Together Boston • Mar 28, 2012 at 8:13 pm
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