Free music for the whole Santa Barbara community created by the Santa Barbara Community.
That’s the ethos behind Coastal Sounds, an acoustic folk, surf rock, indie, and blues micro-music festival taking place at Santa Barbara’s historic Plaza del Mar Band Shell (Pershing Park) on June 28. Genevieve Mack, the event’s producer and co-founder of All the Above Productions, is a recent Santa Barbara Senior High Graduate whose main goal was to make a music event for all ages.
Mack has been working with the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation department throughout her senior year of high school to organize this event, all while being involved in Santa Barbara High School’s Multimedia Arts and Design Academy. She has been in the Santa Barbara scene for much longer than that, however. “I’ve been working in the music industry since I was 14 — about four years now — and I’m 18 now,” said Mack, who will also soon be studying Recorded Music at NYU in the fall. “I just graduated from high school, and I want to build community in the music industry in Santa Barbara.”
All the Above Productions was co-founded by Mack, alongside Thomas Kolbeck, whom she met while working in the Wylde Works music venue in Santa Barbara. Kolbeck also currently works for the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation department, so he suggested to Mack that spaces the city wasn’t using could be repurposed to create diverse venues. Mack said that the Parks Department was a big help in planning for this event, specifically Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Jazmin LeBlanc and Recreation Manager Adam Porte.
All the Above Productions’s mission is to be a grassroots producer of live music experiences for all ages. Mack said she noticed a gap in Santa Barbara’s music scene, where many venues prioritize alcohol sales and therefore cater primarily to those 21 and older.
“I’m trying to create a space where, no matter what your age is, you can come enjoy live music,” she said. “The goal is to make an environment where everyone can feel welcome.”
Seeing musicians show up for the community and perform for the love of music rather than for money has been touching, Mack said. “The beautiful part of it is that we have this community of people that let art drive us.”
She noted that most of the bands playing are ones she has either seen play or worked with, such as Green Room Paradise, Dylan Cunningham, Ladyfinger, Looking West, and more. Chris Benedict, DJ of Ability, will also be handling sound production for the concert.
Coastal Sounds is part of Arts in the Open, a series presented by the Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with the PARC Foundation, celebrating a wide range of artistic experiences for all ages. The event will be from 3-8 p.m. and the audience is encouraged to bring their own picnics, seating, blankets, games, and local food will be available for purchase at the park.
“You can bring your own blankets and seating, and it will be a laid-back and nice event for everyone to enjoy and a community event where the main goal is for us to just feel this sense of togetherness,” Mack reflected.
For more information on the full lineup and volunteer opportunities, follow @alltheabove.productions on Instagram. For further information on Arts in the Open, visit https://www.parcsb.org/events.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.independent.com ’
