Mike Reed is back in the music festival game, and this time, he\u2019s doing things his way.<\/p>\n
The Pitchfork Music Festival co-founder<\/u><\/a>, venue owner and prominent Chicago presenter and musician will launch the inaugural Sound & Gravity<\/u><\/a> festival this week. The five-day event will play out in and around his music hall, Constellation, located near Avondale along Western Avenue.<\/p>\n The programming will spill out into six other venues throughout the neighborhood, including the nearby Hungry Brain, which Reed also owns, and will feature more than 50 artists, like singer-songwriter Bill Callahan, Chicago\u2019s Third Coast Percussion<\/u><\/a> and Nigerien guitarist Mdou Moctar.<\/p>\n Reed says he\u2019s not trying to recreate Pitchfork. Instead, Sound & Gravity is meant as a fundraiser for Constellation and other indie music venues that need a boost during a trying moment for arts organizations.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Pat Nabong\/Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Reed, 51, is clear: He is not trying to recreate Pitchfork, the long-running Chicago music festival with indie roots that abruptly exited<\/u><\/a> the city last year with little explanation given by its corporate owner, Cond\u00e9 Nast. Instead, Reed\u2019s goal is to fortify the future of Constellation, the nonprofit venue he opened in 2013, in a moment when small and midsize arts venues are hurting.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need to make a new festival,\u201d Reed said. \u201cWhat I need to do is try to keep the third space that is Constellation and the Hungry Brain going.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only has federal support<\/u><\/a> scaled back for the arts in general, but audience behavior has also changed<\/u><\/a>. Earlier this year, Links Hall<\/u><\/a> \u2014 the longtime Chicago venue, focused largely on experimental dance, which shared space with Constellation \u2014 closed up shop. That\u2019s another blow to Reed\u2019s bottom line and funds he must now make up for.<\/p>\n To build up the venue\u2019s coffers, Reed decided to stick to what he knows. He didn\u2019t want to host a black tie gala or, as he said, \u201ca Giving Tuesday campaign where we\u2019re gonna give you a mug and you give us 100 bucks.\u201d Instead, Sound & Gravity emerged.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about we do something we actually do? And for over 20 years, I have been producing events,\u201d Reed said. \u201cSo what if we actually made an event for the types of people that like to come to shows at Constellation? It doesn\u2019t really necessarily matter that the proceeds are going to build the reserves. They\u2019re buying a product that they\u2019re interested in, which is what we\u2019re hopefully doing every day, this is just on a larger scale.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Constellation and Hungry Brain, performances will be held at Judson & Moore, Beat Kitchen, Guild Row and Rockwell on the River, all venues within a one-mile radius from Constellation.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Pat Nabong\/Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n In addition to Constellation and Hungry Brain, performances will be held at Judson & Moore<\/u><\/a>, Beat Kitchen<\/u><\/a>, Guild Row<\/u><\/a> and Rockwell on the River<\/u><\/a>, all venues within a one-mile radius from Constellation. The decision to include other venues within a small footprint was born both out of practicality and the need for more space, but Reed also hopes the event will be a boost for the neighborhood as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that this would also then translate to some of the other businesses and creative industries in the area,\u201d he said, \u201cand that the neighborhood kind of comes alive in its own way and we\u2019re just the thing that everybody can sort of draft off of.\u201d<\/p>\n The lineup has a heavy focus on jazz, which is largely Reed\u2019s genre of choice. A jazz drummer himself, he\u2019s just come off another year programming Chicago\u2019s annual Jazz Fest.<\/u><\/a> But, his team \u2014 including his longtime deputy, the musician Sima Cunningham<\/u><\/a> \u2014 also bring their own taste to the mix, infusing the lineup with bits of contemporary classical, electronic music and experimental rockers such as guitarist Steve Gunn.<\/p>\n For Reed, the test in putting together the lineup was: Would the music aesthetically make sense at Constellation? \u201cSome of them, like, let\u2019s say Bill Callahan, could play rooms much bigger,\u201d Reed said. \u201cSo essentially, it\u2019s like, could these bands play here? In spite of the capacity issue. And if the answer is yes, then that is part of the aesthetic that plays into it.\u201d<\/p>\n But, even with carefully curated lineups, it\u2019s harder than ever to draw audiences in. People are socializing less<\/u><\/a> and drinking less<\/u><\/a>. And, the festival world is also changing, with a surge of cancellations<\/u><\/a> last year due to factors like rising production costs and waning audience interest in an era of music streaming. Reed is not surprised that audiences are no longer buying what the big fests are selling.<\/p>\n![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/60af51f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6946x4631+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6c%2F6b%2F8b72e17f482ba5b8c7fcd7f60522%2Fsoundgravityfest-091025-8.jpg\")
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![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/559a87c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6847x4565+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F91%2Fbe%2Fa2dfb0e744499cb708534daa6aac%2Fsoundgravityfest-091025-1.jpg\")
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