 This is Dennis McMahon and welcome to Positively Vermont and today We are going to be exploring something very new and very innovative in our state. It's called a steamfest and With me is Kristen Humberger Humberger The founder of the Essex hub And Julie Miller Johnson the managing director of the steamfest Welcome. Thank you. Thank you And this is going to be an art and innovation festival that will be taking place in Essex Junction September 29th and September 30th, and we're going to go into it And it sounds like a very exciting event And just tell us first a little bit about each one of you Kristen you want to start? Sure. I'm Kristen Humberger. I'm the founder of Essex hub and the creative director of steamfest And I've lived in Vermont for about 20 years My background is in art making and also positive organizational development And so I sort of blend those two worlds and the work that I do at Essex hub and also with The work that we're doing together with steamfest Tell us a little bit about yourself So I'm Julie Miller Johnson and I've lived in Essex Junction for 13 years and I came here from Atlanta, Georgia where I worked in marketing and media management and Most recently I was the market manager for the farmers market the five corners farmers market in Essex Junction And I currently sit on the economic development commission for the town of Essex So My my role in this market sort of comes this Festival comes from those two places. That's great. Well, tell us about this unusual name steamfest They understand it means science technology engineering arts and math. Tell us what it means That's what it means. So steamfest oftentimes you'll hear the The acronym stem to refer to the science technology engineering and math fields And when you add the arts into it, it becomes steam So there's a conversation around the stem fields and their relationship to art which makes it steam And so we decided that we would explore this in a much more broad way and help people Have an experience through understanding arts and aesthetics and as they're related to the stem fields And to pull all this together in a way that might actually help disrupt people's understanding Of what that relationship is. So that's how we came to steamfest In creating a two-day event for people to sort of explore these things in a new and interesting way That's great And it's called an art and innovation festival. What exactly is that going to entail? So steamfest is celebrating sort of the makers and and creators and in innovation so by having By having people who are both artists and People who are sort of inventors. We can show the cycle of innovation through this festival so it's um sort of a festival of process and product and creators and makers so having both makers who sometimes come through the Through the fields of stem and artists sort of exploring some of the Issues in the stem fields And what does that look like when we put them all together in the same space And speaking of space, where is this exactly going to be taking place? So steamfest is a two-day festival that's going to take place in downtown a six-junction and um the first day will be In all of the streets of the the core downtown of s-extinction. So we'll have events on each of four of the five Streets of the village. So that's pearl park maple, no not maple pearl park main and Lincoln Lincoln Street So that's friday night, and then saturday is just railroad avenue Wow, that's amazing and How many people are involved in this? There's there is five core volunteers who have been driving the organization And there are I don't know 20 artists Vendors who will be at the artist market on saturday There are at this point some unknown number of makers who will be participating in the maker fair and I think we have 15 plus artists and five or six bands and musicians who will all be participating in the event as well And I would expect at least 25 to 30 volunteers to help us pull the whole thing off And this is the first one of its kind that's taking place here. It is the first one. Yeah, how'd you come up with this idea? um Well, it's sort of a combination of a lot of different things As I said earlier my background is all in in the arts or much of it is And I was having a conversation actually with a A woman who will be exhibiting a film in this event Around arts and it's it's interaction with engineering and machine art and technology and all of these things and It was just a really generative conversation and After that a conversation I Came to julie and I said hey, I have this idea for Maybe a festival that we should be doing around the STEM fields and art making and artists and artisans and I can see what this is going to look like and I know that you have the capacity to make that happen and as the market manager for the farmers market and sort of the evolution of that it was sort of a perfect timing and a perfect sort of intersection of vision and action that we were able to sort of Engage each other and what do we call it sort of like when crazy meets crazy That's great stuff. Well, it seems that a lot of planning went in this but how did you get the artist and how did that all work out? Like I know the submissions. Was there a deadline or something like that? We put a call to artist out Goodness at the beginning of the summer probably in May with a deadline for late august early september. Um, so We distributed through that network and your own artist network We put a call out to vendors for the for the market on saturday makers It's all we put everything out through whatever means possible social media ads in the newspaper Yeah, and you know what was really interesting is we also had a lot of cooperation with other Um Other people who are involved in other festivals. So art hop was really helpful in helping us kind of Look at what are the logistics of doing something like this and also sent our calls out to the people that they Are calling and we sent it out to the Vermont arts council And so we really tried to tap into the other organizations that have some experience with pulling something like this off So Tell us what feels a lot is going to be covered by this Oh Well, we have People who do very traditional work Drawing and painting we have people who are three-dimensional sculptures We have filmmakers and photographers people working in the the sort of new fields of 3d printing and technology Glass making glass making or glass fusing glass Um, so it really covers a lot of a lot of areas, you know It's either people who are exploring the stem fields through traditional means or using What would be traditionally thought of materials in? Industry in an artful way Or just really using technology to create things or to do things creatively That Haven't quite been done in the same way before so It's really, you know, it's really as blended as the steamfest name is So it's not just the subject matter of science and technology It's the mechanics the the use of that in making art. It is in some ways. Yeah, it's definitely A way of helping people understand that artists oftentimes are really deeply thinking and Creating meaning out of what they know Within science or technology or math or you know, a lot of art making is actually engineering I sometimes refer to myself as an artist who should have been an engineer My background was in metal smithing and also sound and video installation. So It's really seeing from A different perspective a through a different lens of what actually is art making about and what actually is Looking at science about from the lens of scientists or engineers So there's really a lot of crossover and creativity Which we traditionally I think in some real ways seem to compartmentalize out And so what we really want to do is pull this back in together So that people can see In a different way what they may think don't necessarily go together We'll be active exhibits people demonstrating things tell us about that So the vermont art teachers association will be meeting in s6 junction on the friday of this festival And at the conclusion of their workshops, they're going to do a demonstration or a setup an exhibit which is Which is an interactive sort of band. I think it's the best way to describe it. They call it magical music And it's something that they will have coded to enable Children or anybody who visits it to create music by touching different objects in this exhibit We'll also have A light up wearable station For people can create their own sort of wearable wear it through the village As they go to the festival wearing these sort of led light things We have the EVM's college of Science and engineering will have set up their fab lab or a little mini fab lab example so that they can demonstrate How art can be created through science specifically And technology We're actually going to have five steam pods. I think I should let you talk about the steam pods Fascinating or dangerous, I don't know So the steam pods are Five Inflatables there are 10 by 10 rooms that inflate That will have some sort of interactive in each one Each one represents one letter of steam So we have an amazing art teacher who or math teacher I should say Who has who teaches a curriculum art through math? At the sx elementary school. I think it's sx elementary and she's Creating a whole set of tessellations for people to be able to use inside the pods to To create a tessellated interior of this pod, which is Geometric shapes that fit together with with no gaps And you sort of rotate them around very mc. Escher If you know who mc. Escher is And then we'll have an engineering pod which is sort of an interior structure Which will be built by people who enter the pod We have a science pod which we believe is going to end up being related to the science of emotions and chemistry and The art pod will be art in conversation. So really asking a lot of questions around What does a more creative sx look like because sx is our is our home? And the technology pod we have An idea around what that's going to look like in terms of Having groups of people activate technology together to create to produce a result So the steam pods are really a way to experience the steam fields in a way that You wouldn't normally think of so it's it's an experience. Where are they going to be? There's an empty storefront on Park street in the four pearl street building and we're going to set them up inside that building It's a big open space right on the street and they'll all be lit up from From in so they'll be sort of a glowing orbs. That's that's amazing stuff. I mean, it's Just the scope of this thing really sounds huge. It's pretty cool Well, I understand that's going to be there's a beautiful website that you have really well done and it carries if people could see it It carries us through all the different things that the people going to be performing and and the various types of exhibits, but For our viewers, could you just carry us through? This entire fest starting with the beginning and when is it going to begin and what's going to happen on the first day and what's going to happen the second day all right, so the festival starts at four o'clock on friday afternoon And September 29th, so that's friday afternoon The exhibits the all of the art will be up at that time So people can start to walk around the village and see the different art exhibits at five o'clock That will be when our first band plays. That's going to be billy august. He's a singer songwriter Sort of folk musician. He'll be playing in front of the nest bakery and cafe And so he's going to start the music off and we're hoping people will go from there After that music ends to walk towards, you know, stop and look at some art along the way to the next band Which is set up at six o'clock and that will be sputula And he'll be playing outside or sort of in the garage space of maclaurs moving in storage Which is a really unconventional place for a band. His kind of music is like garage funk So I think it's kind of a fun location for him I think he and his band so we're literally going to roll up the You know enter the code like you're into going into your mini storage unit Roll up the garage doors and there'll be twinkle light setup inside there And so he can then he'll play for 45 minutes and then at seven o'clock the band. Oh, there's another actually 6 30 Yeah, 6 30. We have um matt larochet who is laroka. Sorry larochet Who is a musician filmmaker and he is going to be presenting his music film um In a sort of crossover art performance music at the dark room gallery in in On main street, and then some more tones. Yes, exactly seven o'clock and eight o'clock. They'll be seven o'clock would be warm water who's a jazz soul singer and then eight o'clock is Guthrie Galileo He's kind of r&b. They'll both be playing in the The center bay of the s-extinction fire station Which again is a really fun location for a band And i'm really really very thankful and grateful for the s-extinction fire department to be so up for this idea They're really excited about it and super supportive So they're going to help us set it up with the twinkle lights and everything And then the last band will come back around at nine o'clock to nest and it will be inside And that group is the leather leather bound books And I would like to say that all of these musicians are They're all Performing their own music. They are all like they written their own music And it's all been organized by a woman named hannah houseman Who is herself a singer in warm water and this has sort of been her curation of music in and of itself So in the middle of all of that is 21 different stops of art the art and food that people can go to Anywhere from earth logic to the s-ext hub location and furl for pearl and And then we'll also have the exhibits of the big picture The fab lab The steam pods the magical music this the button making at the library and the blinky wearables at seven and nine main street and I think those are all the oh and the pin the pinball The pinbox 3000 arcade will be set up at triple loop arcade A triple loop costume shop on railroad avenue. So there's literally There's that's all just friday. And I think that we before we stop there We have to we have to say that steam fest continues into saturday and it's totally in a totally different way um, you know and the common theme is really like making and creating or Process and product. So saturday is a different execution of that but saturday is exclusively on railroad avenue also in the village And that will be made up of 20 artists and artisans who will be selling their work in sort of an art market Format we'll have a performance stage in the middle of the street And then on the other end of railroad avenue will be our very first s-ext mini maker fair and the s-ext mini maker fair is Is sort of a A local outcropping of big champlain mini maker fair which happens at children farms But the champlain mini maker fair people have been growing their franchise across the state and When they heard what we were doing with steam fest They were really excited and saw the alignment of what this program was about and they said that they wanted to They would be interested in being a part of it. And so that's really a big part of why they're with us um, and so that's going to include Um locals as well as sort of people who were sort of do the maker fair circuit But we'll also have a young student from s-ext high school Who's coming in to show his sort of lego robot hand that he's created and he's bringing in some of his other friends from the s-ext robotics club And then we also have a really enthusiastic group from the s-ext high school maker space So it operates out of the high school library there And they're going to be showing some of the things that they do in that maker space So the s-ext mini maker fair is really um, what I call sort of like show and tell meets science fair It's really for people who are into whatever it is that they have created or they're trying to create or they're tinkering It's all about process You know that the street becomes like really like this manifestation like the mini maker fair is about process And the artisans market is about product and the in between the performance stage will have um We'll have two bands from 10 to 12 will be um Oh my gosh the um smokey newfield project which is um a band that uh often performed at the five corners farmers market And they play a lot of local folk music and um and then From 12 to 2 will be um a community coffee house where we're inviting performers from student performers from all around the region to come and play a song or two Or sing perform dance whatever between in that window and then from two to four will be a big band called shake And shake um is made up of some students who recently graduated from high school. They're all playing at farmers markets and Charities and weddings all around the state. So they play a cover band. They're going to really kick up the energy in the afternoon Yeah Yeah, it sounds really fun. How many people you think are going to attend? as many as We can hold It sounds busy in a very good way. Yeah, there is I think that's a really important thing I mean that's part of what we're doing with the art of disruption is to bring this kind of energy to essics That um, maybe hasn't been there in the past. Yeah Yeah, I mean part of the art of disruption is really to show People what essics has the potential to be in a lot of ways or what is already happening there Well, I don't think a lot of people really know much about the art scene even statewide sometimes But is is this going to make sort of this is junction and essics an artist kind of mecca or is it perfect segue? That's our goal um, yeah, one of the things actually um that we've been working on Sort of in conjunction, but separately at the same time uh with the steam fest is The essics hub has opened a secondary space. So essics hub is a co-working space for a sort of more traditional businesses Innovation businesses It's on pearl street, right and we've opened a second location, which is the Main street studio, which is right on main street, which is now a co-creative space for Artists artisans makers. We have four studio spaces there And we keep getting this question. Are there studio spaces in essics? Are there studio spaces in essics and I? a glutton for finding underutilized spaces and turning them into Spaces that people can really engage in whatever it is that they want to do there. So we're really hoping that We can begin to showcase Essex as a creative economy Space, you know a and we're also remarkably The end of the Train line from new york city So we frequently have artists that are coming up from new york who are stopping right in essics and then going on to the Johnson studio center To do residencies up there So we're starting to sort of think about how can essics really be positioned as a creative community and Out of that in the creative economy Everything from you know, web production and development design to fine arts and fine craft and Innovation and making so and we have all of the learning and resource and opportunities there with the tech center and with the VTC is not very far away and a lot of local manufacturers who are really interested in prototyping and that kind of thing So we can kind of bring all this stuff together in a way that makes it bigger than just This two-day event which we hope is sort of a generative spark for all of this great stuff that can happen in essics Let me ask you this Without Worrying about being inclusive or exclusive. Yeah, tell us about your sponsors. Who's helping? Oh, yeah So there's a list on the side. I know you're worried about leaving somebody out Tell us who's all participating in it So i'll tell you that the first person the first group we went to was the village The village of essics junction and we you know, we told them what we wanted to do and very bravely asked them for their support and They all jumped right on board and so they have been a financial sponsor for us and then I don't know how you pronounce the other one. Yeah, so yeah, so yeah, it's a local engineering firm Which is really about innovation and prototyping and creating new things We also have a new organization in essics that is part of An educational institution. I think that comes out of shellburn, which their new School that they're opening in essics is called steamworks and they're they're a sponsor We also have vada, which is the vermont arts teachers association When they found out we were doing the steam fest. They decided to have their Annual annual conference in conjunction with steam fest. So that's good. We have northfield savings bank Who who supported us and then earth logic and earth logic is a new company. I've seen their building. What do they do? They're they're a web design and and production marketing company That's actually made up of a number of artists and the person who made our poster for this event is the creative director at earth logic and He actually has done a lot of the posters for the first night So we approached them and they so Jeff did our poster and we're featuring some of their their employees work in The show in the in the art walk. Yeah, and then of course the essics hub is Interesting in and of itself. Yeah, so essics hub is a co-working space Our primary demographic is women though. We call ourselves a community of women and friends So we really are inclusive and the people that we Invite into our space. We provide Very economical space for people to have a home base for their business While they grow or while they begin So that they can become sustaining enough that they can move out into their own space And co-working spaces are not particularly new to The working world, but they have sort of become a Presence in vermont and the essics hub is currently the only co-working space in essics and so we really Are lucky in the fact that We're Generating a lot of interest and a lot of people come to our space and love our space and that we've Been able to really expand out now into this secondary workspace with the main street studio. So That's kind of what the essics hub is about. Excellent. Well, tell us now This is seems like a huge event and Other opportunities or needs for volunteers Yes, we will not turn a volunteer away. We can definitely use more help We have a we have a link on our website to invite people to sign up to volunteer We're going to need lots of help setting up and a lot of help breaking down Both friday and saturday as well as seen and maybe some attendance to monitor our art Make sure it's safe Yeah, so anybody who wants to volunteer and sort of be part of it and be able to sort of Walk around the town and talk to people about work You know can move from location to location as volunteers if they'd like to But just the setup itself sounds interesting The way it's going to be getting together that day or so before It's going to be a bit of a sprint. Yeah, that's great Luckily, we've had a lot of artist drop work off already So we're in the process of hanging work and and putting work in place So that we're we're ready to go And I would like to say that some of our locations where we're hosting art are also People who are sponsoring us. So nest has been a sponsor and they're hosting art and music and villado wells and company has also A sponsor and pork and pickles is a sponsor. I'm trying to make sure we haven't missed anybody harley davidson Really? Yeah. Yeah, they're not really participating in the event itself But they really believed in what we were doing and they offered some sponsorship to us. So it's great And there'll be opportunities for food and things like socializing around the restaurants are participating Yes, there's many restaurants are going to have a steamfest special for the night So rather than bring in outside food trucks for the event for friday We want people to to stop into all of our existing local restaurants and grab a bite grab a drink And then walk on to the next place It's great. That sounds like a wonderful combination of things community and art and Economic development and promotion of a very wonderful place. That's exemption So I want to uh Let people refer to that website. It's it's got all the sponsors. It's got all the events a very well done website By the way, thank you and uh, we're going to uh Conclude now and I want to thank christin humbarger and julie miller johnson For being with us on positively vermont talking about steamfest Thank you for watching