The freshest music and arts festival in the city, which is named after the 30.2 north latitude/90.2 east longitude that New Orleans sits on, is the first of its kind as it attempts to leave zero carbon footprints in its trail.
Project 30-90 is debuting this Saturday, Sept. 5, and it has already attracted citywide interest.
The organizers, a local event management company called Don Kelly Productions, have set up solar panels and wind turbines to power the event from 2 p.m. until the end of the last show at midnight.
The festival grounds will include recycling and composting services; biodegradable, recycled and reused byproducts; paperless tickets (only $30); and a massive area for bicycle parking.
The festival organizers will also use a portion of the proceeds to help turn the festival location, which is an abandoned phase of the Convention Center on the river at the end of Race Street, into a green space, and more of the proceeds will go to a local green charity.
The organizers of the event are focused on education, putting forth serious effort to make sure that happens.
As the coordinators run around in preparation of the festival, the management team has also been filming the entire effort in an attempt to make a series of videos called “Making the Festival,” which will be posted to Youtube.com.
“The goal is to become a model for other festivals around the world by showing how environmentally successful we can be, even on a national level,” said project manager Reid Stone.
On the big day, festival attendees have the opportunity to learn about the process themselves from a team of workers educated on the festival’s environmental aspects.
There will also be a “Kids Village” in which children will be taught about environment issues.
The organizers visited Loyola to recruit music industry majors, and anyone else who is interested in working the event and receiving free admission.
The jobs include typical festival needs such as a ticket collectors and concessions, but also workers to help with the 31 featured local, visual artists and for the festival’s “Green Market,” which will sell local produce and organic foods.
There will also be festival shirts for sale made from organic cotton and soy ink.
The volunteer coordinator has also offered opportunities to work with specialists in such fields as sound production, lighting, security and management for any student with specific interests.
The line up of the festival starts off with the local band, Generationals, followed by another local band, MyNameIsJohnMichael.
“We are excited to be part of the music festival not only because of the musical acts, but also because of the purpose,” said Eric Rogers, the drummer of MyNameIsJohnMichael.
This is followed by even more local acts including Alabama rock band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit; Mississippi native Charlie Mars; and the Baton Rouge rockers, Benji Davis Project.
The festival will also feature the nationally known band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and the festival headliner, electronic music dynamic duo, Ghostland Observatory.
Garrett Cleland can be reached at [email protected]
