Carol Marvin‘s Vision

Aug. 23, 2006

Toss out one clover seed into your front yard and see what happens in a few years. That’s exactly the thought of the Grand Traverse Educational Foundation and Carol Marvin of Dance Electronic Music Festivals LLC (DEMF) when the two decided earlier this summer to launch the Clover Festival, the first of its kind in America and for that matter, the world. The Christian dance music festival will take place this weekend, August 25 – 27 in the Open Space Park on West Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City. The festival will be free of charge, and with Marvin’s previous experience, that “Clover” seed might start spreading quicker than expected.
Carol Marvin, 44, of Plymouth, Michigan grew up in the Detroit suburbs, and as the Detroit techno scene evolved in the early 1980s, she became hooked. Her accomplishments are now legendary on the international techno and electronica music and dance scene. Not because she is a performer or DJ; instead she was a founder and the producer of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) that was launched in 2000 in Hart Plaza, Detroit.  Under her guidance, in three short years the DEMF grew into the largest music festival the world has ever known with more than 1.5 million in attendance.
Now Marvin brings her expertise and connections to Traverse City for the Clover Festival, which in many ways resembles the start-up of the Detroit festival. The DEMF in 2000 came together at the last minute and was met with skepticism from many, including the Detroit media. After 500,000 showed up the first year and more than a million the second year, Marvin and her team were applauded and praised by the local and international media.
 
LACK OF COVERAGE
Locally, there have been whispers of negativity and a lack of local media coverage. At the Clover Festival launch press conference a few weeks ago, only a handful from the local press attended. Absent were all of the television and radio stations from the region and even the daily newspaper failed to mention anything in their next issue.
Marvin isn’t worried: it is what she expected.
“We are planting the seed this year, wait and see what happens next year,” said Marvin. “We have been through this before. Maybe some don’t get it right now but by the weekend they will. In fact every day more and more people are figuring out what this is all about and are jumping on board.”
Marvin prefers to speak to the positive she has seen from this community versus the lack of local media coverage. In her 15-year career of major festival planning and producing (she was the director of sponsorships and corporate giving for the Detroit Jazz Festival for seven years and has been the executive producer of 11 major music festivals), she has never seen anything like what she has experienced in Traverse City.
“I am convinced in my heart that this festival was meant to be here. It is absolutely amazing what this community has done in five weeks to prepare for this,” said Marvin. “This is such a giving community. No matter what the challenges we face daily with this festival, someone picks up the phone and calls and tells us ‘we will take care of it.’ That didn’t happen in Detroit and I am not sure that it would happen anywhere else. I know in my heart that the Grand Traverse Educational Foundation will be thanked by this community for the gift they have given.”

FREE OF CHARGE
Marvin is referring to the Foundation’s commitment to making the festival free of charge after the Traverse City Commission balked at a paid event.
“I was taken aback when the City originally turned it down and then the Foundation said they would make the event free to the public,” said Marvin. “That is unheard of in today’s world. It is unbelievable – their generosity and their willingness to give this to their community.”
As for the whispers of negativity and the naysayers, Marvin is not fazed. She chuckles over the extremes. Some elements of the Christian right are not supporting the festival, even making claims that it is not Christian, and some on the far left are upset that an event with “Christian” in the title is allowed to happen on public property. Yet she feels that “shaking things up” about perceptions of Christianity and Christian music is a good thing.
“We went through this with DEMF -- this process of educating the public on what electronic and techno music is. Now that we have put ‘Christian’ in front of it, people ask ‘is it like this band (Jars of Clay) or this singer.’ I smile and say ‘no,’ explaining it is not easy to describe it. It is best to experience it. The best explanation is that if you like techno and electronic music, then you are going to love this festival. The music is the same, just with scripture or uplifting poetry and positive messages on celebrating life mixed into the music versus negative messages that sometimes are presented in some lyrics.”
 
DANCE AEROBICS
Marvin, who is Catholic and a mother of four, believes that with all of the negative messages youth are getting today this type of festival is exactly what kids (and for that matter everyone) need. She believes, regardless of your faith and even if you are not Christian, that the Clover Festival will present a message that will not be offensive to anyone, but rather uplifting.  
“The headlines today are about the lack of physical activity and the obesity epidemic that our youth face; well get your kids involved in the Dance Dance Revolution DDR,” said Marvin. “DDR is aerobics for kids and is quickly becoming the hottest thing among the youth in the world. We are going to have the largest DDR set-up the world has ever seen. Parents will love it. Watching these kids and their dance abilities is a lot of fun. Kids love electronic games – this gets you up and moving instead of sitting stagnant.”
DDR is an electronic dance game, where the dancer follows a pattern of lighted arrows on the dance floor that match the beat of the music. DDR was developed in Japan and first started appearing in arcades in 1998. The phenomenon is now global. Marvin points to the Clover Festival as a great opportunity for those new to DDR or techno to learn.
 “If you have never tried DDR you will have opportunities to learn from the best in the world,” said Marvin. “The same is to be said of our Audio Lab, where anyone, regardless of your age, will be able to learn how to create electronic and techno music from our guest artists. This is an unbelievable opportunity.
“When I was growing up everyone wanted to play the guitar and become a rock star,” she added. “Sure, kids still want to do that, but every kid is interested in electronics and technology, so they are naturally drawn to this (the ability to create music with their computers).”
TOP TECHNO
As for the performers, Marvin and her team have lined up a who’s who of the top electronic and techno DJs and artist in the world. The international line-up of talent includes legends such as Farley “Jackmaster” Funk (founder of house music) and DJ Andy Hunter (from England and regarded as one of the top DJs on the international dance scene. His musical creations have become the theme songs for several mainstream television programs, such as ABC’s “Alias,” and also appeared in movies including “The Matrix: Reloaded”).
The vision for the Clover Festival was born moments into the first DEMF when it was suggested that Marvin go up on the stage and look out at the sea of people (over 100,000 in Detroit’s Hart Plaza).
“I saw all these people dancing, smiling and having a good time,” said Marvin. “Then I heard DJ Stacy Pullen mixing in uplifting scriptural passages, and right there it came to me. As I started the process of developing the concept of a Christian dance and music festival I was amazed at the number of international legends of the techno scene who were Christians and couldn’t wait for the chance to express themselves artistically in an event of this nature.”
 
WORLD-WIDE
Marvin and her staff have been getting calls and e-mails from artists all over the world wanting to participate. Scheduling conflicts are preventing some from making it this year, but many have already committed for next year. Marvin is also pleased with how quickly that word of the festival has spread around the world.
While the local media has been apprehensive in its coverage, the international media has not. Headlines in several European, South American and Japanese publications have announced the Clover Festival and its spotlight on world-renowned techno/electronica artists. In the United States, electronic/techno based websites and blogs are spreading the word. Marvin and festival organizers are not willing to predict the first year’s attendance and are not gauging the success of the festival this first year on its attendance.
“There are levels of success when putting on a festival. Several components go into measuring the success of a festival, especially in its first year,” said Marvin. “For us the biggest factor this first year is not how many people showed up, but rather did those that did attend enjoy themselves? Then we will look at the operational aspects of what worked and what didn’t work. We will seek constructive criticism from the participants and the community and work to build a bigger and better festival next year.”
Marvin said she and her team are willing to listen to constructive criticisms, not complaints without solutions.
“Don’t tells us what is wrong or what you don’t like. Come to us with ways to make it better,” said Marvin. “In our society it is easy to be negative and critical, but we want solutions. If you don’t like something, think about it and tell us how we can fix it or make it better.”
 
CREDENTIALS
Marvin sees festivals as magical. Her impressive credentials have Chicago and Miami courting her services for the launch of major dance electronic music festivals in 2007. Also, next year her company will launch the Detroit Music and Muscle Car Festival, the largest celebration of music and cars in the world.
“Festivals are communities within communities. They touch everyone, and everyone who participates touches the festival,” said Marvin. “That’s what makes festivals so special. It is what we are celebrating with Clover. So often in society people feel their contributions are not significant. But the message that Jesus gave humanity is that everyone’s contributions are significant and important. Life is a celebration and the Clover Festival is about celebrating the joys of life.”
The Clover Festival team will arrive in Traverse City this Monday, and at dusk on Tuesday, they will begin to convert the Open Space into an impressive festival setting. By 10 a.m. on Friday, when DJ. Fitzpatrick takes the stage at the Open Space, a new era in the electronic/techno dance scene will be born. Marvin sees herself as just the “layer of the track.”
“I told my staff that we are not the festival, that the festival is the train and each one of us is laying a track so that this train known as the Clover Festival doesn’t become derailed,” said Marvin. “It is important that when you are planning and producing a festival, you don’t interject yourself personally and become part of the festival. You have to remind yourself that you are the track and the participants are driving the train.”
 
CONTROVERSIES
It is that mindset that helped Marvin deal with controversies in Detroit. During her second year of producing the DEMF she fired Carl Craig, who was the festival’s artistic director and popular in international techno circles as well as an innovator of the Detroit scene. The media attacked Marvin, especially the music press, who felt that Craig’s connection to the artists was the festival’s driving force. They predicted that with Craig gone, the festival would fall apart.
Despite outcries from some in the techno community, the second DEMF was a huge success, doubling its attendance from the first year. For the third year Marvin assembled an artistic team that handled the festival’s line-up. Under her direction an estimated 1.7 million attended the festival, making it the largest musical event the world has ever seen. However, going into the fourth year, Carl Craig re-entered the picture; he formed a team to produce the festival and approached the city. Marvin’s contract was not renewed.
It appears the decision by the City of Detroit was an error in judgment. Attendance in 2003 without a Marvin-produced festival dropped by 1 million. In 2004 less than 200,000 attended, and last year only 43,000 participated. Disappearing with crowds was the $150 million impact the festival had on the city’s economy. While frustrated, Marvin found it easy to move on.
“Going into that fourth year, the festival had become a different train,” said Marvin. “So it was easy for me to put my energies elsewhere and start laying new tracks.”
 
PLANNING CLOVER
Marvin, who in 1994 produced the World Music Party at the Joe Louis Arena as part of
the World Cup (soccer) being hosted by Detroit, assembled her team and began laying the groundwork for Clover and other festivals in 2004. Despite being courted by major cities around the world to put on festivals, she believes that Traverse City is the perfect location for the Clover Festival.
“Where else can you put a major music festival on, lay on the beach, enjoy the water and have all of the wonderful amenities that Traverse City has to offer? I have dined at several restaurants in downtown and they all have been wonderful,” said Marvin. “Traverse City is the number one destination in Michigan and is among the tops in the country. I couldn’t imagine a better or more beautiful setting for
this festival.”
For Marvin, the Clover Festival has several special “inspirations” and “joys” for her
personally. She is motivated by the story of Katie Heintz, a 16-year-old St. Francis High School student who lost her life to leukemia in 2005. Marvin said Heintz is “a shining example of someone whose faith filled life impacted so many, and even in her death she continues to inspire.” There are others.
“For me personally to express my faith, to
be able to combine my faith in Jesus with my work is a wonderful blessing,” said Marvin.
“My mother, who has never been to any of the festivals that I have produced, is coming to this one, so that gives this festival even more meaning to me personally.”
 
MOTHER’S MEMORY
Marvin’s mother was a Catholic nun who eventually left the convent, married, and raised six children. So Marvin believes the Clover Festival will be special for her mother as well.
“My mom never spoke about leaving the convent and I think she lived with a lot of guilt,” said Marvin. “Last year when my grandmother passed away, several people at the funeral spoke to my mother about it, gave her encouragement for her decision, pointing to her raising six children who are off doing wonderful things in the world. So I am hopeful that she will see this wonderful festival and realize that her decision to leave the convent and start a family is one of the reasons that has made this festival possible.”
So does Marvin think that her mom and others that are older will enjoy the music and
the festival?
“Absolutely. While the demographic of this music seems to be geared to the under 40, in Detroit we had people in the 70s out dancing,” said Marvin. “I remember a group of ladies from the Red Hat Society, all over 60, out having a great time. You are never to old to dance and you are never to old to have fun.”
As for next year, when will Martin and her team start?
“We already have started planning next year,” said Marvin. “As my team and I plan this year’s festival every day we work on things for next year’s festival.”
While Marvin isn’t sure on attendance numbers for this year, she believes the festival could easily attract 100,000 plus participants in future years. Some from the community working quietly behind the scenes believe that the Clover Festival has the potential to become the largest event in Northern Michigan, based on the worldwide popularity of techno/electronic music, even bigger than the National Cherry Festival and the Traverse City Film Festival. However, Marvin doesn’t see this as competition.
“We are not in competition with those events. Our focus is to put on a culturally important globally-significant event,” said Marvin. “The Grand Traverse Education Foundation is making an investment in their community. They are giving Traverse an unbelievable gift, this is not a competition, this is an event that celebrates life.”
That gift is already paying dividends in the local economy. Several area hotels contacted reported that reservations for the traditionally slow last weekend of August are up substantially.
 
The Clover Music Festival is open to the public. Admission is free. Event organizers have stated all are welcome and are offering an opportunity to become educated on the world of techno/electronica music, as well as the latest dance craze–Dance Dance Revolution.
To learn more about the Clover Festival visit www.cloverfestival.com or better yet, just show that the experience will be far better than any words are capable of describing.