By Rarely can small independent arts markets claim to have anything resembling a music scene.
That, however, cannot be said about Fort Collins. This town-turned-small-city has proven over the past 10 years that it knows how to spool up a scene. One of its crowning jewels is FoCoMX, which stands for “Fort Collins Music eXperiment.” Now in its 11th year, FoCoMX has not only provided artists in Northern Colorado with spaces to be discovered, but has incorporated Denver Artists as well. I caught up with the still freshly anointed Director of Fort Collins Music Association Matt Fritz, who now runs the non-profit instrumental in making this festival happen year after year.
In a brief conversation over a Rolling Stones record in our Fort Collins office, we talked about his life growing up in the industry in Colorado and California. “On my first day of College at CU Boulder I walked over to the Fox Theatre and got myself an internship. I just wanted to be a part of it.”
During College Matt cut his teeth with some booking agencies and artist management companies. “Eventually I got connected with this guy Brian Langeliers who was doing merchandise for Yonder Mountain String Band. It was around December of 2009 when I realized that I wanted to do a little bit more in the manager side of things, so we signed a Denver Band called The Congress. In 2014 my wife and I moved to LA and were there for the last 5 years doing management stuff, but we always knew we wanted to come back to Colorado.”
Matt has been heading up FoCoMA and working on FoCoMX since October of 2018. With a fresh set of eyes looking at a nearly eleven year old festival, we asked him what makes FoCoMX different and particularly special to Colorado. “We are highly focused on local artists.” Not satisfied with a vague geographic reference, we prodded as to where the booking committee draws talent from. “We are predominantly Fort Collins. We also encompass Northern Colorado and we do have a number of Denver bands this year as well. But I like to say we are the best place to discover Colorado Music as a whole.”
The argument can be made that Colorado is having a moment as a creative scene, and in particular the amount of new and budding music that is emerging out of the state has never reached this level before. The value of what Matt describes as “Discovery Festivals” has reached a new high point in Colorado because of this.
“There are other great festivals that have a similar style – it’s not meant to be a headline event. You’re not buying a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen. There are others like us around, like UMS in Denver. I see [UMS Denver Event Director] Tobias Krause as a partner and as a friend, but they are also focused on bringing musicians from all over the world to Denver. We are saying this is the best of Colorado music. We want people to come and take a chance on FoCoMX.”
A growing scene will consistently demand change to maintain its relevance, and as far as festivals go, FoCoMX is no stranger to change. In fact, it welcomes the ever evolving desires of its attendees.
“I just wanted to be a part of it.”
“If I had my way about it, I would include more things that invite other parts of the community into the festival. We are already incorporating film with the 53:14 Music Video Film Festival which is taking place again this year, but maybe things like yoga or food. TreeFort in Boise does a great job doing this, actually.”
A central tenet of FocoMX has always been to pay artists, and this philosophy has been a part of the festival since Day 1. “The deal has always been that we collect our sponsorships and our ticket sales, then put it in one pile and take out our expenses. Of the remainder, 20% of that goes back to FoCoMA the 501(c)(3) non-profit, and 80% is split amongst the bands that have played the festival.”
Traditionally, the musicians who play at FoCoMX are from all walks of life. In many ways this festival functions as an educational experience for many of them to learn the ins-and–outs of the industry, how to advance shows, how to promote their own shows, and what to expect when you do get paid from a gig.
“Maybe the younger kids who have the garage band who get booked for their first gig, they had to go and submit to the festival and they had to put together all of their demos and videos, and then they have to promote their set and then the payment at the end essentially functions as a learning experience for the younger generation to sort of show that this is a viable career option.”
