Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
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Now that Hatch Asheville 2010 is a receding memory, it’s time to assess. How does the sophomore season of the mentoring, workshop-filled event stack up to the first year? Are there any tangible results?
Here’s some of what I picked up, and what I observed.
Despite a late organizational and marketing start, Hatch Asheville this year still had plenty of energy behind it. That’s a credit to the key organizers. With an earlier start in these two key areas – scheduling key guests early and building a solid publicity machine – the event can and will grow. And it will benefit from the added vitality.
More thoughts:
– Rework the Hatch areas of concentration. Some just don’t fit Asheville. Consider adding the visual arts, fiction writing and food (all areas of concentration that I hear the original Bozeman Hatch offers). Make this a real Asheville event. Drop areas that aren’t working, or don’t fit.
– Panels need more racial/ethnic diversity. That’s obvious.
– Consider a little training for panel moderators. The panels need to be a lively discussion, not a meandering talk, and not strictly a promotional platform for panelists. Lively debate that can truly hatch some new ideas. Let’s have it. I attended two panels. One was boring. The other didn’t delve deeply enough into its topic, in my opinion.
– Pump up the workshop aspect of Hatch. Promote the hands-on learning. Promote the hell out of it. Here’s something tangible that I can get my head around. I visited the fashion workshop and saw people really exploring the creative process. Awesome.
– What created buzz, and what can we learn from that? Well, singer-songwriter Matt Morris was a huge hit. I heard lots of positive talk around the Playing for Change documentary. And everybody was talking about Rajeev Kulkarni and the design process he showed off for taking a two-dimensional drawing and creating a 3-D model.
One last note: I think festival organizers need to do a better job of touting the connections and projects that come out of Hatch Asheville. I hear that serious deals were cut this year, that there will be great collaborations, and much more. Let’s hear about it. Get some testimonials on tape. Follow up and show me the results. That’s important, especially since there’s a little taxpayer money involved in this event.
