Buku Music and Art Project 2013 (DPA Live Gallery and Photo Set)

When March rolls around in New Orleans, it means a few things: 1. Saint Patty’s Day shenanigans 2. The beginning of festival season, and more specifically 3. Buku Music and Art Project. In its sophmore year, Buku has done much to establish its place in the New Orleans, and national, festival calendar. A masterfully booked contemporary lineup caused its attendance to double from the first year to the second. Buku featured the currently most talked about acts in the indie, electronic and hip-hop genres, and the buzz around the festival was electric.

Since I am currently in school in Miami Beach, and will be for the next year and a half, I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to play much of a role in the organization this year… But when the lineup announcement video was released a few months prior it all started feeling real so I booked a ticket to New Orleans for the weekend of the festival. I was at least going to do as much as I could to help from afar and also get my hands dirty during the actual festival. I took on the responsibilities of organizing the Live Gallery Auction through my connections in the New Orleans graffiti world, and also photographed the event for marketing purposes.

When I finally touched down in New Orleans less than 24 hours before the gates to the show opened, I was swept up in a whirlwind of running around and tying up last minute loose ends. Set up for festivals is always a trying experience, but just being plopped into the action out of nowhere was a new sensation entirely. I felt disconnected and out of the loop, but pushed onward and, of course, everything ended up okay. The walls were all set up and the live painters were ready to do their thing by the time the event started. Camera in hand, it was time for action. The event was a blur, between trying to get awesome photos and helping manage the art programming, I felt like I bouncing around like a ball-bearing in a blender. Of course, just like last year, as soon as I saw tons of smiling faces in awe of some truly amazing performances, I started to enjoy myself too. It was definitely one for the books. Buku is going to continue growing wildly due to niche in the festival scene it has secured, and to the awesome people who are really behind making it happen. Don’t miss out on the next one guys, there is some serious business in the works 😉

The DogPawsApproved Live Gallery Auction ended up being a wild success. I can’t believe it, but we we sold ALL OF THE PIECES! Shout outs to all of my awesome artists and homies. The roster this year consisted of MRSA, MEEK, IMAG, BOURGHOG GUILD, TRASER, ERNR, EVAK/FREYA, TEEH, SOEM, TARD, EXQSME, and ISHU. Check out everyone’s pieces below!