Metro Spirit - 09.28.17

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By Stacey Eidson V28|NO39 When Kristi Jilson, the executive director of Westobou, came to Augusta back in 2014, she wanted to hear what people really thought about the city’s ever-evolving multi-arts festival with an unusual name. “In my first year, I just did this listening tour,” Jilson said. “I decided, ‘I can’t make any major changes. I don’t want to stir the pot or open a can of worms or do anything crazy in my first year. I just want to know what people think.’” So, she listened. Jilson heard people talk about what they loved regarding Westobou and what could be improved upon. “That first year, over and over, I heard, ‘Westobou is so cool. We love Westobou. We want Westobou year-round,’” Jilson said. “That is where the Westobou Gallery on Broad Street came from. People were saying, ‘We want Westobou to be around more often, not just a five-day festival in the fall.’ And they were so passionate about being a part of it.” Ever since Jilson became executive director about three years ago, more and more people have grown to know and love Westobou. “I heard recently that people are saying they know the Westobou logo, they know the name and they know that they see the festival every year. That has all been accomplished since the festival began 10 years ago,” Jilson said. “I hope in the next 10 years, who we are rolls off of people’s tongues more easily. And I hope the experiences that we continue to offer help to inform the community of who we are and why exist.” Over the next 10 years, Jilson wants Westobou’s mission of building a sense of community and inspiring cultural change through artistic experiences to be as familiar to citizens as the festival’s name and logo. “I think in 10 years, I want our mission to be equally recognized as the five dots,” Jilson said, adding that Westobou has come a long way. “I remember my first year at Arts in the Heart, which was 2014, I felt like one in 10 people that we talked to were like, ‘Oh yeah. I totally know what Westobou is. I can’t wait to go.’ And those other nine people were like, ‘I don’t know. Tell me more about it.’ Well, this year, it was like only one in 10 people didn’t know what Westobou was. We really felt that this year.” It is clear, Augustans have truly embraced Westobou over the past decade. “We finally have enough time under our belt for people to understand what we are doing,” she said. As a result, this year’s festival has a number of “throwback themes” celebrating Westobou’s 10th anniversary. “For example, originally the festival was two weeks long, so, just this year, to celebrate 10 years, we are expanding back to two weeks,” Jilson said, explaining that the festival runs from Oct. 3-14 this year. “Also, we are doing a little throwback by bringing back people like, my personal favorite, (singer) Allen Stone. We brought him in 2014, and he’ll be back again this year.” The 28-year-old Washington native stunned the music industry back in 2011 when his selfreleased and self-titled album climbed to the top 10 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and famous rock critic Ann Powers described Stone’s music as “meant for those of us who like our R&B slightly unkempt and exceedingly feelingful.” Now, on his third full-length album, Stone will be closing out Westobou at the Imperial Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. “Probably one of my most memorable moments of, definitely my first year at Westobou, and probably of my almost four years here, I remember it was the craziest day during the 2014 festival,” Jilson said. “We had a huge event that we had to move inside because an incredible downpour was headed our way.” People were pulling her in all directions, and Jilson remembered being extremely stressed out. “But through it all, I was most excited to see Allen Stone the whole time,” she said. “I just really couldn’t wait to see that live show.” Finally, when the chaos had died down, Jilson walked over to the James Brown Arena to see if everything was set up and ready to go. “All of the lights were on in the arena, and I’m walking over and you can’t help but see this guy with curly, blonde, long hair and glasses, and I think he was on a skateboard,” Jilson said, adding that it was Allen Stone and he was busy talking to someone. “He was just standing on this skateboard and, as I walked up, I realized he was talking to Sharon Jones.” Jones, the beloved Grammy-nominated soul and funk singer who led her longtime band the Dap- Kings, unfortunately died last year of pancreatic cancer. But Jilson remembers that warm moment between the two artists. “I was floored,” Jilson said. “They were both just so cool. That was such a memorable moment for me. Those are the moments that make Westobou truly special.” For more information, check out westoboufestival.com. 12 METROSPIRIT AUGUSTA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1989 28SEPTEMBER2017
Kevin Hart to bring the laughs V28|NO39 ONE OF THE BIGGEST NAMES that will grace Augusta during the Westobou Festival this year is comedian and actor Kevin Hart. Hart broke onto the comedy scene when he quit his job as a shoe salesman after an electrifying performance at amateur night in a Philadelphia comedy club, according to a news release. He began performing full time at venues such as The Boston Comedy Club, Caroline’s, Stand-Up NY, The Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Since then, he has sold out arenas such as Madison Square Garden. And his first appearance at the “Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival” that led Hart into taking roles in feature films, according to the news release. Just this year, Hart voiced a title character in the kids film “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,” and he will close the year by appearing in the reboot of “Jumanji,” alongside Dwayne Johnson and Jack Black. Also this year, Hart’s memoir “I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons” debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. The audio book also topped records on Audible, selling more than 100,000 copies in just the first five weeks. Kristi Jilson, executive director for Westobou, is excited to bring him on for two nights in Augusta during the festival. She said a connection at local venues helped bring the comedian on. “Our board chair is Chris Bird, who is the general manager of the James Brown Arena and the Bell Auditorium,” Jilson said. “So he had a great opportunity come across his desk, and we’re very lucky that the stars aligned in that way, and we worked together collaboratively to have this event Augusta.” She said every year, the festival tries to bring at least one big name that is widely recognized in the community, more so than other names featured in the festival. “He has the pop culture appeal, but he also is a comedian, and we celebrate words, so as a comedian, he is a writer, a creative person, but then he’s also an actor, so it was sort of like he filled a few of our dots. Each dot in our logo represents one of the different genres that we celebrate,” Jilson said. “For us, he filled two of those dots, and we think he resonates with our community in a very strong way. … I think his topics in his comedy I think are funny and relatable, and I think that’s something that I think makes him appealing to a broad section to our community.” Kevin Hart The Bell Auditorium 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, and Sunday, Oct. 8 $45-$75 westoboufestival.com Augusta Common to become the ultimate downtown playground FOR THREE NIGHTS during Westobou Festival, the Augusta Common will light up with all sorts of activities for the whole family. Westobou Central will take over the area at 8th and Reynolds streets at no charge for three nights, from Thursday, Oct. 5, through Saturday, Oct. 7. The skyline of downtown Augusta will change with people taking rides on the free Ferris wheel that will be set up there. On Thursday, live music will be provided by local bands Funk You, Bethany and the Southside Boys, and The Mason Jars. “We knew we wanted Funk You right off the bat, because they had performed at previous festivals, and of course they’re a local band on the rise, and the first time they performed at Westobou was when we had Janelle Monae here in 2012,” said Kristi Jilson, executive director for the nonprofit Westobou. “So we just felt like they’ve garnered some pretty great success since then, and then we just thought it would be great to highlight them again since it’s our 10-year anniversary. And then we worked with Bethany from Bethany and the Southside Boys; she’s one of many people that we touched base with about who’s doing great things in music locally, so of course we go to her because she has some great success, and she was also great friends with Sharon Jones, who was also featured at the festival in the past.” By Amanda Main By Amanda Main Jilson said Westobou Central is meant to be an open-air playground for the community. “It’s family-friendly; we try and have an array of activities, everything from outdoor movies and concerts to a pop-up skate plaza that Sweet Sticks does for us,” Jilson said. “Some live art, children’s activities that are sponsored by other organizations. We try to feature sort of a hand-picked selection of things that are available in the community and diversify each day by having a new organization offer some activity. Each year, we do the skate park and invite a different artist to participate.” This would have been the third year for Westobou Central, but when festival organizers tried to implement it in 2015, heavy downpours canceled it, but that led to Springboard by Westobou to be created in May the following year. The vendors that would have been part of Westobou Central allowed the nonprofit to use them that May, and Springboard is planned to be back on the Common in the spring of 2018. Other activities at Westobou Central include live music by DJ Durrty Martinez on Friday and by DJ KUT DAILY on Saturday night; movie screenings of “Beetlejuice” and “Coraline” on Friday and Saturday; the Sweet Sticks Pop-up Skate Plaza (painted by local artist Jacob Vaz) all three nights; live art from Augusta University all three nights, as well as activities for kids. For the movie screenings on the lawn, Jilson said people are welcome to bring their own seating and snacks, and even a picnic if they want to. There also will be some food trucks at the Common. “I always encourage people to make an experience out of it, and bring a table or bring their folding, camping chairs or beach chairs. Bring popcorn, bring snacks, get stuff from the food trucks. We’ll also have popcorn and cotton candy on LED sticks that are fun — we call it “glowing cotton candy,” but some people get scared that we add a chemical to it or something. But we don’t; it’s just an LED stick,” Jilson said with a laugh. 28SEPTEMBER2017 Westobou Central Augusta Common 5-10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5 - Saturday, Oct. 7 FREE westoboufestival.com AUGUSTA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1989 METROSPIRIT 13
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Metro Spirit - 09.28.17

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