Business & brands / Music
Carol Marvin
· festival producer
Producer who launched the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival in Hart Plaza in 2000, a free event that drew more than a million people.
- Also known as
- Pop Culture Media
- Detroit years
- 1990s–2000s
- Field
- Business & brands, Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Carol Marvin headed Pop Culture Media, the Detroit production company that staged the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival over Memorial Day weekend in 2000. Working with a team that included event producer Adriel Thornton and with Carl Craig as artistic director, she turned Hart Plaza into a free, three-day showcase for the music Detroit had given the world; attendance was estimated at 1.1 to 1.5 million. In 2001 Ford Motor Company paid $435,000 to sponsor the renamed Focus Detroit Electronic Music Festival, and Marvin worked with Ford on a national television campaign built on music by techno founder Juan Atkins. The same year she fired Craig for breach of contract, a split that divided the scene. After the 2002 edition, which again drew an estimated 1.7 million, the city handed the dates to Derrick May. In late 2013 the original DEMF management announced a 2014 revival at Campus Martius Park, which was later cancelled. The festival she started lives on as Movement.
Highlights
- Produced the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000.
- Secured Ford's $435,000 title sponsorship in 2001.
- DEMF attendance was estimated at 1.7 million in both 2001 and 2002.
- Her festival is the direct ancestor of today's Movement festival.
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 2000–2002
Hart Plaza
Site of the Detroit Electronic Music Festivals she produced.