A unique music festival is returning this year but this time with a deeper message.
The Burning Cicada Arts and Music Picnic Festival gives its participants the opportunity to learn about different musical instruments, while enjoying art. J. Byron Wise is the festival’s director and the CEO of Burning Cicada Ltd. He said his friend Jana Roe will share her abuse story.
“Because of a result of that, she began to objectify herself in a way that she felt that she needed to tan to be beautiful,” Wise explained. “And she did it to such an extreme that she gave herself skin cancer, and she fought her way out of this perception.”
He said this is where the idea of having an outreach portion during the festival came from. Wise said he is also partnering with DeKalb’s Safe Passage, National Alliance on Mental Health Illness and Ben Gorden Center Mobile Living Room to provide resources.
“I really would like to be a context for other people's voices here,” he said. “I'm going to stand back, and the more I kind of got out of the way, the more it blossomed, and more beautiful things really began to emerge.”
Wise said the audience can still express themselves during creative play. He will have instruments such as a Haken Continuum synthesizer, a Seaboard keyboard controller and others. The event will also offer musical workshops and the opportunity for the audience to meet musicians.
The Burning Cicada Arts and Music Picnic Festival takes place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 at Hopkins Park in DeKalb. The event is free. Registration is encouraged.
