Andrew Ellington discusses inspiration, goals for Boomtown Arts & Heritage FestAVL

Andrew Ellington’s last name holds particular importance in Asheville, and he aims to do right by it.

The Asheville native and great-nephew of architect Douglas Ellington — whose designs during the city’s economic boom in the 1920s include Asheville High School, City Hall and First Baptist Church — has made a mark in the music industry, including as a talent buyer for some of the top venues in Austin, Texas. More recently, he’s stayed busy as a talent agent, representing such hip-hop royalty as GZA, Rakim and Jadakiss, and has broadened his scope by working with such multiday events as SXSW, Austin City Limits Festival and Atlanta’s Imagine Music Festival.

Currently splitting his time between Asheville and Austin, Ellington has created what he calls “a melting pot for all my worlds” with the inaugural Boomtown Arts & Heritage FestAVL, which takes place Friday through Saturday, Sept. 6-7, in Pack Square Park.

In addition to performances by the Asheville Symphony, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Toubab Krewe and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, the free festival includes children’s activities and yoga. But what Ellington believes will set Boomtown apart is its focus on Asheville’s cultural heritage, spotlighting buildings celebrating milestone anniversaries and local pioneers from underrepresented communities who deserve greater recognition.

Between putting the finishing touches on the festival, Ellington spoke with Xpress about the inspirations for Boomtown and his plans to make it a city cornerstone.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Xpress: How did you come up with the concept for Boomtown?

Ellington: I was wanting to do something to commemorate [Douglas Ellington’s] buildings and learned that there’s not any anniversaries coming up until 2027. That led to digging deeper into the history of all the architects and all the history in Asheville, and I learned a lot of interesting stuff about how Asheville was essentially supposed to be the next New York [City] in the South.

I also learned that there’s still some tension surrounding the subject — just based on the fact that it was a direct result of [Asheville’s early 20th-century economic boom that the city] incurred all these debts until 1977, and it was the less fortunate communities that suffered most. The idea was to celebrate the pioneers of that time while using the festival to generate revenue to put back into the community. If we turn a profit, the plan is to donate proceeds to five to 10 beneficiaries we pick each year. The idea is to start driving revenues back into some of the organizations that are helping drive measurable progress in the community.

When did you start planning the festival?

December of last year. All these [music] tours I was working on demanded my attention and slowed down [the festival planning] process. And a lot of politics I was dealing with early on, too, with just trying to figure out a way in [to collaborating with other communities] that felt good. That’s part of why I went to LEAF first [to recruit the group as a partner]. I grew up going to LEAF festival and feel like they’re kind of the pioneer of global arts and heritage. And I also went to the Goombay [Festival] folks and was trying to see if there was a way of collaborating with them.

There were a lot of question marks around my intentions and the concept of Boomtown itself. As I mentioned, there’s residual tension [in] some of the less fortunate communities that suffered as a result of the debts that were incurred in order to keep the buildings. So there’s two sides to that coin: Because we incurred the debt, we have what remains a snapshot of a boomtown. And then the other side of that coin is, because of boomtown, we don’t have sidewalks and basic infrastructure in some of these neighborhoods.

So, that was one of the main things I was trying to navigate is to come into the community in such a way that felt collaborative and conducive. Because I really want this to feel collaborative with all the local organizations. Highlighting LEAF for what they highlight in the global community. Highlighting Goombay and the YMI [Cultural Center]. And highlighting African and Caribbean arts and heritage within the local community. These are all local pioneers that are helping bring awareness to the community in ways that some other communities don’t have. And the more we understand where our roots are, the more we understand how we’re all connected.

In what ways are you celebrating the “Heritage” part of the festival?

We’re going to be having trail tours from Asheville by Foot Walking Tours, which each year will focus on the buildings that we’re celebrating. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Jackson Building, Battery Park Hotel and the J.A Wilson Building. And we’re celebrating those buildings’ key contributors — the architects, engineers and contractors. It’s also the 105th anniversary of Mount Zion Baptist as well as the 115-year anniversaries of the Basilica of St. Lawrence and the Legal Building.

We’re going to be doing projection mapping on the Jackson Building to highlight that building. The goal is to do projection mapping on all the buildings that we’re celebrating, but it’s a little expensive to do it on all of them, so we’re going do it for the Jackson Building, being that it’s down there in the [Pack Square] Park area.

As we develop the festival, I think that’s going to bring national attention to [Boomtown]. Projection mapping is something that’s not regularly done on a massive level. They do it a little bit in New York [City], and it’s very popular in Europe. But not too much of that is happening [in the U.S.].

What are your other long-term plans for Boomtown?

It’s going to be in June in coming years, mainly to stay away from all the other [established events] that are happening — targeting the second week in June. The goal is to scale it annually in line with all the key milestones. I have a full timeline mapped out of all the buildings and their anniversaries.

And I want to add additional stages and am in talks with a couple other downtown venues that will allow us to expand. The goal is to really build this thing with big, family-friendly programming during the day and more electronic, underground programming by night. There’s kind of a perfect layout already downtown with the plans I have to expand, so it’s definitely going to be a recurring event.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/e3g.