Annual Harvey Milk Festival starts Thursday in Sarasota

In its first year, the Harvey Milk Festival was a modest affair at best.

“When we started off, it was 1,500 people in a sandy lot in the Rosemary District,” said Shannon Fortner, the founder and president of the festival.

The eighth annual Harvey Milk Festival is this week, and Fortner said she expects “5,000-plus” people to attend. That’s pretty much in line with the numbers the festival has attracted in recent years, she said.

The festival gets going Thursday. The primary venue is Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota, and except for a couple of workshops, the festival is free and open to the public.

Milk, of course, was the influential San Francisco politician who was an early champion of gay rights and one of the first openly gay people to be elected to public office in the United States. He was assassinated by another politician in 1978.

Milk came to political life late, and only served a few years in public office, but his influence is still apparent. Fortner said the festival is intended to honor Milk himself, but also his legacy of civic activism.

“It’s really to demonstrate to our community how important and how powerful our voices are,” she said.

Artists and bands from all over the country come to Sarasota to be part of the festival. Fortner said that organizers had to make extra room for all the vendors who wanted to participate in this year’s event.

There’s a socio-political undercurrent to it all, though, and at times throughout the festival the undercurrent becomes more overt. At 6 p.m. Thursday, in Five Points Park, Steven Romeo, the founder, executive director and primary artist for the Change Project in Birmingham, Ala., will deliver the festival’s keynote speech.

In November 2015, the Change Project was recognized by the White House as an LGBT Artist Champion of Change. Romeo’s art has been exhibited in group exhibitions across the United States.

“We’re really honored to have him as our keynote speaker this year,” Fortner said.

Each of the festival’s three days has a different focus.

On Thursday, “HMF Art” features Seattle-based artist Jono Vaughan’s “Project 42,” which harnesses movement as a vehicle of activism in memory of 42 transgender individuals who were hate-crime victims. The number 42 symbolizes the life expectancy of transgender individuals in the United States. Collaborating Sarasota-based dance and aerial artists Jessica Pope, Mackenzie Pierson and Melissa Marshall will interpret stories behind “Project 42” through movement.

Friday’s “HMF Theatre” features Miami-based dance/theater artist Pioneer Winter in “Alone Vignettes,” a series of works woven together into an intimate and provocative evening of dance. Mature themes and nudity are part of performance, and it’s the only performance in the festival that charges admission.

Saturday brings the most popular event of the festival — “HMF Music” is a free all-day music event. Headliners includes include Magic Sword, Ki:Theory and Vita and The Woolf.

Magic Sword, from Boise, Id., is a multimedia experience created by comic illustrator Shay Plummer and an anonymous music producer who have a synth-heavy sound. Ki:Theory (pronounced Key Theory) from Richmond, Va., is the alias of American recording artist and producer Joel Burleson, who specializes in alternative rock and electronic. Billboard Magazine recently named the third headliner, Vita and the Woolf (who hail from Philadelphia), as one of its must-see summer music festival acts.

Supporting acts include Astralis (Sarasota), Ess See (Brooklyn), Fayroy (St. Petersburg), Sarah and the Safe Word (Atlanta), Wordsmith (Baltimore), Tiger Fawn (Orlando), TGTG (South Florida) and Lesa Silvermore Band (Sarasota).

Details: May 11-13, Pineapple Yoga Studio and Event Space, 517 S. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota and Five Points Park, North Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota. 6 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday, 2:20-p.m.-midnight Saturday. Most events free. Friday’s event $10 students with ID, $15 general advance, $20 general at the door. harveymilkfestival.org.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Annual Harvey Milk Festival starts Thursday in Sarasota."