It’s almost that time of year, and as ONE Musicfest (OMF) plans to celebrate its 15th year, festival director Oronike Odeleye says the energy is high as they plan another successful event.
Odeleye is no stranger to being on the ground in her community to make things happen, and ONE Musicfest is no different. As an Atlanta native, the event hits differently because she’s watched it grow into one of the culture’s largest star-studded events over the past decade alongside her friend and founder, Jason “Jay” Carter.
“It’s allowed us grow and to be fully Black on purpose and live out loud in this city,” Odeleye told MadameNoire, noting that she doesn’t believe this would’ve worked in the way it has in no other city in America than that of Atlanta. “It’s also the city we love, so we just wanted to give this back. It’s kind of like a love letter to our city.”
“It takes a local government committed to trying to help you and your vision. It takes an audience base that is diverse enough in their taste to support it, but also that has the economic stability to be able to support it financially. We are the hub of a lot of Black music, so we have artists here that we can call in our backyard to show up when we need them. Atlanta is a unique place in the country just because of the kind of economic and cultural mobility, access, and leadership that we have here. So again, we could just pull on all the resources that were right here in our backyard to get this done and a lot of other places, but that’s not the case.”
With Black music and culture at the helm of what they’ve built for the festival, Odelye says the ONE Musicfest team aims to remain true to that by remaining completely independent, Black-led, and Black-run.
“I think we are very committed to creating experiences that we want to have,” she explained. “This is a very kind of inside voice, us talking to our community, from our community, because we’re in the community. We’re creating festivals that we want to attend. That goes back to our founder, Jason Carter, and his impetus for starting this. I met him over 20 years ago when he was a party promoter. But even then, he was creating the parties that he wanted to see. He was looking in the market and saying, ‘I don’t see a place where, yes, I can listen to trap music, but also want to listen to house music. And I want you to be able to put in some reggae and some old school stuff that my parents liked and that I grew up on.’ He was innovative in that market and brought that same mindset to the festival.”
She added, “Black people, we don’t listen to the music in these silos. We listen to gospel on Sunday. We’re going to twerk it out on Saturday night. We listen to old school in the morning when we get up and we’re cleaning our houses, and we also listen to some white folk’s stuff, you know? I mean, we are everywhere and all over the map, and he just was committed to the idea that we could plan a festival that celebrated all of that and so that’s what we continue to do.”
To celebrate 15 years in the game, ONE Musicfest’s lineup this year includes some of the hottest current acts like Gunna, Victoria Monèt, Ari Lennox, Cardi B, and a host of others. Other acts include Earth, Wind & Fire, Nelly, Keyshia Cole, GloRilla, a set by DJ Drama and Friends, as well as the DJ Mars Block Party featuring Atlanta’s very own Tip “TI” Harris, Lloyd, Keri Hilson, and more.
“The great thing that we have built with this festival is that you know it’s not just this business property, but the community and family that comes with it,” said Odeleye. “People have been rocking with us for 15 years. We’ve got tons of folks who’ve been to every single festival and really think of it as their own. They have created a kind of community homecoming around it. It is good vibes and good energy, and that means that there’s a level of responsibility that we have to those folks.”
“I mean, you can’t just build community and then not be accountable to them. They’ll let us know what they like and what they don’t like, what they’d like to see, and what they want to happen. Our community is very vocal with us and is in conversation with us as we build and grow. So, if you step to the left and to the right, outside of a certain language, they’re going to pop your hand and let you know, ‘ I don’t like that.’ We are very much listening to that even as we try to innovate and grow.”
While 15 years is a milestone for the ONE Musicfest team, Odeleye recalls how other major moments in the vent’s trajectory have led them to where they are now, including last year’s expansion to Piedmont Park. Moreover, she says this year is a blessing in itself with the landscape of music festivals changing nationwide, with some of the most beloved events closing down shop or struggling to achieve sold-out ticket status as they’ve done in previous years.
“To make it to this 15th year is absolutely a milestone, and its something that we’re very proud of, but we hope our city is really proud and the Black folks are proud of it,” said Odelye. “It’s hard to do this work, especially as a Black-owned company, so to make it this far and continue this year is its own gift and its own reward. We want to continue doing this as long as the community supports us.”
ONE Musicfest occurs in Atlanta’s historic Central Park on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26 and 27. Buy tickets here.
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