An Accidental Music Festival?

Source: http://mattriggins.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/expect-the-unexpected/

Sometimes life turns out in unexpected ways…

UCF graduate Christopher Belt didn’t mean to start a music festival.

Honest.

And that’s how the Accidental Music Festival, a 10-day free celebration of new classical, jazz and experimental music that debuts Sunday, Sept. 4, got its name.

“It kept snowballing,” said Belt, 26, who earned a master’s degree in music at the University of Central Florida this year.

His idea was to put together a concert or two. But when Orlando’s Timucua Arts Foundation and Civic Minded Five, two other music-presenting organizations, became interested, the number of events started to swell. Urban ReThink, the downtown cultural collective, got on board too.

Before long, he had help ranging from the Mexican consulate, sponsoring a guitar soloist, to the Swiss Arts Council, paying for a Swiss artist to attend.

Most encouraging: $6,000 was raised through the kickstarter.com website from 133 individual backers.

“That showed me there are people willing to pay to have this kind of music presented,” Belt said.

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Sometimes, the momentum of an idea or vision carries itself further and more quickly than you anticipate. Have you ever been involved in something that took on a life of its own? Did you embrace that change or fight against it? The unexpected can elicit very different responses in different people.

Share your thoughts!