The Maker Music Festival celebrates the makers of innovative, experimental and just plain unusual musical instruments.

In 2018 the first Maker Music Festival took place in Sebastopol, California. It showcased the projects and talents of a select group of music makers from the San Francisco Bay area. The event had exhibit booths, live performances, demonstrations and hands-on activities. It was produced as a fundraiser for our local maker space, Chimera Arts.

It was a wonderful event and we looked forward to doing it again -- but on a larger scale.

Of course, the pandemic happened and many people in the events business looked to alternatives to physical events. The creators of the festival found themselves immersed in this world.

Joe Szuecs, software developer, maker and musician, built the frameworks for a couple of virtual experiences. Decameron Row is a collection of videos created by noted artists, writers, musicians, and dancers. The videos are presented as views into apartments in a row of buildings. The design represents the confinement to home that we are all experiencing now. Modulation, part of the Prototype festival is a virtual opera festival.

Sherry Huss, co-founder of Maker Faire, is working with Freeman Events to help them map the future of the event business.

Taking what they’ve learned in the past year, they decided to produce a virtual version of the Maker Music Festival. Expanding on the Decameron Row experience, Joe has created a campus of buildings that house the work of makers from around the world. The goal is to emulate the live experience as closely as possible.