S3:E3 Committed to creative resilience – Matthew Ché Kowal & Molly North in conversation with Stephanie Fortunato

The Three Bells

Summary:

In this episode, our host Stephanie Fortunato sits down with Matthew Ché Kowal and Molly North, founders of Majestic Collaborations, a company that takes an experiential learning approach to community preparedness, specifically using music, art, and cultural festivals as an immersive classroom. The three discuss Majestic Collaborations’ Four Pillars model for successful events: Safety, Sustainability, Accessibility, and Community Engagement.

References:

• Standing Rock Protest, 2016 – 2017 protests against the Dakota Access pipeline - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests
• Tour de Fat, bicycle parade by New Belgium Brewing company - https://www.newbelgium.com/events/tour-de-fat2/
• Performing Arts Readiness Project - https://performingartsreadiness.org/
• Denver Pride Festival - https://denverpride.org/fest/
• Elijah Anderson, American Sociologist and author of The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life- http://elijahanderson.com/
• Mellon foundation, New York based not for profit corportation - https://mellon.org/
• Salt Fat Acid Heat Cookbook written by Samin Nosrat - https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/
• Plena Music, native to Puerto Rico - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plena
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency - https://www.fema.gov/
• Art of Mass Gatherings Symposium - https://theartofmassgatherings.com/
• Matthew Che Kowal’s Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/matthew-kowal

Matthew Ché Kowal bio:

Matthew, co-founder of Majestic Collaborations, Majestic Amplifications, and Majestic Water is a festival coordinator, artistic director, spokesperson, musician, and community leader. His consulting work with Performing Arts Readiness spans agencies, festivals and venues in emergency and disaster preparedness. Contracted by Denver Arts & Venues, the Canadian Government, brands like New Belgium, and festivals like Tour de Fat, and Five Points Jazz Festival, he has organized hundreds of gatherings since 2005, collectively raising over $5 million to raise awareness and resources to capitalize locally-directed initiatives and inspire advocacy. A passionate skill-sharer, Matthew has used collective leadership to arrive at state-of-the-art festivals that are sustainable, safe, and equitable. A recovering marketer with a knack for initiating and identifying trends; he envisioned the experiential learning platform Art of Mass Gatherings Symposium as a way to catalyze emergency preparedness training across multiple stakeholders.

Molly North bio:

Molly North co-founded Majestic Collaborations to directly participate in community resilience work. She believes the resilience of a community is enhanced through effective preparation, mitigation, response and recovery, all of which can be enhanced by a strong art community. And when a community elevates artists and starts to more highly value the contributions of artists, they enhance the ability of their community to be more resilient. Molly is also the co-founder of Majestic Amplifications and Majestic Water.

Molly is also a progressive transportation leader. She has her Master of Engineering degree and has developed a unique set of technical, policy, and planning skills as well as expertise in communication and collaboration. She believes active transportation is essential to solving issues such as the climate crisis, environmental racism, and declining mental and physical health outcomes.