In 2023, MAP Fest debuted in Highland Park’s Avalon Village, blending music, art, and poetry for a day-long community festival. By all accounts the event was a success, drawing nearly 1,200 attendees, 60 vendors, and over 60 performers.
This year, the festival is set to return on July 27, and organizers have hopes of growing with more sponsors, interactive activities, and community partners, with a goal to double the turnout.
“If this was a TV show, that was our pilot episode,” says Kwesi Huffman, co-founder and 2024 Map Fest head director. “This year, the goal is to expand everything and to make everything much more fun and organized. We had no experience, we were just trying to make it happen.”
Huffman, who was promoted from marketing director to head director, joined the MAP Fest team shortly after the idea was thought up by co-founders and local musicians Koron Wilkerson and Anthony Young Jr., who goes by AyeWhy. Wilkerson is also the founder of the local arts and entertainment group Jewels of Detroit and owns Rock Local Entertainment Cafe in Highland Park, so MAP Fest is basically a culmination of all the work he does to showcase Detroit talent.
Despite little festival experience, MAP Fest 2023 was a win. The team worked hard and gained tons of positive community feedback, plus secured high-level sponsorships from cannabis retailers Jeeters and JARS and event company Crowd Freak.
“With all odds against us, our sponsors still decided to work with us,” Huffman says. “Collaborations were important because it showed that we had credibility. For a lot of people, especially in the city of Detroit, especially if you’re doing something that’s different in a location that people already have a negative stigma about, people just won’t show up based on caution going off in their brain, being scared, or whatever they think.”
He added that many people told him to not even have the festival in the location it’s in because no one would show up, but clearly, they were wrong. If you’ve ever been to Avalon Village, you know it’s a gem.
Avalon Village is a nonprofit eco-village that has brought blighted lots on Avalon Street in Highland Park back to life, now providing a safe space for the community with youth programs, holistic healing, activity spaces, and more.
This year, beyond more sponsors, the plan for MAP Fest is to better utilize the space on Avalon Street with things like bigger stages and larger activations.
“We just want to have more things for people to do and make it an event that you can stay at the entire day and not get bored,” AyeWhy says. “Carnival games, or more painting activities for the art district, whatever it may be to just keep people entertained, even on the basketball court.”
For AyeWhy, the main mission of MAP Fest is to give local artists a platform to gain recognition, so he hopes to show performers even more love this year. “I think that the artists that perform need to have a longer set and actually understand that we care about them and we want them to shine with this festival,” he says.
Not only does MAP Fest provide that platform to local artists, but Huffman says he is also glad that the festival showcases “the beauty of the hood.”
“We’re trying to change the stigma of the hood actively inside the hood… For me, growing up, I didn’t think that doing anything like this on your own with the limited resources that we have was possible. So MAP Fest, being in the hood, being in this location, gathering large amounts of people, creates that type of experience and it's positive,” he says. “We are products of the community creating something for the community and we’re also inspiring the community as a whole to do what you want to do. No matter if it’s music, art, poetry, if it’s business, if it’s getting off your ass — do something, be an impactful part of your community.”
To get people ready for MAP Fest, the Jewels of Detroit hosted MAP Con during the week of Valentine’s Day with a series of music, art, and poetry events held at Rock Local. The idea started with the group’s visual artists wanting to do a gallery show, but it quickly grew into something bigger, making the space a gallery all week long. MAP Con featured a karaoke night, an open mic, R&B and neo-soul nights, and an open gallery day to meet the featured artists.
Organizers hope to have a few more events leading up to MAP Fest that continue to build excitement around this year’s event. In the future, AyeWhy says the vision is to take the festival to other cities and countries, but for now, getting ready for another hometown success is at the forefront.
“I just think it’s important for people to take July 27 off, be completely free, and have nothing going on, no babysitting, no work, none of that,” AyeWhy says. “Just be prepared for a whole day of extravagant events, music, basketball, poetry, everything.”
A lineup of performances for MAP Fest will be announced closer to the event date. Tickets will be on sale in the coming weeks. You can follow @mapfest on Instagram for updates.
