Students snacked on pizza and played corn hole, while local DJ Nick Leon played eclectic beats from his turntable at the UC Patio for WVUM’s annual Pre-Points party, which promotes Wynwood’s popular III Points Music, Art & Technology Festival.
III Points will take place Oct. 13-15 with five stages and art installations at Mana Wynwood. More than 85 musical performers, including both Miami-based artists and world-renowned musicians, will take the stage in front of a crowd of students, community members and tourists.
Since the creation of the festival in 2013, UM’s alternative radio station WVUM has teamed up with the festival to promote and livestream the three-day event.
“Every year when it comes around, we plan out what we are going to do for the festival,” WVUM News Director Portia Baudisch said. “We hype it up on the UM campus, we spread the word, we livestream it on the station. In exchange, we get a one-day pass to go.”
Though headliners include the innovative virtual hip-hop group, The Gorillaz, and the indie pop duo, the xx, the festival usually sticks to its roots and brings many Miami-based artists.
Alternative rock duo, Deaf Poets, which has performed at the festival before, met in a Miami Beach elementary school and formed the band in high school. Since then, the duo has performed in venues all over the neighborhood, such as the punk rock space, Churchill’s Pub, the hip lounge Bardot and Wynwood’s hipster hang out spot, Gramps.
Other local artists include Nick Leon, the DJ from the Pre-Points party, as well as DJs Made in Miami and Link Miami Rebels.
III Points Festival’s mission to highlight local artists has made it a favorite among students at UM and members of the Miami community since it was created four years ago.
“This is the best weekend of the year,” WVUM on-air DJ Emmanuel Gorrin said. “The energy is so welcoming, and they don’t forget their roots. They push a lot of really good local music and that is something unique to them. It is a Miami, grass roots festival.”
WVUM and III Points are the perfect team, as both target a young, college-aged audience with a niche mix of alternative and electronic music.
“It was a match made in heaven,” WVUM station manager Emmi Velez said.
III Points combines elements of an art festival, music festival and workshops. Event tickets include admission to the musical performances, which feature innovative, visual art installations.
Venues across Wynwood have teamed up with III Points to host the festival’s “activations,” which are different workshops, talks and panels that are free and open to the public all weekend.
WVUM was invited to speak at one of III Points activations at the trendy glasses store, Warby Parker, located next to the Wynwood Walls.
The event, “Airwaves: The Future of Radio,” will have a discussion panel, at which WVUM’s programming director, Fransisco Narvaez, will speak on behalf of the station.
“There will be a big panel of people that believe college radio is really important, because it has that voice for the students,” Velez said. “Not just here in South Florida, but around the country.”
In addition to III Points, WVUM can resonate with the eccentric artists and musicians in Wynwood because of its specific programing and music.
“I went to the Salty Donut, you know the cool donut shop in Wynwood, wearing my WVUM shirt, and someone there came up to me and said, ‘You work for WVUM? We listen to that all the time.’” Velez said.
For more information on III Points Music Art & Technology Festival go to http://iiipoints.com/artists.html.