Lincoln Calling Music Festival Goes Virtual

Oct. 2, 2020, 11:13 a.m. ·

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Photo courtesy of Lincoln Calling.

Thursday marked the start of the 17th annual Lincoln Calling Musical Festival. The non-profit festival, usually an in-person event, is completely online this year and will go through Saturday.

Performing artists will be live-streamed or prerecorded and available on YouTube for the public to watch.

Although having to plan the event online this year presented its own set of challenges, executive director Spencer Munson said this has allowed the festival to expand the variety of artists and viewers able to participate.

"I mean, of course, there's a lot of sadness, because we're normally really boosting tourism and economic development in downtown Lincoln," Munson said. "But I think this time we really have the opportunity to actually reach a larger and broader audience."

Munson says they have also been able to get artists from across the country and internationally.

"We've taken a number of our marketing dollars and spent them not only in Nebraska, but also within a 500-mile radius, and really targeted a lot of our national headliners, nationally and internationally."

He says although there is some disappointment that the event will not be in- person, they are glad to still be able to bring the community together virtually.

"There's been a lot of positive feedback that we were able to just be resilient and pivot and make something like this work," Munson said. "And I think that says a lot about our community, and hopefully that will propel folks either to move here or visit here in the future."

Along with music, there will also be educational and art opportunities at different events throughout the festival. Munson says there is something for everyone.

"We've got all genres covered. We've got educational topics on a variety of different ideas," he said. "So I encourage people to check out our Spotify playlist, or dig around on the website and find some music that's for you."

You can find more information about the festival at lincolncalling.com.