For the last 3 years, JORTSFEST has become an Atlanta DIY festival staple to end the summer and celebrate everyone’s favorite summer fashion, jorts! Now in its 4th year, the event that lives it’s motto, “always free, always all ages, always accessible,” is moving from it’s previous location at Under The Couch, a student run Georgia Tech venue, to downtown Atlanta in The Mammal Gallery, and looking to further their conversation on a bigger scale.
Co-hosted by former WREK DJ Maria Sotnikova and Sea Ghost frontman Carter Sutherland, JORTSFEST looks to bring to light a conversation that’s too often forgotten by those unaffected, but something that should be in the discussion for any urban planning being done in cities around the world: accessibility. Jortsfest is creating the conversation, but they are also doing their part to help make solutions.
In addition to helping fund this year’s JORTSFEST, taking place at The Mammal Gallery on August 20th, they released a Kickstarter campaign to raise $3,000 to purchase a Roll-a-Ramp portable ramp that will be stored at Mammal Gallery and be made available to local performance spaces that want to make their spaces and stages accessible to patrons and performers with disabilities. Think about it, a person with a disability may not be able to go enjoy live music at many venues around town because venues are unable or unwilling to take on the task of fixing this issue. A portable ramp is something that can at least be small solution in the bigger picture to make Atlanta more accessible, a worthy cause.
After being featured on Kickstarter as a “Project We Love”, alongside a bunch of local support from heavy hitters like Immersive Atlanta, ArtsATL, Creative Loafing, and more, Jortsfest met their goal at the end of May. Atlanta showed out for this one! But there is still two more days left on the campaign with tons of rad rewards left depending on your contribution level. This skateboard painted by Atlanta’s own BlackCatTips could still be yours!
Be sure to visit the JORTSFEST Kickstarter page to contribute to the cause, and be on the look out for the lineup, applications to play are open through June 13.
