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Boise State Helps Bring Treefort 2018 to Town March 21-25

Audience member asks question of panel

Boise State is a premier sponsor of Treefort Music Fest, a five-day festival of discovery March 21-25 in downtown Boise. In its seventh year, Treefort will offer nearly 450 bands, several thought-provoking panel discussions and hands-on learning activities alongside films, comedy, locally sourced food and much more.

Here are some of the ways Boise State University is participating in this year’s festival:

  • At Filmfort, local filmmaker and Boise State alumnus Zach Voss will screen his short adventure documentary, “VOLCANOES! Hugo and the Killer Hive,” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, at The Flicks.
  • Also at Filmfort, check out “Emma Arnold: Yes, Please”, directed by Voss. The premiere of the standup special is 5 p.m., Thursday at The Flicks.
  • And don’t miss the Underground Underground program, a selection of underground shorts, screened underground in the Red Feather cellar. “Little Wonder,” played at Slamdance Film Festival this year and includes credits from Boise State alumni Michael Sullivan and Tyler Neisinger-Sound. Underground Underground is 10:30 p.m., Saturday.
  • Storyfort will feature professor Steven Feldstein and student Elena Gallina on the “Country to Country: The Whole Refugee Story” panel, 1 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at the Owyhee.
  • Also at Storyfort, alumna Rebecca Evans and student Mike Hassoldt will present on the “Thank You For Your Stories: Veteran Narratives” storytelling panel at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Owyhee.
  • You can catch professor Dora Ramirez on the “DACAmented Stories: DREAMers in Idaho” panel at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Owyhee.
  • Student Lydia Havens will read poetry at the “Ghosts and Projectors” reading at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Owyhee.
  • Boise State Public Radio and The Record Exchange are helping kick off Treefort Music Fest with a special in-store performance featuring Madeline Kenney. Drop by this free and all ages show at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, at The Record Exchange. No Treefort pass is required.
  • Storyfort and Boise State Public Radio are excited to bring NPR’s Lauren Ober, the host of WAMU’s “The Big Listen.” Come hear what Ober has to say about the ever-changing world of podcasts at 11 a.m., Thursday, March 22, in The Owyhee. Ober’s stories have been heard on other public radio shows, including NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Here and Now,” PRI’s “The World” and “Latino USA,” as well as podcasts like “Criminal,” “99% Invisible,” “Gravy” and KCRW’s “Unfictional.”
  • Want to know how you go about creating an interview-based podcast when you’re not a journalist? Where do you find compelling narrative? And which of you is willing to strip down to their skivvies for the sake of the segment? Find out more about Boise State Public Radio’s newest podcast, “You Know The Place,” Saturday, March 24, at The Owyhee.
  • Frankie Barnhill from Boise State Public Radio will join Toronto-based, Colombian-born interdisciplinary musician and artist-curator Lido Pimienta and others at 1:30 p.m., Friday, in the Owyhee for Storyfort’s “Art, Identity and Voice” panel.
  • Alumnus Ben Kline from local secure messaging software company Forsta will host Hackfort’s “Chatterbot” workshop that will show attendees how to build a custom encrypted chatbot on a Raspberry Pi. The workshop will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, in the JUMP Maker Studio.
  • Nathan Barry, a Boise State alumnus and a local internet expert, will present “Blog Crashers,” a live assessment of blog content in which they will review and rejuvenate your blog to help you achieve your 2018 content creation goals. Catch it at 2 p.m. Friday, March 23, in the JUMP Loft Room.
  • Alumnus Dave Boutdy will present a Hackfort session on building a community through Twitch streaming, whether it be gaming, music, cooking, or any other kind of creation at 1 p.m. Friday in the JUMP Inspire Studio. Boutdy also will perform with the Dedicated Servers at 12:45 a.m. Saturday at Spacebar.
  • The 2018 Hackfort Expo Hall will feature the Boise State College of Innovation and Design GIMM program along with vendors displaying virtual reality, augmented reality, board games and more. The Hackfort Expo Hall opens at 10:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday in the JUMP Room.
  • Boise State student Maddie Squires will perform as Luci Kolada at 7:20 p.m. Friday, March 23, at Ha’Penny.
  • Curious about copyright? Attend “Copyright Challenges Facing Musicians in the Digital Era,” from 6-7 p.m., Wednesday in the Owyhee Ballroom. The discussion will feature Rachael Bickerton, Boise State’s director of trademark licensing and enforcement.
  • Boise State’s alternative spring break program will host a “Commitment to Community” spring break for students who want to make a difference at the local level. Students will spend a week with organizations and programs that seek to better the City of Trees and the people who live here. The students will volunteer with local nonprofits, meet with Boise city leaders and engage with Treefort with a focus on purpose, accountability and sustainability. Additionally, the students will serve as liaisons to a group of refugees new to the Boise area.
  • Phil Merrell, a developer for Boise State’s Office of Information Technology, will play with his band Dark Swallows at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at the El Korah Shrine. Merrell also volunteers as a Treefort mobile app developer.
  • Three Boise State students, members of the illustration club, will lead live drawing exercises, called “Sketchfort,” over the span of two four-hour sessions on Friday, March 23, and Saturday, March 24. The artists will be asked to create work inspired by the activity at Treefort. Booth visitors also can try their hand at sketching using digital tablets.
  • “DesignFort,” a one credit, two-day workshop, will provide a hands-on introduction to user research and design thinking as a means to define and solve problems with a focus on community volunteerism. DesignFort is supported by the Design Ethnography Certificate, the Anthropology Department and the College of Innovation and Design. Community members who are not enrolled for credit are welcome to attend Sunday by RSVPing to Kendall House.
  • From 6:30-8 p.m. Friday, check out Sound and Vision, a panel discussion about art, design and music at the Owyhee. The free event will feature Boise State professor Brian Wiley and will be moderated by Kirsten Furlong, gallery director for the Visual Arts Center at Boise State. The panel will discuss the relationship between visual culture and music and how artists working in the genres of art, design, and music can create these unions. In addition, they’ll discuss how music festivals, universities and other institutions can play a role in bringing visual artists and musicians together or sparking interdisciplinary projects.

Know about other Boise State connections to Treefort? Please contact the Office of Communications and Marketing, communications@boisestate.edu, with details.