From the hard-worn street, the building at 4507 Lorain Avenue is yet another prosaic reminder of bygone industry. The sprawling three-story complex disappears into the urban, gray city palette. Enter, and the first two floors are gutted, hollow spaces, with little to note. However, opening the door to the third floor reveals a world of vivid color and imagination, creativity and refreshing newness. It's the offices of Go Media, and one of its co-owners, Jeff Finley.
The Go Media offices are contemporary and open, with skateboard decks lining the curved wall of the entryway, graffiti art against the back wall and a bubbling fish tank the centerpiece of an all-glass meeting room. It's an artist's workplace.
Finley is a native of Portage County, and attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, majoring in media arts and animation. "As I graduated, I was kind of jaded, I didn't really like the major that much anymore," he says. "It was really art focused, which I really liked, but it wasn't design focused." Upon graduating, he, like many graduates in the past decade, had difficulty finding work, especially in Ohio.
A regular in the regional hardcore, punk and metal scenes, Finley grew increasingly interested and inspired by the artwork featured on the records and merchandise of the bands he followed. "I thought, 'well, I can to this,'" he says. "It would be cool to design for the bands that I like." Ever proactive, Finley approached bands after performances, and by 2005 his designs soon found a fan in bands signed to the seminal Victory Records.
"My goal was to get a job at a design studio," says Finley. "Go Media was one of the companies I looked at." At the time, the owners William Beachy and Wilson Revehl, were interested in hiring Finley, but with a staff of two, and an extraordinarily limited budget, a full time position simply wasn't in the cards. By 2006, the Go Media partners dealt Finley a new offer, and he became the third partner in the company, bringing his wealth of clients he'd accumulated through years of pounding the pavement.
After working from Beachy's townhouse, the group soon outgrew the space with the success of The Arsenal, a new wave of unique digital stock illustrations. The team moved in to the former blue print manufacturer space in 2008, while Finley was on his honeymoon. "I came back as a married man… and I was in a new space," says Finley. "It was like a new beginning." (Left: "Valley of Death" by Jeff Finley)
Go Media has not been immune from the economic downturn, with unfortunate layoffs for the already small company forcing the company to adapt to modern media and not only think, but also market creatively. "Our goal is to be a design agency here in Cleveland, much like a hybrid ad agency, with a production house, or illustration company," says Finley. "We're a group of talented artists and designers, with lots of great ideas and a lot of passion, and we're pursuing what we believe in. That's how WMC started.
"We wanted to change the way people looked at stock art. We wanted to promote the artists, not our products. We wanted to say: 'These people are doing cool work. They are weapons of mass creation.'"
That mantra was to take the company's Arsenal product to the next level. Go Media invited artists to its studio, did photoshoots with the artists, featuring not only the person, but also the art. The campaign went nowhere. However, it brought about the festival.
Together with the Go Media team, Finley hatched the Weapons of Mass Creation Festival, a two-day arts, music and film festival from May 22 to 23 at Parish Hall and Church in Cleveland. The ambitious project tapped into Finley's love of the arts, music and film, and his own postive experiences with festivals, including Berea Fest and DIT Fest. "It's a celebration of creative visionaries who defy the hand they're dealt," says Finley. "People who reject the obstacles that get in their way. They do things on their own terms, their own way. They push boundaries, they're kind of underground." (Left: Concert poster by Jeff Finley for his band Parachute Journalists)
Finley has also enlisted the help of numerous volunteers, who are helping to make the festival a reality. "Jeff's energy is absolutely contagious," says Erin Fox, who is volunteering to help organize WMC and writes on her blog, dust sleeve. "But what's more impressive and inspirational than his work ethic is Jeff's fearlessness in turning his ideas into reality."
Finley and company have booked more than a dozen local and national artists and designers, including David Gensler, Sam Kaufman, Brandon Rike and Aaron "Pants" Sechrist to showcase their works and present lectures during the fest; in addition to organizing a lineup of 10 bands, such as David Dondero, The Lighthouse and the Whaler, Saintseneca and Two Hand Fools, and screenings from half a dozen filmmakers, such a Lena Dunham, Ry Russo Young and Jay Delaney.
"I think there are a number of music, film, art, multi-cultural, etc. festivals and events all over Cleveland, all year long," says Fox. "The CIFF was huge this year, Berea Fest is one of the biggest DIY music festivals of the year, TEDXCLE was absolutely inspirational, Made in the 216 is going to be solid this summer, the list goes on and on. But there's something different about WMC Fest to me that feels like it's bringing a young and different kind of energy to our community."
More than highlighting local artists, the WMC Fest promises to further Cleveland's poistive reputation as a city on the move, with an ever expanding creative workforce of younger generations - those that will ultimately shape the city's future.
"The benefit to Cleveland is that this is not only an event for our community to experience and enjoy, but it's going to bring outsiders in as well," says Fox. "I think it's a step towards improving our reputation, and bringing light to what our city has to offer."
Fellow volunteer and Live Nation/House of Blues employee Nicole Giglio agrees with Fox. "I do think it's important to have something like the WMC in Cleveland. I like the concept of bringing creative visionaries in the fields of music, film, and art/design together. It's a great opportunity for the local creative community to come together and embrace the creative spirit."
It's also an opportunity to attract visitors to Cleveland's burgeoning Gordon Square Arts District."Having an event in Gordon Square, which to me is the most interesting neighborhood of Cleveland at the moment, is going to show not only Clevelanders who aren't getting out and seeing what's new in town a fresh perspective, but outsiders as well," says Fox.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
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