What Is Different Skies?

Different Skies is an electronic space music festival, a workshop for artists in these and related experimental music genres, a working vacation, an intensive and rewarding creative environment, and many more things.

I began Different Skies in 2003 with the assistance of Tucson musician and radio show host Doug Wellington, as an opportunity that rarely presents itself in the rarefied world of space music: a chance for members of our community to get together for an extended period of time in a controlled and isolated environment, to network and learn from one another, form new professional alliances and new friendships, and to create and perform an evening of entirely original new music for an enthusiastic audience.

Electronic music, which features the synthesizer and computer as prominently as it does traditional amplified and acoustic instruments, is traditionally viewed as a lonely art form, created by musicians working alone in small studios. Opportunities to build community among these musicians are rare, and I have experimented with them for many years. Team Metlay, with its biennial gatherings of musicians from 1990 to 1998 and eventual trilogy of CD releases, was a good first step...but only a first step.

The second step was to find a place which was inspiring and welcoming to visiting musicians, where rehearsals could be both relaxed and energetic, with a fixed goal in mind while allowing for flexibility of scheduling on a day to day basis. Arcosanti, with its wonderful admixture of futuristic architecture and art-colony sensibility, seemed a perfect choice.

Artists and Arcosanti residents alike approached last year's Different Skies with some trepidation; it was, after all, an untried idea that required the cooperation of over a dozen artists who'd never met before, working with a community that had never met them or heard much of their music. Fortunately, we'd made good choices with respect to the invited artists and their musical styles, and the Arcosanti community proved welcoming and supportive, leading to an exceptional experience for all concerned. It was a measure of our success that all but two of last year's artists have returned for this year's show.

We're back again for an encore, with artists old and new, a new palette of ideas, and a lot of energy and drive to create beauty for you. We plan to have a lot of fun tonight, and we hope you do too. We'll see you in the Amphitheatre!

-Mike Metlay, Founder and Coordinator, Different Skies