Getting Hyped for Hyphafest

Making something from nothing is hard, while making people collaborate can be even harder. But somehow, Hal Jean has done both.

Jean is the founder of HyphaFest, a Salt Lake City-based music festival that is already making huge waves even in its infancy. “Utah is a little bit of a dry spot for all-ages venues, so Hypha [focuses on] how we have more neat underground shows and concerts in Salt Lake,” Jean says.

Jean tells me that HyphaFest was born of a mission that is closely followed by Jean’s production company, Hypha. The mission, according to Jean, is to “run sound out of cool and unique places,” a mission that she based on Boise’s Duck Club, which brings unique sounds from across the world to venues across Boise. “Venue” in this use is a loose term that could mean donut shop, grocery store or anywhere that audio equipment can be hooked up and music can be enjoyed.

“I felt like if I was going to do a festival, I wanted it to have a greater purpose, to not just showcase a pool of artists but also to showcase and facilitate a space where artists are encouraged to try new things.”

Jean makes no secret about the difficulties of making live music happen, as many artists can attest to. “In this economy, it’s [becoming] harder and harder to run an independent live music venue, so this guerilla approach lends itself not only financially to smaller up-and-coming artists, but also lends itself well to the aesthetic we as a city have, being able to make rad shows happen,” she says.

Last year’s maiden voyage of HyphaFest was hosted at the Utah Arts Alliance’s historic Art Castle. They welcomed an impressive lineup of 22 killer indie and alternative acts who all had to share one theme in their performances: bravery. “I felt like if I was going to do a festival, I wanted it to have a greater purpose, to not just showcase a pool of artists but also to showcase and facilitate a space where artists are encouraged to try new things,” Jean says. “[We wanted] brave actions to be done publicly, and everyone gets to cheer each other on for it, instead of feeling self-conscious or that doing something brave is frowned upon.”

Jean made it clear that HyphaFest is not just a place for performers to come and show what they have; she says it is a place where artists can show up, try new things and feel supported by the audience and other artists. It’s not about doing what is tried-and-true, but it’s about doing what is just true.

“I think it would be really neat if Salt Lake City felt like a spot where other cities are like, ‘Have you heard of the crazy things Salt Lake is doing?’”

When asked about the future of the festival, Jean says she hopes it can continue the mission of the very first festival. She says, “I would like to see it nurture this fundamental idea of collective bravery.” Jean continues, “What that looks like moving forward will be a discovery process for me. Each year I do this festival, I will continue to discover and uncover different elements about an event that facilitates that…but ultimately in ten years I think it would be really neat if Salt Lake City felt like a spot where other cities are like, ‘Have you heard of the crazy things Salt Lake is doing?’”

Jean wasn’t able to reveal too much about this year’s festival as much of it is still in the works, but it is clear with as much passion and innovation that is going towards it, you won’t want to miss it. Check out the details of last year’s HyphaFest and stay tuned for details on this year at hyphaproductions.com. Stay brave, Salt Lake City!

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