The future (of EDM) is female: ‘The Future is Friday’ brings female electronic musicians to the stage

Sara Stacy
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 04:17:04 +0000
Arts & Life, Events, Music, News, dj moxy, moxy martinez, osea merdis, the future is friday, The Summit

Girl power claims the stage for an evening of all-female deejaying in support of LGBTQ youths on Jan. 19.

Created by a group of Columbus electronic promoters, musicians and producers, “The Future is Friday” was organized to raise money for a series of electronic-music production classes for LGBTQ youth. Proceeds from the show will be put toward renting electronic equipment, securing teaching space and paying instructors.

“The Future is Friday” will feature all female DJs to raise money for electronic music production classes for LGBTQ youth. Credit: Courtesy of Kate Sweeney

“By summer, hopefully we’ll have a program set up where young women, queer and trans youth can sign up take some DJ and electronic-music production classes and have it all paid for by us,” said Scotty Niemet, a Columbus promoter and one of the event’s hosts.

The idea came about when Niemet and Columbus DJ Moxy Martinez wanted to introduce LGBTQ youth to electronic-music production.

The show also will serve as a way to give female electronic artists more visibility. Martinez said she hopes the show is somewhere female and LGBTQ artists can gain exposure.

“This whole event, we’re hoping that it’s like an every month or an every other month kind of thing, and in the hopes that other young women and female-identifying and queer and trans individuals see that there’s people out there like them who are performing, Deejaying and all of that kind of music and can feel comfortable and supported,” Martinez said.

Martinez will be performing a live set for the event under the moniker Osea Merdis. A live set differs from a Deejay set in that the musician creates the music on stage using equipment like synthesizers and drum machines rather than arranging pre-composed music.

Niemet and Martinez said they hope events like this can be a catalyst for introducing more diversity into the electronic-music scene, both in Columbus and elsewhere.

While female and LGBTQ musicians have been traditionally underrepresented in the electronic-music industry, an increase in diversity over the past several years can be attributed to a change in the culture of the music industry at large, Niemet said.

“There’s always blips of like great women doing great things in electronic music, but I just feel like a lot of it just comes down to the business of the music industry, men have a tendency to act like they know everything or what direction things should be going and I feel like there’s a definite upswing momentum for women visibility happening,” Niemet said.

While Martinez said she hasn’t experienced much discrimination as an artist, she has noticed that people are surprised to find out she isn’t a man after hearing her music.

“I can’t speak enough words for how much I love [Columbus], but as with every place in the world, we could always use work,” Martinez said. “We could always use a little less misogyny, a little less sexism. I feel grateful that I haven’t had to deal with a whole lot of that type of adversity, but one of the many reasons that I wanted to do this was to be a figure and to show people that anyone can do this. It’s not just for white dudes.”

Martinez was able to flourish in the Columbus electronic-music community because of the connection she made with Niemet in 2007, and she said up-and-coming DJs might be able to make similar connections through this event.

“We just want people to show up and be exactly who they are and how they are and know that they’re in a safe, comfortable environment and they can have a bomb-ass time and maybe make some new friends, and maybe play at the party next month,” Martinez said.

The Future is Friday will be be held at The Summit at 2210 Summit St. on Jan. 19. Doors open at 10 p.m. Admission will be $7 for 21+ and $10 for under 21.