The Underground Music Showcases is in new hands heading into 2018.
Denver-based marketing and events agency Two Parts have purchased Denver's largest music festival from the Denver Post Community Foundation, and will be at the helm when the festival returns to South Broadway this July.
"We’ve had our eyes on the UMS for a very long time," said Casey Berry, co-founder of Two Parts. "We’ve been a partner of there's helping out with marketing and other things as well as attending the festival for years.
"We’re super excited to jump into all the planning. As you can imagine, it takes a second to brainstorm. Our goal is to keep a lot of the foundation of what the festival is known for and has created over the years."
Berry and co-founder Tobias Krause will add "the Two Parts touch" to the festival, bringing their love of craft beer and food to the four day-event.
Krause, who served as the UMS's showcase coordinator and local talent buyer last year, says the heart of the festival will stay the same.
"Obviously the main foundation behind the festival is the music that is there," he said. "We’ll take that strong local focus and continue it."
This is the second time ownership of the festival has officially changed in its 17-year history. The first was in 2010 when the Denver Post took it out of the hands of their then-music critic Ricardo Baca, who had taken over running the show for former Post critic John Moore. When the Post took over, the job of running the UMS went to Kendall Smith, who left the position in fall of 2017 to become the vice president of sales and events for Denverite.
If that all sounds a little complicated, that's because there's a lot more to that story. If you're curious, you can read our oral history of the UMS.
"I look forward to keeping an eye on the future of UMS," Smith said. "In the last seven years, so much has changed in Denver. From South Broadway to Denver's music scene to music discovery in general, it's a different landscape.
"I'd like to recognize the amazing effort put in by Will Dupree, and the hundreds of volunteers and staff who made the UMS a showcase this city could be proud of. I've always been a fan of Two Parts and am confident their team will continue to build on an already fantastic community event."
