Imagine: A Cleveland summer night, the sky goes red and the sun begins to disappear behind the horizon. It’s the time of day known as the “golden hour” – the fading sun and changing colors create distinct, dramatic patterns and shades that appeal to filmmakers and photographers for the unusual and often stunning visuals they create. Now add in a city rooftop, a keynote speaker and a musical lineup that coincides with the fading light.
That vision inspired Greyt Culture founder Tom Fox to create the Golden Hour event series. Fox said he was looking to create a “major cultural experience surrounding music, unique to Cleveland.”
All that glitters…
“I had this idea for a concert series that was focused around the sunset. I wanted to do private rooftops, full production concerts, [with] the sunset, open air, a fresh, beautiful vibe. It usually starts with a more acoustic, sort of simple set. And then it goes to a band, a live production, and then we have a DJ set, so as the daylight fades, the space and the energy changes. It’s a 6-hour-long event and the energy just goes up and up and up.”
Greyt Culture’s first Golden Hour event of this year is Friday, May 30, at the Fairmount Creamery Building rooftop in Tremont, featuring John Stursa of social media’s I’m From Cleveland pages as the speaker for the TechTalk, “The Truth About Brand Content & Influencers.” Clare Feorene is the first featured artist, followed by the Labra Brothers at sunset and DJ Teddy Eisenberg at twilight.
Golden Hour events start around 5 p.m. with dinner and cocktails, followed by a TechTalk at 5:30, the first feature act at full daylight, a full band at sunset, and a DJ set starting at twilight, around 9 p.m.
“It’s really a lot like Cleveland’s South by Southwest space,” said Fox, “an area just to connect with [others in] the community. We’re getting people coming to [the TechTalk] that are connecting with the arts and creative culture. There were a lot of people that came from technology start-ups that I wanted to have that space.”
“The tech talks are really, really interesting. We had one last year that was on entrepreneurship through acquisition, and this transition period that we have with baby boomers retiring, and the process of moving ownership to younger generations.”
‘I have an espresso maker on stage’
Greyt Culture also hosts the Greyt Big Talk live-audience podcast series every spring and fall, a 90-minute-long event that starts with a one-song performance from a local musician, followed by community introductions and a keynote speaker.
“It’s like a coffee talk,” explained Fox. “I have an espresso maker on stage, and I literally pour cups of coffee for people in the community that are there. I’ll invite people to come up, if you were there, you’d say, ‘I’m Gennifer, I’m a beat writer on community,’ etc. You have the microphone as long as it takes me to make your cup of coffee, and then I give you your coffee.”
“That’s an avenue for me to say, ‘Make your own introductions.’ It takes maybe 90 seconds for me to make a cup of coffee. [You say] ‘This is me. This is what I’m up to.’ That opens up some space with the event to make people feel they’re actually a part of it. It’s super short, and it’s really fun.”
The introductions lead into what Fox called “community time” for about 20 minutes before the keynote speaker begins.
The final Greyt Big Talk of this year’s spring series is this Friday, May 23, featuring AEG talent buyer and local music promoter James Carol.
“Basically, 100 people are gonna get together and talk to James, and we’ll have a Q&A. Afterward, we’ll hang out, start the weekend early, and, of course, that’s where a lot of the magic happens.”
‘There’s been weddings and babies and all that, that came just from… coffee.’
Fox founded Greyt Culture in 2014 as an arts and entrepreneurship advocacy collaboration following his time as the creative lead of Cleveland’s Brite Winter Arts and Music Festival. Fox had produced other events as standalone projects and wanted to consolidate his work under one brand.
“I don’t know that I fell in love with the name until I registered thatsgreyt.com,” he said. “It felt fun, cheeky almost. ‘Greyt’ felt like a good way to say that there’s something great everywhere, in everything. If it’s grey, make it greyt.”
“I’d like for Greyt Culture to really be that landing pad for people that want to come and meet people who are doing new stuff, new risky stuff, and driving what the personality of the city is,” said Fox.
Collaborations and other sharing of ideas are what drives Greyt Culture, according to Fox. “Sometimes it’s finding partners for business, sometimes it’s an investor, a sponsor. It could be a bandmate. If you engage and make yourself open, it opens up the possibilities.”
“Even romantic relationships,” he added. ”People met somebody they didn’t know having coffee around these shared interests. That might be just civic engagement, or the artist we’re featuring. There’s been weddings and babies and all that, that came just from… coffee.”
