A Letter from Michael League & Paul Lehr

Hey, all!

This is Michael League (Artistic Director) and Paul Lehr (Festival Director, CEO of GroundUP Music Foundation), co-founders of GroundUP Music Festival, and now, Family Dinner Weekend, writing on behalf of the 501c3 non-profit GroundUP Music Foundation, which produces our programs to support musicians and students.

Thank you for joining us in our 9th year of music, community, and in-depth creative experiences with some of our favorite artists in the world.

As you are probably aware, our annual get-together in Florida looks a little bit different this year! We have decided to start a new tradition in Miami Beach with “Family Dinner Weekend,” two nights of shows with Snarky Puppy backing up extraordinary guests from around the world, as well as full sets of original music from the band. In addition, we will host two of the most influential guitarists in the history of the instrument, John Scofield and Bill Frisell with their respective bands, as well as two artists that Miami is proud to call residents, Venezuelan quartet C4 Trio and Brazilian phenomenon Munir Hossn with his band, Elas.

All in all, Family Dinner Weekend will feature performers from Senegal, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Guatemala, the United States, Portugal, Cuba, and Canada. The audience is not any less diverse, with 54 different countries and all 50 US states represented by our guests in recent years. You can begin to get to know our artists by visiting the festival website or checking out our Spotify playlist (though, of course, we strongly recommend buying their albums after you’ve listened).

As this is a new format for the weekend, we’ll walk you through it briefly.

All events will take place within the confines of the Miami Beach Bandshell, with a second stage (Canopy) located in the middle of the audience area. Each day begins with a variety of interactive workshops & masterclasses with festival artists on the Canopy Stage, followed by and alternating with music sets, mainly on the Bandshell stage from mid-afternoon until 11pm on Saturday night and 10pm on Sunday. After we wrap up at the Bandshell each day, the action moves to our late-night partner venue, Magic 13 Brewing, where jam sessions hosted by Electric Kif and members of Snarky Puppy (and featuring a slew of surprise guests) will go on until the wee hours of the morning.

We have an intimate thing happening at Family Dinner Weekend – no more than 1,200 listeners per day and only two stages alternating performers, allowing audience members to hear every single note from every single artist (should they choose to do so). And if you want a break from the music, the beach and park are just steps away. Due to continued construction in the park and beach, we had to alter our footprint this year to keep all program activities on two stages within the Bandshell, and food vendors and more tables located just outside the Bandshell, but we plan to reclaim the park and other facilities again next year.

For those new to our events, we have no headliners – all artists are equal here – and a very fortunate history of attracting people who come for music, not for a scene. There are enough great festivals in the world showcasing established, high-visibility musical acts. We created GroundUP to be different both as a label and event producer, and this weekend is the living incarnation of that vision. We see it as a discovery point for great artists you might not have heard about before, even if there are some names that you recognize. Aside from being inspired by the performers you came to see, we hope you experience sounds and musicians previously unknown to you, who will remain in your playlists and on your turntables long after you’ve left the festival.

We are independently funded without large, corporate sponsors, and thank you for your support in reaching out to fellow music-loving friends to tell them about what we do and for your tax-deductible support to our 501c3 GroundUP Music Foundation (Donate here), which focuses on working with young musicians in need of both educational and physical resources. We are not seeking to grow in size, but rather, to create the optimal experience for artists, audiences, and staff from years and years of playing and attending festivals ourselves, observing what we love (and what we don’t) about each.

That being said, we are excited to present our first-ever GroundUP Music Foundation Benefit to close out our first Family Dinner Weekend. On Monday, February 10, from 6:30-10:30 pm, we will gather at a private, waterfront Miami Beach estate for a once-in-a-lifetime event for only 150 friends to hang, eat, drink, and get to know us and each other, with incredibly intimate sets by Snarky Puppy and Living Colour (Corey Glover and Will Calhoun). There are still a few tickets remaining, and your ticket purchase is tax-deductible and goes directly to supporting our 501c3 non-profit Foundation.

If there’s anything you need, we’re right here. Just send a message to [email protected] and we’ll do our best to help. We hope you enjoy the weekend as much as we do!

Love and music,
Michael & Paul