DigiFest 3-day digital arts experience set for April 16-18

DigiFest, the "digital arts experience" that bills itself as the Temecula Valley's biggest digital media festival and competition, is preparing to head into its fifth year – and its second one in a virtual setting as the pandemic continues.

The event, hosted by JDS Creative Academy, features competitions for anyone who works in digital media in several categories.

"We reach out to students, amateurs, adults, professionals who work in digital media – that covers everything from video to film to graphics to illustration, photography, producers, directors, writers, actors, your animators, your cartoonists – it's anything that is in the creator space and has a digital element to it," Diane Strand, event founder and director, said. "For the community person, you get to engage in a little bit of Hollywood. You get that film festival aspect with the screenings, you get to view amazing work, you get to vote as the people's choice, so you get to have a say in who gets acknowledged as well."

DigiFest also features speakers in the entertainment and digital media fields.

"Our speakers come from that expert level in the digital media industry but across the board in all platforms," Strand said. "These are all highly qualified professionals and experts in their own industries just looking to give back and help others follow in their footsteps, and it's a great place to meet people to excel your career."

Strand said she started the event five years ago with the intention of helping others get a look into the media industry and gain a helping hand trying to find their way into it.

She said as someone who also received help getting into the entertainment industry – she said she worked for 25 years on shows like "General Hospital" and "Friends" and now produces "Spirit of Innovation," a monthly newsmagazine show that focuses on Riverside County – she wanted to make sure she could give back.

"It's a very highly competitive industry, so we open some of those doors so we give you that interaction with those who have succeeded and walked the path before," she said. "So if you're coming to find out what steps you need to take on that path or if you're coming just to enjoy the creativity and the entertainment aspect and feel like you touched a little bit of Hollywood, you want to be here."

Strand said she decided to do the event when she realized there was a hole to fill in Southwest Riverside County.

"It all kind of started when there was a void here in the Temecula Valley, because what was the film and music festival went away and we really needed some culture," she said, "and we're only 70 miles from the LA area, so we should be a Mecca down here and it's sort of a media desert."

The first event, she said, took a year and a half to put together. Things have gotten easier, though, she said.

"2019, I have to say, really shifted. We got some really amazing speakers from Cady McClain who's an Emmy award winning actress, writer, director, producer, and then John Corser from Universal Studios has been here and then we have had some amazing people from the illustrations from Disney, Warner Brothers," Strand said. "So we've really cemented ourselves, so it's not really such a huge ask anymore when we reach out to (people in the entertainment industry)."

Last year's event was a single-day, nine hour, "DigiDay" event, given the changes that needed to be made due to the pandemic. While the event is all-virtual again this year, it is back to three days – Friday, April 16; Saturday, April 17; and Sunday, April 19.

Featured speakers will be:

G Anthony Joseph, "an actor on top TV network series and producer of several movies" on Friday; Ashley Eakin, "a filmmaker with a physical disability who is achieving success in a competitive industry by fighting for more disability representation" and Hayden Evans, an artist, illustrator and caricaturist, on Saturday; and Erin La Rosa, "a marketing guru who brings 10 years of experience in digital, editorial and social to the table" and Tommy Wilson, artist and Mets player, on Sunday.

Ticket sales opened March 15; they can be purchased at digifesttemecula.com. It is $80 for the three-day interactive experience, $40 for a single-day pass and $25 for an individual event.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].