The threat of thunderstorms has led Culture Shock, IU student radio station WIUX’s outdoor music festival, to move indoors to Rhino’s Youth Center, Matt Hamilton, WIUX public relations director, said.
The Rhino’s Youth Center, which is located at 331 S. Walnut St., will be the new location for the festival, which was originally scheduled to take place in Dunn Meadow.
“We’ve done everything we can to make sure moving it indoors runs smoothly,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the festival will still be from 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday. And by moving tents just outside the new venue, vendors, sponsors and student groups will still be able to set up shop at the festival.
“And most importantly, the music will be the same,” Hamilton said.
While Hamilton said the venue is perfect for a music festival, it is smaller than Dunn Meadow and can only hold up to 400 people.
Due to the venue’s size, Hamilton recommends that people come early to see the acts they want to see.
“It’ll fill up very, very quickly,” he said.
The student radio station also posted to Facebook on Wednesday, expressing concern about the weather and letting followers know there may be a change in venue to avoid storms ahead of time.
“The whole week, we knew there was a good chance of thunderstorms,” Hamilton said. “Eventually we realized there was no way we could take the chance and have it outdoors.”
WIUX’s board of directors also made the call to move Culture Shock indoors due to weather conditions in 2016.
“But the experience was still electric,” a WIUX Facebook post from Friday morning read. “This year will be no different.”
Hamilton said WIUX learned from the venue change in 2016. This year, they were already working with Rhino’s Youth Center months before the festival so that they would have a back-up venue.
“We’ve done it before, and now we’re comfortable working with them as a venue,” he said.
While the vibe of the festival will inevitably change, Hamilton said the festival will still be a fun experience and will fulfill what he sees as the purpose of Culture Shock.
“It’s still bringing together a group of interesting, passionate people who care about underrepresented music,” Hamilton said. “Nothing is changing about the music.”
