Have you ever wondered how your favorite FAI event comes together and who exactly makes it all happen? This series aims to answer that and more, 10 questions at a time.
We were recently lucky enough to hang out with Timbo Slice, a Director for FLAME Festival & Flashepoint, and the General Manager for Fahrenheit! Obviously, he’s a very busy guy, so we asked him for a quick interview in between meetings. Here’s what he had to say:
1 – What brought you into the flow arts?
I was introduced to the flow arts through getting involved with the Virginia based burner/theme camp crew Party Liberation Front. Through attending their events and participating in their regional burn camps I met a lot of really talented spinners that inspired me to give it a try.
2 – What props do you manipulate?
I dabble in a bit of everything, but my main 3 would be Double Staff, Contact Staff, and Poi.
3 – Why did you decide to become an organizer?
I attended my first FLAME Festival (also my first flow festival) in 2012 as an instructor. After the event I was inspired to try to produce a similar event in Virginia, and reached out to FLAME founder Ky Lee for advice on how to go about doing that, he convinced me that I should start by becoming a FLAME organizer to get a feel for what goes into putting on these types of events. The following couple of years I was one of FLAME’s workshop coordinators.
4 – Take us behind the scenes. What is a typical day like in the life of an organizer during the festival?|
As a director for FLAME each day I am checking in with the 5 specific organizer teams that I oversee to make sure they are on track and have everything they need, and making sure all of their related events and activities at the event happen on time. In addition to this, I alternate shifts of being the Director on Duty, where I am the go-to person for whatever any of the teams may need and whatever random situations may arise. I also try to make it to a workshop each day when possible and take time to enjoy the event.
5 – What is your favorite class you have ever taken at a festival and who taught it?
VTG Sunday School w/ Noel Yee
6 – If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Tacos
7 – What book, film, or TV show has influenced your life the most?
Style Wars
8 – What other talents do you have outside of flow arts and organizing?
I am an aspiring DJ, I was a tattoo artist for 5 years, and a graffiti writer for 10+ years.
9 – What is your favorite item to bring to a festival, besides props and basic necessities?
Magic the Gathering decks.
10 – What is some advice you could give to someone attending FLAME for the first time?
Make sure you are taking care of yourself, stretch, drink water, eat actual meals, and get some rest. I know this may seem like cliche advice, but more festival goers than you would think forget to do all of these things for themselves with so much awesome going on around them. It is a lot easier to participate in maximum amounts of awesome if your body is ready to do so.
That’s all for this time folks!
Come visit Timbo and a slew of other amazing flow artists at this year’s FLAME Festival!
See ya next time!