Calling all innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, foodies, music enthusiasts, and C’ville residents looking to be inspired!
The Tom Tom Founders Festival (TTFF) is a week-long extravaganza (April 11th – April 17th) with 30 events at nearly 60 venues across Charlottesville. Best of all, most events are free! The ambition of the festival is to ignite enthusiasm for innovation at the local, regional, national, and international levels.
The mission of the festival is to:
- Celebrate Founding: Inspire the next generation of artists, entrepreneurs and civic leaders.
- Connect Resources: Match visionaries with the mentors and the means to create.
- Leave Legacies: Transform the city year round through public art, new businesses, and new ideas.
- Highlight: The intersections of art, commerce, and civic leadership and inspire the next generation.
Nest is honored to be included in the FUTURE FORUM – THE CREATIVE ECONOMY 2025. This launch event will highlight leaders who are shaping Charlottesville as they share their visions about the future. Our own Jim Duncan, Partner/Associate Broker, will be representing Nest Realty at the event. Jim will be live tweeting during the event, so be sure to stay tuned to our twitter feed!
What’s the “big-picture” layout of this week-long festival? The TTFF highlights include: the Founders Summit Entrepreneurship Conference, the City As Canvas Art Project, a weekend of block parties featuring outdoor concerts, and multiple pitch competitions totaling over a million dollars of seed funding. The focus of the festival navigates around the four disciplines of food, music, art, and innovation. Click here to view the complete schedule on the TTFF website.
Not sure where to start?! Here are some events that we here at Nest are especially looking forward to:
FOOD
- Farm to Table Restaurant Week: This event assembles some of Charlottesville’s finest restaurants and chefs known for their commitment to sourcing local. Each participating restaurant will prepare a prix fixe dinner menu emphasizing local artisans and farms. Local participants include: Brookville, Citizen Burger Bar, Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, Ivy Inn, Mas Tapas, Nude Fude, Oakhart Social, Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar, Parallel 38, Red Pump Kitchen, Tavern & Grocery, The Whiskey Jar, Hamiltons’, First & Main, Rapture, Tempo, and Threepenny Cafe.
- Community Picnic: The Concluding Event to the 2016 Festival. An interconnected picnic throughout Lee Park hosted by civic groups, art groups, local businesses, etc.
- Craft Cocktail Competition: Each cocktail will contain at least one local ingredient.
- Iron Chef Competition: Contestants must come up with a dish that is 100% locally-sourced.
- Summit Luncheon: Gathers 4-5 of Virginia’s leading farmers, restauranteurs, chefs, food activists, and entrepreneurs to participate in a 60-minute panel and Q&A.
- Food Trucks: Tom Tom gathers the region’s best Food Trucks together at its block parties and other events.
- Downtown Chili Showdown: On April 16th, 2016 experience some of the best chili Charlottesville has to offer.
MUSIC
- Free Boyd Tinsley Concert with Crystal Garden
- Friday Night Block Party: Food trucks, bands, craft beer, and art… all in Charlottesville’s central park.
- Saturday Block Party: Family-friendly Saturday concert series with tons of art from across the state and local food workshops.
- Sunset Concert in the Park: Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds at Lee Park on Saturday.
- Sunday Picnic Day: Public art, live music, top notch food. All-local bluegrass, indie rock, and country.
- We Want Peace: Power song and campaign spearheaded by internationally recognized South Sudanese musician, actor, and former child soldier, Emmanuel Jal.
- Porchella: Acoustic front porch concerts and jam sessions winding down Goodman, Graves and Monticello tin the historic Belmont neighborhood.
Click here to see the full music lineup.
ART
Murals, art workshops, multi-disciplinary performances:
- City as Canvas Mural Project: Engaging local, regional, and national artists at multiple sites.
- Creative Collisions: Co-created by UVa’s College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Cypher, tgeh weeklong challenge project culminates on Saturday, showing glimpses of Charlottesville 2025 – delivered by multidisciplinary “collider teams.”
- Founders Summit Art Luncheon
- Claw (Charlottesville’s Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers)
- Film in the Park
- Emmanuel Jal: We Want Peace
- Fleaville
- Aaron Fein: White Flags
- ICU Art Bus
- Synesthesia
- Art Attack
- City Stages
- Pop Up Park(ing) Spaces
- Streets that Work
- Public Art Bike Ride
INNOVATION
“Found Yourself. Launch businesses and discover new ideas alongside some of the world’s most innovative founders and funders at pitch competitions, luncheons, workshops, mixers, and Summits.”
- Founders Summit: A day of creativity and entrepreneurship with today’s most innovative founders. Prominent entrepreneurs and creatives will share their insider guidance on how to make startups grow.
- Founders Luncheons: An opportunity for Founders Summit attendees to dig into specific ideas and problems with the Summit’s speakers, known thought leaders, and each other.
- Crowdfunded Pitch Night: Ten local artists, entrepreneurs, and investors compete for funding and a coveted spot in Darden’s Innovation Laboratory. Each innovator tries to win over the crowd, who votes to select the winner.
- Youth Summit: Students, educators, and entrepreneurs from across Virginia assemble to hear inspirational stories from young speakers and participate in high energy competitions that inspire entrepreneurial thinking and creative problem solving.
- Future Forum: A conversation about the future.
- Innovation Competitions: Since 2013, $1.2 million in investment and grants have been distributed through Tom Tom’s competitions. This year, up to $1 million will be given to startups during Tom Tom’s partnered competitions.
- Innovator of the Year
- Community Investment Collaborative Showcase
- Office hours – grab coffee with a seasoned professional!
Be sure to check out the TTFF’s online ticket office!
For more updates on local community events, check out our blog post on spring time festivals!