About

What the heck is Soundcheck?

Soundcheck is a festival dedicated to celebrating local performers, artists and makers, bringing four days of cultural events to a range of fantastic venues around town. Our featured events are financially and logistically supported by the festival, while other events are coordinated by individual artists and venues who want to take part in the fun. The Soundcheck Festival supports and is supported by the Port Townsend Creative District.


Click here for the Soundcheck 2024 schedule!

A Brief History

In 2019, the first Soundcheck was launched in the months leading up to the inaugural THING festival. Organizer and artist Gage Pacifera saw a void where a locally-focused festival could exist, and decided to take on the task of introducing early-arriving THING-goers to the Port Townsend scene. The inaugural Soundcheck focused on local music in local venues, with a songwriter showcase and an awesome bus that shuttled between venues. Venues were packed and brimming with energy, in a joyous and uplifting celebration of our town’s up-and-coming musicians. Since then, the Soundcheck festival has grown to include a multitude of new events, created vital partnerships with local organizations like KPTZ and Key City Public Theatre, and has been taken under the wing of the Port Townsend Creative District.


Big kudos go out to our first-year organizers Gage Pacifera, Nate Malgrem, Dominic Svornich, Rowan Katz, Lauren and Matt (of the now-defunct Phosphene), Frank DePalma, Sindi Pladsen, Sam Maynard, Chen Pollina and Kiyota Sage.

2024 Soundcheck Festival Featured Artist: Etta

Local artist Etta was recently selected by the festival’s planning committee as Soundcheck’s 2024 Featured Artist.


The artist is being paid for the one-time licensing of her original artwork, “Prawn Townsend,” to bring local color to the Soundcheck poster and website. Her acrylic-on-canvas painting depicts local landmarks, quirky sea creatures, and the recent aurora borealis.


Etta describes herself as someone who has always painted. “Like oxygen and breathing, it always has just been,” she said. The festival planning committee and Port Townsend Creative District are excited to be working with Etta, whose whimsical style and characters provide a charming representation of this homegrown music-and-arts festival.

Etta exhibits a rotating selection of her creations at Polk Street Salon in downtown Port Townsend during the monthly Art Walk held every first Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.. She will also be featured at the Creative District booth at the Jefferson County Farmers Market, sharing her original art and stickers. Explore the art of Etta online at www.mixadventurous.com.


"Prawn Townsend" © Etta J 2024


Essential Partnerships

Soundcheck has so many amazing organizers and partners who make this festival possible each year!
The 2024 committee of organizers includes:


  • Mark Hardy, Salish Sound (co-chair)
  • Gage Pacifera, Harmonic Northwest (co-chair)
  • Holly Erickson, PT Main Street (event coordinator)
  • Mari Mullen, PT Main Street
  • Eryn Smith, PT Main Street
  • Paris Jade, Strait Up Magazine/Sky Dancers
  • Jaclyn Connor, Uptown Pub
  • Denise Winter, Key City Theatre
  • Mitzi Jo Gordon, Port Townsend Creative District Manager


KPTZ is a media sponsor and a founding partner of the Port Townsend Creative District, which includes KPTZ’s new home at Fort Worden.


Port Townsend Main Street provides so much tangible support through staffing, coordination, support, connection, and accommodation with their other events (most notably Concerts on the Dock) that it is hard to thank them enough.


Salish Sound provides expert audio engineering and well-equipped A/V services for many of our featured events.


Key City Public Theatre has been actively engaged in the planning effort, and is very generously providing venue space with beverage service to boot.


Frank DePalma from MyCityScene/Totera Systems and Gage Pacifera from Harmonic Northwest are making sure all the technical and marketing components of the festival are in good working condition.


Media sponsors include the Port Townsend Leader and KPTZ.


Soundcheck and the Port Townsend Creative District pair perfectly together. Building connections in support of Port Townsend's vibrant cultural sector, the District supports year-round local arts opportunities, connecting audiences with artists and providing resources to amplify sustainability across creative disciplines. That aligns pretty darn well with Soundcheck's mission of showcasing and hiring local artists.


The Creative District offers a network of support for projects like Soundcheck. Through generous sponsorships from local businesses, grant funds, and other community contributions, the District provides direct monetary support to dozens of local and regional artists through these collaborations. How’s that for a win-win? 


Learn more about the Port Townsend Creative District at  ptcreativedistrict.org.



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