Backpack Festival

The backpack festival has been around for six years, starting as a low-key affair at Belle Isle, building since, and taking a quantum leap this year. The brainchild of Judy Shelton, the premise has always been the same: a charitable party with top-flight techno artists and musical fellow travelers with admission not in dollars but in backpacks and school supplies for needy students. This year it becomes a two-day, noon-midnight affair at New Center Park, a sort of mini-Movement fest for the summertime; Derrick May (one of techno’s founders) and house music innovator Mad Mike (of Underground Resistance) are key organizers of the lineup that includes Eddie Fowlkes, Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Terrence Parker, Timeline, Michelle Weeks, Diviniti, Wayne Williams and many more. The fee is $10 with a backpack stuffed with school supplies, $20 without the pack; $1 for kids 12 and younger. Free opening reception Friday, 6-10 p.m., at the College for Creative Studies’ Taubman Center (460 W. Baltimore St.), featuring art work by techno innovators May, Mad Mike and Juan Atkins, CCS students’ cover designs for a festival techno compilation, and the charity records themselves for sale. New Center Park is at 2990 W. Grand Blvd., at the corner of Second Avenue; newcenterpark.com.