Maggie Duval, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Producer

Maggie DuvalMaggie is a gifted technology visionary and noeticist who offers rare insight into and understanding of current, evolving and emerging technologies. She has been an entrepreneur for almost two decades – enjoying a successful career as an independent technology, Web, marketing and creative business development consultant. Maggie began her technology career in 1989 at CompuCom Systems.  She broadened her technical knowledge with Exemplar Logic, a technology leader in programmable logic synthesis for UNIX and Windows platforms. In 1995 she began working as a freelance Web developer. From 1995-1997 with Pearce Communications of California, a “boutique” PR firm specializing in Apple/Mac-related start ups, she handled the tactical implementation of online campaigns and co-managed media relations for Burning Man in 1996.

Maggie is an expert in creating and producing unique marketing events, workshops, and conferences which are immersive, engaging, and iconoclastic – bringing together business, tech and ‘cultural creatives’ in exciting and innovative ways to dialogue and work together. Her current work in this area includes the SXSW Interactive related event Plutopia, One Web Day, the wildly successful Austin Non-Profit Bar Camp, The 20th Anniversary of the Raid on Steve Jackson Games, sustainable community building workshops and ongoing “emerging paradigm” salons.

She lives in Austin, TX where she is active in numerous cultural, sustainability and economic development initiatives, serves a consultant for the strategic planning, business development and capital sourcing firm Invision Group, and as a partner in Plutopia Productions, Inc. She also servers on the board of EFF-Austin, a nonprofit supporting digital freedom in Texas since 1990.

Derek Woodgate, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Derek WoodgateDerek co-founded Plutopia as an extension of his earlier highly successful venture, Fringecore (The International Forum for Progressive Culture), in order to provide a platform for the convergence of technology, entertainment and the arts in Austin.

In selecting progressive culture and its futuristic overtones, Derek has managed to build a bridge between his work as a world-renowned futurist /author and a cultural maven. Derek’s projects for Fringecore and Plutopia have embraced artist management, development and representation; performance and event production, as well as publishing.  With an emphasis on progressive and avant-garde music, spoken word and the visual arts, Derek has worked with a plethora of international artists including Sonic Youth, DJ Spooky, Diamanda Galas, Michael Gira and The Swans / Angels of Light, Nels Cline, Dinosaur Jr. Mike Watt, Marc Ribot, Jim O’Rourke, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman, John Zorn, Beau Sia, Mike Ladd, The Critical Art Ensemble and many more.

Derek has also worked as a consultant on future program development for MTV, Showtime, WorldSpace, Blastro, Clear Channel and the BBC, as has been a keynote speaker at numerous entertainment-related conferences, including: The California Arts Council, CMJ Music Conference, Cutting Edge Business Music Conference, New Orleans, International Live Music Festival in London and has been a regular panelist at SXSW since 1995.

His books include: Future Frequencies, (2004) hailed as “creating a unique paradigm in the professional futurist field”, Future Flow (March, 2010) with a preface by DJ Spooky, and Calling The Toads – A Burroughs Compendium (1999) co-authored with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Allen Ginsberg and Douglas Brinkley.

Derek has a Masters in Political Economics and has lived and worked in eleven countries and is at home in seven languages.

He is on the board of the Association of Professional Futurists and Dart Music International and President of the Central Texas Chapter of the World Futures Society.

Jon Lebkowsky, Co-founder and Chief Digital Officer

Jon Lebkowsky

Jon Lebkowsky is an author, strategist, and cultural commentator focused on collaborative technologies, web strategy, media, advocacy, and future studies. An early online community moderator on The Well, and a founder of Fringeware – one of the first internet businesses, Jon has been a direct participant in the formative conversations that generated our contemporary global digital society. Writing on digital culture, technology, media, and global sustainability, he was one of the web’s first bloggers, having blogged regularly since 2000. He is an acknowledged authority on the social web, online communities, web development, public wireless broadband, and e-democracy. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lebkowsky)

He was involved in online community and e-commerce projects throughout the 1990s, and worked with bOING bOING (as associate editor for the original paper zine), HotWired, The Whole Earth Catalog, Electric Minds, and many other web and cyberculture projects and endeavors during the World Wide Web’s first decade. In the late 90s, he was actively involved in the creation of e-commerce and online community initiatives for Whole Foods Market. After leaving Whole Foods, he formed Polycot Consulting, one of Austin’s leading web consulting and development companies through the 2000s. He was involved in the emergence of social technology in the early 2000s, and has been a leader in the use of social technology for political activism. With Mitch Ratcliffe, he co-edited the book Extreme Democracy

Jon is very active in technology, business and arts communities. His projects include:

Bon Davis, Co-Founder, Chief Technical Officer, and Technical Producer/Director

Bon DavisBon Davis offers a broad and diverse career spanning the academic, theatrical and cultural realms which gives him an unprecedented depth and breadth of production insight and expertise to supports his vision of presenting unique events that are thought provoking as well as entertaining. Steeped in theater since youth he is fluent in all aspects of theatrical and technical production from the conceptual to the practical. His work spans many head of department and steward positions to work in all theatrical departments such as electrics, carpentry, wardrobe and props. While he enjoys all facets of the theatrical realm, his specialty is large-scale production.  He currently works for Ballet Austin and the University of Texas Performing Arts Center.

His dossier ranges from local cultural and corporate events to full-scale opera, ballet and Broadway productions including The Phantom of the Opera, Lion King, The Wizard of Oz, Dead Man Walking, Waiting for the Barbarians, The Nutcracker and Philip Glass and Leonard Cohen’s Book of Longing.

Bon has also enjoyed an active academic career (BA in Classics, MA in Anthropology) with his research focused on the Iconography and Performance of Ritual and Political Leaders in Mesoamerica. He has held several positions in field archeology with universities, private firms and state agencies and served as technical coordinator for the Maya Meetings at the University of Texas. Bon’s participation on the administrative side covers everything from database design, systems administration, and volunteer coordination to event planning and design.  Academic experience includes publication, presentation at Professional Meetings and collaboration with scholars from the US, Holland, Finland, England and other countries.

His cultural activities range from visual and multimedia art, to poetry performance and large-scale participatory ritual, to percussion performance and teaching, jazz trombone, and acting, directing and stunt work for film and stage. He has been Leader of the Drum Gods Drum and Dance Theme Camp at Burning Man and at other Regional events. He has also served as a Board member of Drums Not Guns. His artwork has been exhibited and published in several galleries in Austin, Texas and Buffalo, NY. He lives in Austin, TX where he serves as a Journeyman and an Executive Board member of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IASTE) Local 205.

Jo Rae Di Menno, PR Consultant and Execution
Principal, Hard Pressed Publicty

Jo Rae is the former Director of Publicity for SXSW for 10 years. Since opening her own PR company, Hard Pressed Publicity, in 1998, Jo Rae has placed stories in most major media, including the New York Times, USA Today, NPR’s “Fresh Air” radio show, Rolling Stone, Harp, Spin, Dirty Linen, Blues Revue, Jazz Times and countless regional publications, radio and TV shows. She’s represented the Canadian and French SXSW music contingents (Canadian Blast 2005; the French Music Office) and the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute; organized benefits featuring David Byrne, Lucinda Williams, Charlie Sexton, Los Lobos and the reunion of the True Believers.

Di Menno started her music-biz career as a freelance writer in Houston, which led to a position as editor of the Fitzherald, the house paper published by Fitzgerald’s Nightclub. (She interviewed a 13-year-old Charlie Sexton, as well as R.E.M., Delbert McClinton, the Blasters and many others). She later served as publicist and the first female DJ at Cardi’s. In the mid-‘80s, Di Menno became Ronnie Lane’s publicist and caretaker, an experience that took her to England for four months (they went for the Wembley Stadium Faces reunion), and, permanently, to Austin. In the late ‘80s, she began a 6-year stint as manager, booking agent and publicist for various Alejandro Escovedo projects, starting with the True Believers. She also started Di Menno Public Relations, handling booking and management for several area acts, and began working with various record labels. She took on the SXSW publicity job two years after its inception, and saw it through some of its biggest growth years. She has set up Press Conferences at SXSW for Tony Bennett, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Nick Lowe, Rosanne Cash, Bob Mould & others.

Charles “Scoop” Sweeney Director of Event Production Services

Scoop Sweeney began his lifelong journey through the fields of music, media and event production in Texas. While still in high school, he interned as a radio news reporter under legendary Texas broadcaster Tumbleweed Smith. This experience enabled him to move on to a career in broadcasting, culminating in his joining KPFT-Pacifica Radio in Houston, first as a news reporter and later as News Director. In the early Seventies, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was to join Zodiac News Service, a nationally syndicated radio feature service, first as a freelance political correspondent and later as Music Editor. At it’s peak, ZNS reached more than 450 radio stations, print media and television news operations. ZNS was used by the likes of Rolling Stone, The Tom Snyder Show, ABC, CBS and NBC News and regional print publications.

By the early Eighties, he transitioned from writing about music to making music, a career change that has lasted to this day. Throughout the Eighties, he managed the San Francisco based, hard rock band Vital Signs. Vital Signs toured extensively, opening concerts for the likes of Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Y&T, Eddie Money, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Tesla and many more headliners of the day. Vital Signs’ best known work appeared in the cult teen movie Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Their contribution to the soundtrack and soundtrack album was released as a single by A&M Records. A big budget video of the song received heavy rotation on MTV and other music video channels. As Personal Manager, Scoop was involved in all areas of management, touring, production, publicity and label relations. Vital Signs’ members went on to pursue other projects in 1990 but reunited in 2000 to release a critically acclaimed CD in Europe.

Over the following 2 decades Scoop worked as a booking agent, artist manager, tour manager, lighting designer, record producer, event publicist, promoter rep and event production manager. His clients included many of the top event producers on the West Coast, including Wilson Events, Inc., one of the largest talent buyers in North America. Working with San Francisco’s Innovative Entertainment, he helped produce major corporate events, for clients like Silicon Graphics, Montgomery Securities, and others. Scoop has produced shows in every size and type of venue, from small clubs to theaters to huge arena concerts.

Unknown to many of his music industry cohorts, Scoop also pursued a parallel career track in information technology. Beginning in the early Eighties, he was an early adopter of the new personal computers that were beginning to hit the market. He was among the first to take the computer out of the office and onto the tour bus. This enabled him to bring the business of running a band into the modern world. When most of his contemporaries were keeping tour budgets on cocktail napkins or scratch pads, he was using the early spreadsheet programs to not only document tour expenses but project and model future activities. Figuring that there was a future in this technology, he learned as much as he could, teaching himself programming, data analysis and studying the business implications of this new “toy”.

Moving to the Austin area in 2006, Scoop has become active in the local music and tech communities. In 2010, Scoop assisted the Plutopia Productions staff in producing 2010’s wildly successful Plutopia 2010 event at South by Southwest Interactive, which led to his joining Plutopia as Director of Event Production Services.