Creative Convergence Silicon Valley, or C2SV, was an annual multi-day music festival and technology conference held each fall in San Jose, California, United States from 2012 to 2016. It was founded in 2012 as the Silicon Valley Sound eXperience[1] (SVSX), a one-day event, 3 p.m. to midnight on September 22 at various downtown San Jose venues,[2] founded by Dan Pulcrano, the CEO of Metro Newspapers.[3]
In 2013, it changed its name to Creative Convergence Silicon Valley (C2SV), with the addition of a technology conference.[4]
C2SV was patterned after technology and music events held in other cities, most notably the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, but also NXNE in Toronto, Ontario and MFNW in Portland, Oregon. The group of blended festivals and conferences with whimsical four-character acronyms, established by weekly alternative newspapers, have been called “four-letter festivals" in the industry.[5]
Music festival
In 2012, performers included Maxx Cabello Jr., Anya (Kvitka[6][7]) and the Get Down, Will Sprott of the Mumlers, rappers Antwon and Cities Aviv, battle rapper Dirtbag Dan, Fierce Creatures, Containher and Mike Huguenor.
In 2014 , C2SV Music and Tech Conference was held in downtown San Jose’s SoFA District from 10 September to 14 September. Conference presenters included technology entrepreneur and author Vivek Wadhwa, journalist Yasha Levine and BlogHer cofounder Elisa Camahort Page. Club music showcases and the revived SoFA Street Fair comprised the musical portion.[11]
In 2015, the conference and festival was held October 8–9, 2015 in the SoFA District, according to organizers.
The event also included John McAfee’s first public appearance since his highly publicized escape from Belize and arrest in Guatemala.[13] McAfee used the conference appearance to announce his intentions to market a low-cost secure router to foil government surveillance.[14]
The conference also presented the first on-stage fireside-style discussion with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and video game inventor Nolan Bushnell on September 27, 2013.[15][16]
The 2015 conference, held at the California Theatre, featured Oculus VR inventor Jack McCauley, cameraphone inventor Philippe Kahn and game designer Jane McGonical.
The 2016 conference was held on October 6 and 7, 2016. Uber CTO Thuan Pham provided a keynote. Researchers Hillary Mickell, Michele Madansky, Lisen Stromberg presented “The Elephant in the Valley: Gender Bias in the Technology Industry.” Other speakers included Black Girls Code’s Kimberly Bryant, “Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley” author Antonio García Martínez, Waze executive Josh Fried and Men’s Warehouse founder George Zimmer, who sat down with author Bryan Kramer.
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