Take me Back to Agenda, Please!

Ariana Mamnoon ’20

Agenda Festival just took place in Long Beach, California on Saturday June 30, 2018. The brands at Agenda ranged from lifestyle brands to skateboarding companies to apparel. Some of our favorite booths and exhibits from Agenda came from Babylon, FILA, Chinatown Market, Carpet
Company, and so many others. But every brand at Agenda added their own ‘something special’ to the event.

Every row of pop-up shops had something new and innovative to offer viewers. Festival attendees had the opportunity to attend the Agenda trade show on Saturday, and purchase items from the pop-up shops themselves. The crowd of primarily young, fashion-forward people allowed Agenda to be an unmatched festival experience. Not only were the performers and pop-up shops amazing to see, but even gazing around the festival and seeing all of the colorful and edgy outfits led by these teens caught demanded my attention. The typical festival attire of fringe and flower headbands was not found here. Instead, they were replaced by a pair of Nikes and an outfit that screamed cool, as cheesy as that sounds.

As for the festival, the lineup was comprised of diverse acts such as Blondie Beach, Spaghetti Boys, Na-kel Smith, Denzel Curry, Lecrae, Yung Lean, Billi Eilish, FIDLAR, Lil Yachty, and Brockhampton. I had the opportunity to catch FIDLAR, Lil Yachty, and Brockhampton’s set, and the energy for all three shows both from the audience and performers were astounding. FIDLAR inspired the crowd to collect with one another and curate some good old mosh pits.

Lil Yachty encouraged Agenda attendees to throw water in the air during one of his songs;  he also brought out Bhad Babie to perform their hit single “Gucci Flip Flops” as a special surprise for his already hyped crowd. Brockhampton’s set was without a doubt my favorite of the fest, partially due to the fact that every attendee was screaming each lyric, moshing to every track, and ultimately uniting in the fact they were seeing the “best boy band since One Direction”. The collective continued to put on a memorable performance- one that engaged with the audience and allowed them to sing along to songs such as “Bleach” or “Hottie.”

After raging hard to Brockhampton, I had the chance to chat with one of the up-and-coming skate brands at Agenda this year, Long Beach natives Generic Skateboards. This was their second time exhibiting at Agenda Fest, and we were impressed by their pop-up shop to say the least. I asked them a couple questions during a game of UNO at their booth. Check out the conversation below:

SCA: Can you tell me a little about Generic Skateboards and how it may be different from other
skateboard companies?
GENERIC: Generic is a skateboarding company from Long Beach, CA, started by a group of
friends, and mainly managed by Joaquin Carter. GENERIC is all about taking the stereotypes
from skateboarding, and in a way, using that to build a company.
SCA: Cool. What is in the future for GENERIC Skateboards?
GENERIC: We are hoping on producing even more decks and shirts that push the
skateboarding boundaries. We’re also thinking of starting a sub-company, so stay tuned for that.
SCA: Who is your favorite brand at Agenda?
GENERIC: Bumbag.
SCA: Favorite skaters?
GENERIC: Skyler Barney, aka one of the GENERIC team members.

Thank you to Agenda for allowing the Student Committee for the ARTS at UCLA to attend this
amazing event. We are already looking forward to Agenda Fest 2019!