Symbiosis Gathering, photo by Gary Parker
Happy September!
For those of us in the North Country (Seattle area), the weather has changed and a cool wind has moved in….but the gathering season is hardly over! September is still packed with fests from coast to coast!
Scroll down further to get more info on each of these great events!….
In the “other” North Country, specifically Maine….the Great North Festival is in build week this very [Read more…]
(photo by Edward Clynes, Lucidity Festival 2016)
If you get to a transformational festival this summer, you’re in for a spectacular time. No matter how high you set your expectations, they’re bound to be topped. Ye old “stage in a meadow” is a thing of the past. Even as the east coast, midwest and deep south join the bandwagon with new events in nearly every state, the basic festival template they are stepping into, is expanding beyond anything we’ve seen before. Every new event hits the floor running, hoping to offer all the trending activities.
The new “Collaborative Village” model has fully taken over the arena….and what do I mean by that? When I got my start as a producer a little while back, festivals were run by one leader or a small group of 3-5 heads who designed the programs and a cheerful team then worked to make that vision a reality.
Today fests are co-created by the attending community. We used to hang some colorful flags and call that decoration. Today teams of enthusiasts spend the better part of a year designing and building immersive experiencial environments to thrill and inspire their community. With hundreds of creative participants involved, the new collaborative model makes the impossible, possible, to where even young new fests can achieve a lot right out of the gate. [Read more…]
and join me at Enchanted Forest Gathering just one month from now! I’ll be at the Media Hub, stop by and introduce yourself!
Just one month to enchanted forest gathering -Assemble your #squad and look for the Group Discount option to save $30 per ticket in your group order. We’ll see you & your crew July 22-24 just an hour and a half north of San Francisco! Just ONE of you? We’ve got a special for you too. Ping me for a VIP discount code. http://enchantedforestmendo.com/
Once Upon A Time, not so long ago, fae folk gathered in the deep deep woods to dance around the fire in the late late night – opening their hearts to the forest and the trees, bonding with the earth, connecting with one another and the sacred in all things…..
The gathering grew and then expanded to include stages of amazing music, flow arts, swimming in a sparkling lake….yoga and workshops and kids activities were added, but the sacred fire burned brightly both day and night, as the dancers continued to hold space for deep deep connection to the earth and her forest, her trees and one another….just a little way down the trail from the festival activities. [Read more…]
Unifier Festival is coming up soon, in Western Mass. Its a deeper, more intentional gathering than most and one you won’t want to miss. Founder Jason Cohen has an exciting story to tell, and one you will want to be part of…I spoke with him on May 22, 2016. [Read full coverage & photos of the festival here]
Saphir – Hi Jason, tell me a little about your own history, that led you to establish Unifier.
Jason – Well, I’m a musician foremost and I was always fascinated with improvisational music that gave me the ability to check out of my head and go into a flowing trance state on the piano. That’s where I started to find my unique voice as a musician. Then I began to have a romantic connection to the accordion before I ever played it. Something about being able to play outdoors, I was a little envious of guitar players that could play around fires or out in the woods and eventually I picked up an accordion and started playing trance music. [Read more…]
photo by Gaby Esenstein
I never saw it coming.
Something magical happened at Lucidity Festival this time, something unexpected and earth shaking…
Maybe I should have known better, Lucidity has always shown up with cutting edge thought and way ahead of the pack projects. But their pre-fest workshop series, this April, was something else altogether. It blew me out of the water. [Read more…]
photo from The Polish Ambassador
2016 will be remembered as the year that education took root and exploded in flower. Last year, we saw the advent of 3 day permaculture intensives leading into the festivals, climaxing with a community project in the local area the day before gates opened for the main festival. The concept came on quickly and spread like wildfire..
A little Eye Candy from one of our fave camera men, Jacob Avanzato
filmed at Ignight Fire Flow Conference
Tulku D’Etat, photo by Alyssa Keyes
We all love a good festival: The spirit of community, freedom of expression and the juiciness of endless dancing to incredible music. There is something that happens to us at festivals that leaves a deep imprint within us. We experience a sense of openness, connectivity and community that we may not have tapped into before and that we yearn to experience again, each time festival season comes around.
Journalist and videographer at Festival Fire, Vaidehi Amair sat down to chat with Tulku D’Etat, Enchanted Forest Gathering’s producer and founder… to talk about how this very magic happens at his event. Although they talked about many topics, it all boiled down to this: Community is the magic that takes place at Enchanted Forest and it is the people who make it what it is.
by Vaidehi Amair
THE INSPIRATIONAL SEED
Vaidehi: What events took place in your life that led you to start a freakin festival?
Tulku: I can remember the very moment that I decided to produce festivals. [Read more…]
Check out this Gorgeous recap of Lucidity Festivals by media goddess Kaylie Suzanne of Violet Visions on The Sights and Sounds, an awesome channel brought to you by our new pal Kris Kish.
Music festivals have undergone a paradigm shift in the way they have to interact with their audience. These events are no longer just once a year news opportunities that are only gossiped about during their extended weekend stays. There’s no way an event could support itself on that antiquated model. Instead, the festival timeline now runs 365 days a year, continuously working to build an engaged and loyal audience through every digital and analog means available. Marketers call this keeping your brand “top-of-mind awareness”. But (waaaaay) more importantly, festival organizers have finally come to understand the true power behind a community – especially a community that is built around a set of moral and/or sustainable principles.
Since its birth five years ago, Lucidity Festival has recognized and embraced the power of community, creating a remarkable container for its attendees to explore the meaning of self amongst a wider human (and non-human) family on this planet. Lucidity Festival follows a six year story of awakening, each year’s theme taking shape around a chapter of the story designed to symbolize the mythic journey we are on. This container encourages oneness with all beings, while nurturing the discovery of the unique soul purpose each individual was sent to Earth to live.
This year’s festival explored our place at “the Crossroads,” the place we currently stand as a planet and species, in between two worlds, on the cusp of change. Lucidity presented us with an invitation — an invitation to gaze upon where we are in all our beauty and bliss, chaos and destruction, and either accept our present fate, or generate the ideas, systems, and momentum to catalyze the shift we need to see in order to thrive on our rapidly declining planet. [READ THE FULL STORY and SEE Kris’s GALLERY]
Featuring some of the great leadership in our Lucid community – David Casey, Wesley Wolfbear Pinkham, Julian Reyes and our songstress Hannah Conklin …..myself being the little people in the pic….Love you peoples and all you do!
Happy Equinox My Friends – Welcome SPRING!!!! Celebrate our world in balance….
Wow!! We’ve got something SPECTACULAR to Giveaway this month!
This is your chance to win a week of Lucidity Goodness!
LUCIDITY COURSEWEEK Full Pass
PLUS LUCIDITY FESTIVAL PASS
incl. camping & meals!
Value $599
Let me tell you why its so Incredible! [Read more…]
Beloved: Sacred Art & Music Festival will be returning to Tidewater Falls for it’s ninth year!
Tickets will be released for sale on Tuesday, March 8th at 10AM PST.
Be sure to purchase your tickets early (and remind your friends) before prices increase, or worse yet, we sell out of tickets…(which happens every year!)
In the meantime, we want to hear from our Beloved community.
Beloved Festival presents diverse expressions of sacred music to demonstrate that they all share a common origin. Is there any music that you’re inspired by?
Submit Your Suggestions HERE
January 28, 2016
In the last weekend of February, Feb 25-28, Envision Festival will blossom to life for its fifth straight year. The four-day event is set in Uvita, Costa Rica—specifically at Rancho La Merced, a sand-speckled stretch of beach nestled between the leafy jungle and crystalline waters of Playa Hermosa. Musically, Envision is sandwiched between The Dead and The Burn, with music from live psychedelic outfits like Shpongle, Beats Antique and Random Rab coexisting next to DJ sets from Burner favorites like M.A.N.D.Y and Atish. Along with the musical options, the festival’s Village stage is a multi-purpose hub for non musical events like speaker-led workshops, a “witches healing sanctuary,” a chillout zone for kids and families, and yoga workshops from a variety of acclaimed downward doggers.
The need for healing is important. It’s becoming increasingly urgent too because the cultural fault lines in the world that separate us seem to writhe as conditions worsen. It’s almost as if it’s all coming to a head. When we consider all the ways the world needs fixing in its current state just choosing an area to focus one’s efforts can lead to a paralyzing set of options. That’s why we selected five of the most wholesome, healing crafts we could find and hand picked some of the most seasoned experts in each field to teach each program for our 3-day intensives. It’s not just a way to learn more, it’s a way to help the community realize more of it’s potential as a catalyst for change…..
Sign Up for Lucidity Festivals week of courses before the fest – READ all about it HERE.
photo by Winter Creative Co.
EXCLUSIVE! Friends, one of the greatest fests of all, is Lucidity Festivals, and I’ll warn you – it sells out early…..I’ve just been given an exclusive code for you to get $10 off ahead of the pack….get your tickets NOW so you don’t miss it.
April 8-10 near Santa Barbara. This year is the CROSSROADS, with so many great features….you’ll be hearing about them in the coming weeks. Use your discount code “FestivalFire” to insure YOUR entry!
photo by David Pricco
Enter to Win a pair of TUYA Tights (Turn Up Your Awesome!) when you subscribe to our monthly Festival News….including our 60 day forecast, notes from our blog, great interviews, articles, ticket discounts and more. Get Exclusive Festival Fashion VIP discounts and sneak peeks at New Arrivals.
art by the gifted Patrice Murciano
This will be the year of remembering David Bowie, and being people of funk and flash, I thought you might like a little gallery of his outfits to inspire you! and a few other touching photos just cuz….
Check out his looks throughout the years:
