The people I create festivals with are some of the most extraordinary people anywhere. Giant hearts, endlessly giving, wise and caring, tending the flock….and fun loving. I am very blessed to share this life with them.
I’m going to call this series “My Festival Passion” and I will write the first post, then follow it up with notes from some of the great west coast organizers.
I’ve been steeped in the festival world for more decades than I like to admit and “why” is very easy for me to answer:
Festivals build and knit a community – thats why the whole world engages in them. They fill people up with a happiness thats deep and lasting. What I see is that a festival is like a city or town, it requires a whole village to run it. Performers, planners, chefs, carpenters, kid care, electricians, bookkeepers, parking attendance, crafters, florists, landscapers, casiers, health professionals, permits and legalities, sanitation, srt directors, webmasters, costume designers…the list goes on and on. And while we are all interdependent in our daily lives, we normally can’t see it. At festival everyone is VISIBLE to everyone else and one can see their own role in the whol and the contributions of everyone else around them. The interconnectedness is visible and apparent, and the importance of the many different parts creating a common good time for all is tactile. I believe that is why it is so deeply fulfilling and vital to a healthy community.
As an organizer, I am blessed with the additional opportunity to create a place for people I meet, to step into the fold. Once I see their gifts, maybe they make great pancakes or do magic tricks for kids, or teach a skill. I can create a place for them. It’s especially powerful when it comes to antagonists and misfits that the community knows well. When I find a place for one of them to shine, their entire being changes, they stand up proud of themselves, their prickling behaviors fade and when the community recognizes them in a new way a greater healing happens.
Beyond that, the festival life is just plain fun! You’ve heard the phrase “”I’d love to run away with the circus”, and festival to me, is everything it implies. I couldn’t live without it!