Transformational Festivals
Discussion
Thom Thumb:
"Festivals are transformational because they create a safe, inspiring space where we can really let loose and be ourselves. A place where we'll feel comfortable creating beautiful, new, uncensored moments and realities in front of our peers. A place where we can learn and teach. A place where we can give and receive to our growing, diverse human family. A place set up to teach us new options for sustainable living. These gatherings serve as community building platforms to help us merge the modern world with our ancient roots. They resonate conscious accountability and sustainability while merging technological innovation with the old world wisdom of reverence and sacred ritual.
As I was thinking and writing about this I came across this incredible TED talk by Jeet Kei Leung: (Transformational Festivals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8tDpQp6m0A ) Well worth watching but if you decide to save your time for other things, a lot of what he says is integrated into what I have written here.
The quintessential festival with these ideas in mind would be burning man. If you want to know more about Burning Man; this is a link to the best essay I have found written about the Burning Man experience: http://www.burningdan.net/BurningMan/ -(Compliments of Teafaerie and Burning Dan).
I think that Burning Man’s rapid growth was greatly influenced by the founders focusing on these intents during it’s development. People want these ideals and activities as part of their daily lives whether they consciously or intuitively realize it. Burning Man has become a hot bed for innovation, co-creation, and community building that welcomes folks of all walks of life. In recent years it has grown exponentially to the point where this year they had to cap it for the first time ever. Though the core people who come early and make it happen are still resonating the ten principles, ( http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html ) that it was founded on. There are many who still come just to “party” and have good time. Many true burners disdain these people, but I think this is a very good thing. Everyone is at different stages in their personal evolution and the only way the value and benefits of these ideas are going to create ripples of change is if we include everyone and allow them to grow. This being said, I think that is an important bridge for us to encourage people to walk over. The bridge between participant and co-creator. Once folks have walked the bridge they will realize how much more rewarding that same festival is now that they help to co-create it.
As far as the flow community goes, many festivals this year have impressed and inspired me in various ways:
Firedrums: http://www.firedrums.org
Campfire: http://www.campfireretreat.com/
Spin Out: http://spinoutevents.com/
Play Immersion://www.playimmersion.com
Hoop Fest New England: http://www.hoopfestnewengland.com
Tahoe Flow Festival: http://www.flowartistry.com/
Pacific Fire Gathering: http://www.pacificfiregathering.com
I just got back from Pacific Fire Gathering and it really impressed me in a key way. The organizers took great care to develop it in a way that allowed for focused intent and reverence to be put into the creation of it from it's core group and extended community. It was because of this that, for me, it felt like one of the strongest concentrations of the feeling of “building something amazing together” I have felt thus far. This is definitely one of the most important elements to integrate when planning a gathering that you want to be more than just a party.
One of the memes I have noticed in many different social groups and communities is the desire to create various kinds of sustainable Utopian communities. It seems that nearly everyone has grand ideas for the perfect type of living space they want to manifest that is self-empowered and is a good space for collaboration and co-creation. It is a rare few that move beyond talk and actually make it happen. Even rarer still are those who have gotten over the genesis stages successfully and into the consistent harmonious growth stage. { One example: Findhorn - http://www.findhorn.org/}
Although they are without the very big challenge of consistent sustainability, these festivals are creating a space that mirrors a lot of what people want from these Utopian-esque communes, if only for three days to a week. They are incubators. They are diving boards for real world change.
Therein lies what I think is the most important thing for us to cultivate at these festivals. That is a system for taking the inspiration, innovations, and ideals into the real world year round in a tangible and progressive way.
At the end of his talk Jeet Lei Leung leaves us with two very poignant questions:
- “What do these festivals have to offer these times of such intense change both in terms of resiliency and pragmatic approaches?”
- “What is brewing in these transformational festivals that is the antidote that speaks so deeply to what is missing in our modern, materialist, urban societies?”
I’ll leave you with three more:
- What steps can we take to bring the things we love most about these gatherings into our daily lives?
- What steps can we take to cultivate these principles and creations in our local communities?
- What steps can we take to bring the lessons we have learned and effect positive change in our larger world society and culture?"