How I ended up Co-Creating a festival in Bali.
How I ended up Co-Creating a festival in Bali.
How I ended up Co-Creating a festival in Bali.
How I ended up Co-Creating a festival in Bali.
Part I — The Dream.
After my experience in Australia, I became fascinated by a certain kind of festival.
Not just music festivals.
Festivals where people create their own experiences. Where someone builds a crazy installation, someone else performs, someone creates a workshop, another person brings costumes, and somehow all these different people create one temporary universe together.
When I was living in Barcelona, I remember thinking:
“How cool would it be to create a festival one day?”
I wanted to experience what it would be like to take care of the creative direction of an entire festival.
Then I left Barcelona.
And somehow, I ended up in Bali.
About a year after arriving, one of my housemates — who would eventually become one of my best friends — told me about this festival happening in Bali.
It had a kind of Burning Man vibe.
I was immediately excited.
She invited me to join the first meeting for the creation of the festival.
The day came.
And then she told me she couldn't go.
I could have stayed home.
Instead, I thought:
“Fuck it. I'll go alone.”
So I went.
I arrived at a beautiful villa in Bali and found around 40 or 50 people gathered together.
They were talking about a festival that was supposed to happen in…
one month.
People started sharing their ideas.
Performances.
Fire.
Circus.
Art installations.
Workshops.
All kinds of crazy projects.
And I was sitting there thinking:
“My God. These people are completely insane.”
It seemed incredibly unorganized.
I was genuinely wondering:
“How the hell are they going to create a festival in one month?”
Then they asked everyone:
“What do you want to contribute?”
And suddenly I felt very uncomfortable.
Everyone seemed to have something amazing to offer.
And I had no idea what I could contribute.
I felt shame.
Then one girl said:
“I want to create a space where people can eat ice cream and hang out with bunnies.”
And I immediately jumped in.
“I can help with that.”
And that's how I found my way into the festival.
Part I — The Dream.
After my experience in Australia, I became fascinated by a certain kind of festival.
Not just music festivals.
Festivals where people create their own experiences. Where someone builds a crazy installation, someone else performs, someone creates a workshop, another person brings costumes, and somehow all these different people create one temporary universe together.
When I was living in Barcelona, I remember thinking:
“How cool would it be to create a festival one day?”
I wanted to experience what it would be like to take care of the creative direction of an entire festival.
Then I left Barcelona.
And somehow, I ended up in Bali.
About a year after arriving, one of my housemates — who would eventually become one of my best friends — told me about this festival happening in Bali.
It had a kind of Burning Man vibe.
I was immediately excited.
She invited me to join the first meeting for the creation of the festival.
The day came.
And then she told me she couldn't go.
I could have stayed home.
Instead, I thought:
“Fuck it. I'll go alone.”
So I went.
I arrived at a beautiful villa in Bali and found around 40 or 50 people gathered together.
They were talking about a festival that was supposed to happen in…
one month.
People started sharing their ideas.
Performances.
Fire.
Circus.
Art installations.
Workshops.
All kinds of crazy projects.
And I was sitting there thinking:
“My God. These people are completely insane.”
It seemed incredibly unorganized.
I was genuinely wondering:
“How the hell are they going to create a festival in one month?”
Then they asked everyone:
“What do you want to contribute?”
And suddenly I felt very uncomfortable.
Everyone seemed to have something amazing to offer.
And I had no idea what I could contribute.
I felt shame.
Then one girl said:
“I want to create a space where people can eat ice cream and hang out with bunnies.”
And I immediately jumped in.
“I can help with that.”
And that's how I found my way into the festival.
Part II — From consumer to creator.
We created this little world together.
Vegan ice cream.
Bunnies.
Hip-hop music.
A space that we designed and built ourselves.
The day before the festival, everyone was arriving with their teams.
People were building their spaces, installing things, painting, preparing performances and getting everything ready.
I spent most of the day completely focused on our little bunny-and-ice-cream universe.
Then, at the end of the day, I finally stepped back.
I walked around to see what everyone else had created.
And I was blown away.
All these different people had taken their own ideas and turned them into reality.
That's when something clicked.
Until then, whenever I went to festivals, I was mostly a consumer.
I bought a ticket.
I showed up.
I listened to music.
I watched things.
I consumed the experience.
This time, I had also bought a ticket…
but I was contributing.
And the feeling was completely different.
There was a bond between the people who had contributed.
We had made something together.
And because we had made something together, we felt connected.
It felt like a family.
I had never experienced that at a festival before.
I loved the experience so much that afterwards I went to talk to the guy leading the festival.
We became friends.
And I told him:
“This is amazing. But I think we could make it even better.”
Better communication.
Better storytelling.
A stronger strategy.
A visual identity.
A real brand.
He looked at me and said:
“Okay. Then do it.”
So I did.
For the second edition, I took care of the creative direction, communication, storytelling and visual identity.
We brought some structure to the chaos.
And the festival doubled in size.
After that second edition, I realized I didn't just want to help anymore.
I wanted to be part of building it.
I went back to my friend and said:
“I want to become your partner. I want us to take this to the next level together.”
He agreed.
And that's when the real co-creation started.
There were still dozens of contributors.
Because that was the whole philosophy.
It wasn't supposed to be our festival.
It belonged to everyone who contributed.
But now we had a stronger vision.
A structure.
A communication strategy.
A direction.
And again, the festival doubled in size.
But something much more important happened that year.
Part II — From consumer to creator.
We created this little world together.
Vegan ice cream.
Bunnies.
Hip-hop music.
A space that we designed and built ourselves.
The day before the festival, everyone was arriving with their teams.
People were building their spaces, installing things, painting, preparing performances and getting everything ready.
I spent most of the day completely focused on our little bunny-and-ice-cream universe.
Then, at the end of the day, I finally stepped back.
I walked around to see what everyone else had created.
And I was blown away.
All these different people had taken their own ideas and turned them into reality.
That's when something clicked.
Until then, whenever I went to festivals, I was mostly a consumer.
I bought a ticket.
I showed up.
I listened to music.
I watched things.
I consumed the experience.
This time, I had also bought a ticket…
but I was contributing.
And the feeling was completely different.
There was a bond between the people who had contributed.
We had made something together.
And because we had made something together, we felt connected.
It felt like a family.
I had never experienced that at a festival before.
I loved the experience so much that afterwards I went to talk to the guy leading the festival.
We became friends.
And I told him:
“This is amazing. But I think we could make it even better.”
Better communication.
Better storytelling.
A stronger strategy.
A visual identity.
A real brand.
He looked at me and said:
“Okay. Then do it.”
So I did.
For the second edition, I took care of the creative direction, communication, storytelling and visual identity.
We brought some structure to the chaos.
And the festival doubled in size.
After that second edition, I realized I didn't just want to help anymore.
I wanted to be part of building it.
I went back to my friend and said:
“I want to become your partner. I want us to take this to the next level together.”
He agreed.
And that's when the real co-creation started.
There were still dozens of contributors.
Because that was the whole philosophy.
It wasn't supposed to be our festival.
It belonged to everyone who contributed.
But now we had a stronger vision.
A structure.
A communication strategy.
A direction.
And again, the festival doubled in size.
But something much more important happened that year.
Part III - The Gratigasm.
At the end of the third edition, someone came up to me.
She looked genuinely overwhelmed.
And she said:
“Geff, that was the most amazing experience I've ever had.”
Thens she told me:
“I had a gratigasm.”
An orgasm of gratitude.
I laughed.
But something inside me stopped.
Wow.
I suddenly realized:
Maybe this is what I want my work to do.
Not just make something beautiful.
Not just create a cool brand.
Not just get people excited.
Create joy.
The festival was giving people a space to express themselves.
To experiment.
To try something for the first time.
To contribute.
To connect.
We could literally see people coming out of that experience more alive, more empowered, more confident than when they arrived.
That became incredibly meaningful to me.
Because I realized that creativity could be more than creating things.
It could be a service to people.
You could design an environment where people feel free to express themselves.
Where they can participate instead of just consume.
Where they can discover something about themselves.
Unfortunately, the fourth edition was eventually cancelled.
And the project stopped there.
But I still carry that experience with me.
Because somewhere between a chaotic meeting in a Bali villa, some bunnies, vegan ice cream and a questionable amount of hip-hop…
I discovered something I had been looking for since Barcelona.
I thought I wanted to create a festival.
But what I really wanted was to create a space where other people could create.
And maybe that's the biggest lesson I took from it:
The most powerful thing you can create isn't always the thing you make yourself.
Sometimes it's the space you create for other people to make something of their own.
Part III - The Gratigasm.
At the end of the third edition, someone came up to me.
She looked genuinely overwhelmed.
And she said:
“Geff, that was the most amazing experience I've ever had.”
Thens she told me:
“I had a gratigasm.”
An orgasm of gratitude.
I laughed.
But something inside me stopped.
Wow.
I suddenly realized:
Maybe this is what I want my work to do.
Not just make something beautiful.
Not just create a cool brand.
Not just get people excited.
Create joy.
The festival was giving people a space to express themselves.
To experiment.
To try something for the first time.
To contribute.
To connect.
We could literally see people coming out of that experience more alive, more empowered, more confident than when they arrived.
That became incredibly meaningful to me.
Because I realized that creativity could be more than creating things.
It could be a service to people.
You could design an environment where people feel free to express themselves.
Where they can participate instead of just consume.
Where they can discover something about themselves.
Unfortunately, the fourth edition was eventually cancelled.
And the project stopped there.
But I still carry that experience with me.
Because somewhere between a chaotic meeting in a Bali villa, some bunnies, vegan ice cream and a questionable amount of hip-hop…
I discovered something I had been looking for since Barcelona.
I thought I wanted to create a festival.
But what I really wanted was to create a space where other people could create.
And maybe that's the biggest lesson I took from it:
The most powerful thing you can create isn't always the thing you make yourself.
Sometimes it's the space you create for other people to make something of their own.
Hey, are we on the same vibe here?
If yes, let's connect, let's meet, let's co-create or just let see…