Higher prices help festival grow
“Last year, we took a huge leap from 2015, and took a lot on our plate that we had never done before,” said Zach Tetreault, co-founder of FORM. “We’re still adding some things, expanding on programming and adding a few more participants . ... This year we want to hone in on all of our strengths and make everything as enjoyable for everyone as possible.”
Organized by indie band Hundred Waters, FORM offers a unique experience for festival-goers, performers, volunteers and Arcosanti residents to mingle and share a collaborative and creative journey that stretches beyond your typical music festival experience. Attendees come from across the world, made up of other musicians, community organizers and creative types, with a little over 1,500 participating this year.
The festival is still accepting applications to attend, and the luxury Patron Packages are still available to purchase. Those who are interested in volunteering can also still apply.
Schedule highlights: Solange, Skrillex
The line-up is curated by Hundred Waters and fellow performer Moses Sumney. Here are some of the schedule’s highlights:
» Solange will close out the main Amp stage on Friday night.
» Skrillex returns to FORM for the third year, and will play his set at the Canyon stage at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
» Father John Misty will take the 9:20 p.m. slot on Saturday, followed by Future Islands at 10:50 p.m., both at the Amp stage.
» Festival organizers Hundred Waters will perform at 10:10 p.m. Sunday, followed by the final Amp stage performance by James Blake, a solo piano set.
» The Envelop space will feature 3D sound space performances with 6:41 sunrise slots by Manitous on Saturday morning and Switchcraft on Sunday morning, and a 3 a.m. Sunday set by Christopher Willits.
Tetreault said the festival has always revolved around musicians that the organizerslove, and he wanted to bring more bigger name artists this year.
“As a musician, I tour and play shows all over the world, and playing (at Arcosanti), there’s something special about it,” he said. “For that reason, I always felt like we could get more and more biggername artists to engage with this.”
The festival is in its fourth year, and used to be a free-by-application model with an optional $100 donation. This year, attendees paid a $229 early-bird experience fee, which has since gone up to $389. Tetreault said the change is to help the festival sustain and grow.
“While it may appear drastic, it’s really the bare minimum for us to accomplish this,” he said. “We wanted to improve the artist experience, too, which is a huge part of this thing . ... We are accommodating artists more this year and fulfilling riders more, hospitality to crews and the hotels they request. This has allowed us to book artists like Solange and Future Islands.”
New cultural series: Climate change, film screenings
A number of other changes are taking effect this year:
» Last year there were long lines for few varieties of food. This year will feature more vendors, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.
» Organizers are working harder to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint, including using compostable plates, cups and cutlery.
» More shade structures throughout create areas to relax and nap, especially in the patron experience area.
The new cultural series this year will feature the following programming:
» Pathway to Paris, a collaboration among artists, musicians, activists and sustainability experts to find solutions to climate change; » a panel from Planned Parenthood; » artist interviews and panels from Saint Heron, which is the name of a compilation album from Solange Knowles’ record label, Saint Records;
» Two film screenings:”Whose Streets,” about the uprising in Ferguson following the shooting death of Michael Brown by police; and “Chasing Coral,” a look at why coral reefs around the world are disappearing.
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