What a summer festival season it has been, and the best is yet to come. A plethora of musical and artistic talent is set to grace our festival hotspots over the coming two months.
The last festival of the summer, Earth Beat Festival (17–21 March 2021), is perfectly timed to celebrate the Autumn Equinox on 20 March. Join the festivities at the stunning Ātiu Creek Regional Park in Kaipara — just a 90-minute drive from downtown Auckland.
Having encountered a Covid-19 lockdown setback — where organisers had to postpone the festival after already starting to set up — with true resilience, Earth Beat didn’t stop. The organising team kept the conscious momentum going by shifting their focus to a new online podcast series called The Human Potential Series, where they interviewed leading wellness experts from all over the world. One of the organisers, Sina Saffari, says the shift to the podcast was well supported by the community, and festival tickets are moving quickly this year.
Earth Beat showcases the expected FOMO-inducing emotive flashy enticing videos backed with beat-dropping music of summer festivals, but look closer and you’ll see there’s much more to this conscious festival than meets the eye. There’s a heart-centred vibe, not only implied by their logo of two interconnected hearts, but through the intention of the organisers to create a tightly held haven for people to connect. You can see this right down to the regular wellbeing, heart-sharing circles they hold pre-festival with their volunteers, who they call their family members.
“The community behind Earth Beat will be one that holds the space, so people can safely connect to themselves, others, and the Earth. So it makes sense to make sure we are a tightly connected, grounded family,’’ says Saffari.
During the festival, the community is given the chance to purchase add-ons to their ticket in the form of deeper, immersive, wellness workshops to enable them to commit to their personal evolution. The workshops span over multiple days and are unique to the 70+ smaller bite-sized workshops and talks held throughout the festival, which are part of your festival ticket. Workshops offered include a transformational look int PermaDynamics and regenerative agriculture, embodied sexuality for women, embodied yoga immersion, as well as Wild Grace 5Rhythms dance, yoga and movement. The workshops are led by some of New Zealand’s highly experienced facilitators, and are carefully curated to enhance the overall festival experience.
Immersive workshops must be booked in advance and come complete with camping and food vouchers. This is a whānau-loving festival with fun workshops and entertainment for your tamariki (children) and a whānau-friendly camping area. It’s a place where the next generation can learn to regenerate the Earth and love their community.
The five-day festival will be packed with an eclectic mix of music genres and musical acts, art installations, stand-up comedy, poetry, inspiring guest speakers and holistic wellness workshops. You’ll also be able to partake in one-on-one healer support and explore the international food stalls, which will offer an array of delicious food. Both non-alcohol and alcoholic beverages will be sold on-site.
Every great festival starts at the end of a gravel road, and this festival is set in one of Auckland’s beautiful regional parks. Earth Beat will demonstrate harmonious ways of living on public land thanks to Auckland Council who is hosting the festival. It’s a completely zero-waste event, where participants bring their own reusable plates, cutlery, cups and bottles. During the festival, nothing will be served in any type of single-use or compostable consumable.
Earth Beat’s kaupapa (purpose) is to provide a platform for transformation and celebration that will inspire and empower new ways of living through strengthening our relationship and connection with Earth. In turn, it aims to help us understand our role as humans in the web of life. We must live in harmony with the natural rhythm of the Earth as ‘it’s the beat that connects us’.
For more information on the festival or to buy tickets, visit earthbeatfestival.com.
