Why 300 festivals?
As we started evaluating the best festivals in the world, we found that most resources cataloguing these events had between 100 and 500 listings. As we made our own lists of favorites, we hovered in the range of 300, which felt like a workable list. The list is large enough to be both inspirational and aspirational. Fortune Magazine lists the 500 largest companies, Forbes the 400 richest people in the world…we chose 300 experiences to capture the wide diversity the world of festivals has to offer.
Why this particular 300?
From two thousand-year old rituals in Asia to fledgling festivals in the US, from religious ceremonies to EDM all-nighters, the Fest300 team has handpicked a broad range of festivals across the globe and across all genres. We have selected 270 festivals that we feel are the best of the best, but we have turned to our community to help us select the final 30 to complete the 300.
Why Chip Conley?
Did he wake up one day with a calling to be the world’s leading expert on festivals? Actually, yes, it sort of happened that way. Chip had an epiphany when he realized he’d spent 25 years of his life focused on creating joie de vivre at work with the boutique hotel company he founded. When someone asked him why he loved both Bali and Burning Man so much, he realized that his cultural curiosity led him to travel the world seeking out parades, pilgrimages, parties, and anything that created the magic of collective joy in a festival format. Fest300 allows Chip to be a new kind of concierge: part travel pro, part cultural anthropologist, and part armchair psychologist. Chip wants to help people discover the festival that may lead to a transformational experience. He spent the first half of his life working Joie de Vivre. Now he’s spending the second half living joie de vivre. He feels confident that Fest300 will bring you some joy, too.
