Starting off five years ago on the southern pacific shores of Costa Rica as a grassroots community of artists and musicians, Envision Festival – Costa Rica has become an unprecedented destination festival and a paradigm for the future. While keeping its grassroots humility intact, the festival sets the bar high for best practices in regenerative event production, and moreover, sets a new standard for how societies from around the globe can gather to celebrate. Held on the jungle-spattered beaches of Costa Rica, from February 26 through March 1, 2015, the fifth consecutive Envision Festival was an unrivaled experience and success — for the sold-out crowd of 4,200 that made the trek to Rancho La Merced just outside of Uvita.
Festival goers spent their days barefoot in bikinis and boardshorts, attending interactive workshops, stimulating speaker and yoga sessions by world class teachers such as Rachel Brathen, Ashleigh Sergeant, and Meghan Currie, surfing, swimming, exploring nearby waterfalls and the neighboring rustic, off-the-beaten-path towns of Uvita and Dominical. At sunset, festival goers gathered on the beach for the famous Costa Rican crimson sunset, drum circles and fire dancing. Evening came alive with global electronic and acoustic music across Envision’s four stages. Performers included: The Polish Ambassador, Groundation, Phaeleh, Emancipator, Ott, The Funk Hunters, Lulacruza, Mikey Lion of Desert Hearts, Wildlight, Random Rab, Dimond Saints, Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method, and Los Miseria Miseria Cumbia Band among dozens more.
Image by Confluence
Image by Andrew Jorgenson Photography
Image by Andrew Jorgenson Photography
Each stage was an impressive, hand-crafted art installation. The Luna stage, a 30 foot driftwood and bamboo Jaguar was created by Hoodie + Tigre, that included custom projection mapping in a field full of live artists. The Sol stage, made by visionary artist Carey Thompson, looked like a giant sunrise on the horizon; and the Lotus stage by Tiffany Reffner, Ines Aires, and Marcella Angrisano bloomed like a flower of colorful fabric above the dancing crowd. Comedians, aerialist, stiltwalkers, fire and hoop dancers also performed and wandered the festival entertaining all those present. Visionary artists from North and South America, such as Android Jones, Amanda Sage, Kazilla and Chris Dyer, painted live-murals throughout the festival and showcased their work in a curated jungle-art gallery.
Image by Confluence
Image by Confluence
Festival producer Matt Siegel says of this year’s Envision, “Coming out of our fifth year, we feel like our dream of what Envision can be for Costa Rica and for our international community has finally begun to take shape. We are truly humbled by this year’s attendance, the participation of our audience and the warm reception from our local community. Our driving motivation for creating this space is not just for one week of celebration each winter, but for the potential positive impact that each of our attendees can in turn spread to their own communities throughout the world. We’d like to remind our attendees that Envision is not designed to be the solution, but to provide a platform for demonstration, education and authentic interpersonal connection that will inspire you to be the change you wish to see in the world. We are more excited than ever to unveil some new surprises to you in 2016.”
Image by Confluence
Image by Confluence
In addition to world class music and spiritually enriching experiences, Envision takes pride in its unique environmentally regenerative initiatives and solution based ideology. Many attendees gathered prior to the festival for a Permaculture Action Day, building gardens at three local schools. Throughout the festival, all “single use” cups and tableware were banned and replaced with reusable items and a festival wide dishwashing program, drastically reducing the amount of waste at the festival. State of the art luxurious composting toilets kept unwanted smells down, saved water, reduced the need for harmful chemical toilets and in six months time will have generated fertile growing soil for future permaculture projects.
Image by Mario Covic
Tickets for Envision 2016 go on sale this spring. Keep your eyes peeled on the Envision Facebook page for more information as it becomes available. After this year’s rapid sell-out, we expect tickets to go quickly. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience “Pura Vida”! To stay up-to-date, follow the links below!
Image by Zipporah Lomax
About Envision Festival-Costa Rica:
Five years in, Envision Festival – Costa Rica is more than just a festival but an experience into the “Pura Vida” way of life. Envision festival is an international music, arts, and yoga festival featuring world class talent merged with an adventure of a lifetime to tropical forests, enchanted waterfalls, beautiful beach sunsets, surfing and cultural exchange in one of the most bio-diverse regions of the planet. By bringing people together in the lush landscape of Costa Rica, producing a festival with a high standard of regenerative practices, and offering a diverse range of classes in health, healing, permaculture, dance, and yoga, Envision Festival offers opportunities to celebrate the spirit, heal the body and mind, and revitalize the soul.
Image by Confluence
Image by Confluence
Image by Confluence
Image by Confluence
Image by Mario Covic
Image by Mario Covic
Image by Zipporah Lomax
Image by Zipporah Lomax
Image by Andrew Jorgenson Photography