The OM Festival was a community-based

summer solstice The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...

festival that ran annually in southern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

from 1998 to 2004. The festival, organized by Sumkidz (now Suma), primarily featured

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

as well as

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, workshops,

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, and other forms of acoustic music. It encouraged its attendees to participate by

volunteering Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group wikt:gratis, freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. O ...

and promoted free expression and a no-spectator, leave-no-trace philosophy. At its peak, Om drew in just over 3000 participants from all over the world.OmReunionProject.org
(ORP)

History

The event had multiple stages, a free community kitchen which produced thousands of meals throughout the weekend, a healing area, and an educational hub where people shared ideas and offered hundreds of workshops on everything from knitting to independent media. The annual gathering attracted people who enjoyed electronic music, considered themselves knowledge-seekers, environmentalists, spiritual travelers and other individuals who sought the enlightenment of the human spirit. The festival also supported many musicians (primarily electronic) and artists from across Canada and internationally as well as a wide range of collectives, offering them the opportunity and funds to produce and showcase their own work and skills to a large and diverse audience. Ideals espoused by the core group of festival organizers and participants were togetherness,

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

and spiritual tolerance and exploration. Former festival attendees and Message Board members sometimes called themselves Omies. The final Om Festival occurred in 2004. It ended as a result of many factors. Provincial politics and false media surrounding the booming electronic music scene at the time made it increasingly difficult to produce outdoor gatherings of that magnitude. An unsustainable, volunteer-based organizational structure that required many coordinators to work, unpaid, on a nearly full-time basis for months at a time was another significant factor. The Festival was organized and maintained by Sumkidz (now known as "Suma"), a

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

of artists and activists living in and around

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Community

The organizers of the festival, aside from volunteering themselves, relied on hundreds of additional volunteers to make everything happen. Volunteers would attend meetings in Toronto several weeks prior to the festivities, and roles would be assigned, thus cultivating deeper and more meaningful relationships and community connections. Volunteers chose to work in the Kind Kitchen, on foot patrol (security and first aid), in the child care areas, on cleanup, or in several other positions. Those who gave their time and effort to sustain the festival received a reduced ticket price, although they did not pay for their T-shirt identifying them as OM crew.

Om Reunion Project

After the final Om Festival in 2004, several members of Sumkidz, along with many individuals from the larger Om Community, formed the OM Reunion Project (ORP) and began to organize a more intimate and less structured summer solstice gathering. The first such gathering was held in 2005 (called "Re:union"), followed by "In:tent" in 2006, "Re:treat" in 2007, "In:sight" in 2008, "Re:Leaf" in 2009, "In:fuse" in 2010, and "Re:Generate" in 2011 and, as of 2013, is simply called "Solstice". The festival runs for one week, Monday through Monday, on the week which includes the summer solstice. The Om Reunion Project is an intentional community event and goes beyond a "party". All participants must register for the gathering in advance and are responsible for making the gathering happen. Every attendee is required to volunteer, and everyone is encouraged to share their skills, whether it be music, dance, art, food, education or anything else. While, on many levels, ORP has created a differently focused community, it has also pushed away former Om attendees and participants that do not place the same importance on these grass-roots values. Regardless, ORP has encouraged new participants and community willing to pour their creative and intentional energies into the new gathering. ORP continues to grow and evolve each summer solstice in the spirit of the former Om Festival and provides an inspiring and educational retreat for many 'Omies' old and new.

References

External links

OmReunionProject.org
(ORP)
KINDKitchen.org
{{coord missing, Ontario Music festivals established in 1998 Music festivals in Ontario Experimental music festivals Electronic music festivals in Canada

History

Community

Om Reunion Project

See also

References

External links