Destination festivals offer a unique and unforgettable experience for music lovers, where they can enjoy world-class electronic music and immerse themselves in a culturally diverse environment. However, the failure of the infamous Fyre Festival has left many potential festival-goers wary of such events, with concerns about mismanagement, poor conditions, and false advertising.
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We’ve looked to SXM Festival for inspiration on how to do it right and invited their team of professionals to list six of the top mistakes they saw in the execution of Fyre Festival (ones that certainly will not be a thing at SXM). SXM Festival provides a blueprint for a successful destination festival, emphasizing exceptional music, unique and luxurious venues, and cultural immersion.
In this article, we allowed SXM founder Julian Prince to share their high-level insights into festival planning to showcase everything that Fyre Festival did wrong and how SXM Festival has got it right so that you can make the most of your next destination festival experience.
Tickets for SXM Festival are available now on the festival’s official website.
What Is SXM Festival?
SXM Festival is a five-day and five-night electronic music extravaganza that takes over the entire island of Saint Martin | Sint Maarten from March 8-12, 2023. With a mix of Caribbean, French, and Dutch cultures, SXM Festival attracts an international crowd of music lovers for a unique and unforgettable experience. The Phase 2 lineup has just been announced, featuring talented artists such as Black Coffee, Loco Dice, Natalia Roth, and more. The festival occurs in various locations around the island, including the secluded Happy Bay, the iconic Arc Main Stage and immersive Ocean Stage, and the exclusive Sandyline estate for VIPs.
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SXM Festival has become much more than just another festival since its debut in 2016, and it is now one of the most talked-about musical gatherings in the world. It offers world-class electronic music, culturally diverse explorations, boat activities, and incredible food, among others, making it the ultimate destination experience. The festival provides a unique blend of musical experimentation and discovery, with a lineup that includes rising stars and veteran artists from all over the globe. The party venues are simply stunning, offering a mix of luxury, modern design, and picturesque scenery that will stay with you long after the festival ends.
Planning Is EVERYTHING!
Festivals are the pinnacle of planning, you have experience in events, which is a good start but festivals are just another beast you never encountered. Fyre Festival didn’t get anyone that had a good festival experience. They had the best marketing team but had no depth in event production.
The first thing we did with the festival was to involve professionals with knowledge of organizing events in the most challenging scenarios where logistics were the most complicated environments. At SXM Festival, everyone on the team is overqualified for the job. For example, our stage managers could organize a whole event independently. It’s like this in every department, from the artist liaison to the fnb. Our combined experience totals over 250 years.
They Lacked Professional Experience
The Fyre Festival booking department was inexperienced.
The music programming was odd, so I contacted industry people to see what was happening and if the artists were paid. That was about a month before the show; the festival looked increasingly like a scam. The lineup musically didn’t make much sense. Programming and booking artists is a job; you must be professional to program a whole festival. It takes years of experience and a solid team to make it happen.
Going straight to a huge festival is a suicide mission. Maybe you will be able to book talent, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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They Didn’t Do The Research
Fyre Festival didn’t do basic studies such as picking the correct dates and site. I wish they reached out when they lost their first venue; picking Exuma sent them straight into a wall. We could have saved Fyre Festival as Saint Martin has everything they needed to make it happen.
The villas, the hotels, the luxury condos, the beautiful beaches, and the delicious food! The original site already had a significant annual event happening these weekends. They didn’t even look at the calendar. The first thing you do before organizing an event is talk with the local authorities and get the tourism board involved to make sure that the event fits in their calendar and their culture as well. All current and future Caribbean events suffered from their arrogance and fraudulent behavior.
Imagine how ironic and sad it is that an event that failed is more popular than an event that pulled it off! We wanted events throughout the island when we first envisioned the SXM Festival. When we started budgeting, we quickly realized that it made more sense to use one beach, properly attired with existing venues to benefit from their infrastructures, and offer a program that we could deliver than promising the moon and ending in tabloids or in jail…from the start, we evaluated everything to make sure we could also keep everyone safe. That is our premier mission, always.
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They Ignored Logistics
FF didn’t plan any logistics. SXM is set up like a giant sound camp at Burning Man. We have no running water, no bathrooms, and no electricity. We start from 0. We have a huge site, we could have done a camping site, but we know how many logistics there are behind them. Mounting tents and setting up a lounge are only the final touches. So much more goes into this to survive weather, sun, rain, and wind and ensure that it respects nature and maintains occidental sanitary conditions. There are so many things to master from a structural, electrical, and plumbing stance and to be also able to feed people.
We all laugh about the infamous cheese sandwich, but a human being did his best to ensure people were fed behind that sandwich. You don’t look at that cheese sandwich the same way as everyone else when you organize events or have been in the refugee camp of the FF saga.
Most of the public thought it was all hilarious because it was happening to rich white kids, but the people who suffered the most were the locals trying their best to keep the situation contained, and they didn’t deserve to be thrown into such a dangerous mess. People are proud of their countries and work hard so that tourists leave with beautiful memories.
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Ignoring Local Communities
They didn’t work with the local communities. Working with local providers, companies, and associations is crucial. They are the only ones who fully understand the land; the community dynamics guide the event through the end of the adventure.
In Saint Martin we have been working hand in hand with everyone, politicians, police, and essential community members, and found every local talent that could be part of the festival. You activate the local economy by using as many local Competencies as possible and hiring as many locals as possible. Everyone is on board and feels part of it; it’s so much more powerful. Wherever they go, successful events are amazing economic activators. They bring lots of business, but they need to be in symbiosis with the environment and have the people on their side.
Overpromise // Underdeliver
They promised a dream without evaluating if they could deliver. This is also basic; for everything you sell, you need to ensure that the practices are safe for everyone interacting with the event.
In Saint Martin, we are lucky because it is a French and Dutch island which means that the authorities have the same expectations, laws, and security protocols that you would find in a festival on the mainland. We have a security commission made of police, fire department, government officials, lawyers, etc that visit every venue before we open them to the public. We need to present them with a detailed technical plan of the sites, present them with our security and first aid contracts, and they go through all our plans to make sure that the site is accessible for ambulances, police or fire trucks at all times.
At SXM Festival, everything is up to the French code of law. It’s pretty comical because our festival is 100% outdoors, but we still have to put up lit-up exit signs on the beach. Yes, it goes that far. It’s a complex process because we need to be perfectly ready before opening up the gates, but it makes it a responsible and safe event. SXM Festival is a very transparent family-run event. The heat is everywhere but mostly comes from our hearts.
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