District216 "Addiction & Psychedelics" Marquee Event

🌈 District216 Presents: Addiction & Psychedelics

✨ A Marquee Evening of Healing, Exploration, and Connection ✨
🗓️ Saturday, May 9, 2026 | 5–10PM | LoDo Studios, Santa Barbara, CA

🔥 A ONE-OF-A-KIND NIGHT AWAITS 🔥 

Join us for an unforgettable experience at District216’s next Marquee Event—an exclusive gathering at the crossroads of Addiction and Psychedelic Exploration.

🌟🌟 Explore, Expand, and Elevate — whether you're a seasoned psychonaut, a wellness seeker, or simply curious — this evening is designed to inspire, educate, and ignite.
🧠✨ All experience levels welcome — from curious first-timers to seasoned psychonauts.
💜🚫 Sober community welcome — we welcome those who abstain. And this is an alcohol-free event.

💃🕺 Dress Code — come vibrantly, come festive! We love bold colors, playful 'fits, and expressive style. 🌙 Evenings can get cool, so bring a cozy layer for the outdoor music vibes.

🚀🚀 Space is limited — purchase tickets today and step into the future of connection and healing!

🎟️ ALL-INCLUSIVE TICKETS 🎟️

🌟 Expect an Immersive Journey Featuring: 🌟

• 🎤 Fireside Chats & 🎤 Discussion Panels with visionary leaders

• 🎵 Live Music and 📽️ Visual Performances

• 🌀 Interactive Workshops and 🧗‍♀️ Experiential Activations

• 🛋️ Rooftop Terpene Lounge & ✨ Curated Vendor Marketplace

• 🥘 Dinner by Eye On I Catering & 🍹 Functional Elixirs

🎟️ RUN OF SHOW + EXPERIENCES 🎟️

🎤 OPENING (6:00PM):

• Kat Walsh — MC Introduction

• Jacob Tell — Chief Dreamer, District216

🔥 FIRESIDE CHAT: "Sobriety Redefined"

• Kate Wysocki — Yoga Teacher, Wellness Curator & Sacred Space Holder

• Joshua Milne — Sobriety Coach, Writer & Somatic Bodyworker

🔥 FIRESIDE CHAT: "The Dark Side of Ketamine"

• Jaz — Plant Medicine Facilitator

• Christian Rasmussen — CEO & Owner, Amentara

🗣️ DISCUSSION PANEL: "Addiction & Psychedelics"

• Danielle Nova — Founder, Lumeria & Executive Director, San Francisco Psychedelic Society

• Simeon Schnapper — Managing Partner, JLS Fund

• Steven Grant, Ph.D. — Director of Research, Heffter Research Institute

• Trevor Millar — Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Ambio Life Sciences

• Kat Walsh — Founder, Trip On This (Moderator)

🎵 LIVE MUSIC (8:00PM): 

• Original Synth

• Kat's Meow

• Visuals by Michael Strauss

• Fire & Silks by Elemental Arts

꩜ WORKSHOPS (8:00PM):

• "Psychedelics in Recovery" Healing Circle

• "The Alchemy of Breath" Workshop with Jackie Knechtel

🥘 DINNER: Eye On I Catering (5:15PM)

🧉 ELIXIRS: Functional, Non-Alcoholic Elixirs & Enlightening Beverages

🛋️ TERPENE LOUNGE: Enjoy Top Shelf products in our Rooftop Terpene Lounge

🏷️ VENDORS: Health, Wellness, Healing & Conscious Products & Services 

🌀 IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES:

• Psychedelics in Recovery Healing Circle

• "The Alchemy of Breath" Workshop

• Henna by Sara Wilcox

• Lily Sky Face Painting

• Shiftwave Chairs

🌈 VISUAL EXPERIENCES: 

• INTO LIGHT Project - Art Installation

• Visuals by Michael Strauss 

• Experience Curation by Decelorator Lightsmith Visual

• Visual Alchemy by Altarbeast

• Fire & Silks by Elemental Arts

💥 COST + WHEN + WHERE 💥

🌟🌟🌟 MARQUEE MEMBERS: Free Admission! (Become A Member Today)

🌟🌟 TDH + ONLINE MEMBERS: Discounted Tickets (discount codes are available in our online platform)

🎟️ GUESTS WELCOME: We welcome guests to purchase tickets!

• $89 Early Bird Ticket (Til April 9)

• $109 Mid Bird Ticket (April 10 - May 8)

• $139 Day Of Ticket (May 9)

🗓️ WHEN: Saturday, May 9 | 5:00pm–10:00pm

🕰️ EVENT TIMELINE:

• Doors: 5:00pm

• Dinner & Vendors: 5:15pm

• Speakers: 6:00pm

• Music: 8:00pm

• Workshops: 8:00pm

• Wind Down: 10:00pm

📍 WHERE: LoDo Studios — 216 E. Gutierrez St, Santa Barbara, CA

🚗 PARKING: Available across the street (OfficeMax Parking Only, NO Smart & Final Parking)

🎤 OPENING 🎤

Jacob Tell — Chief Dreamer, District216

Jacob Tell is the founder and Chief Dreamer of District216, a membership-driven psychedelic social club built on the belief that healing, community, and consciousness exploration belong in the mainstream conversation. A Santa Barbara-based entrepreneur and creative strategist, Jacob has spent over two decades building brands, movements, and spaces where people feel permission to show up fully — founding Oniracom, a creative agency, in 2001 and developing LoDo Studios into an active indoor/outdoor creative venue. His path into the psychedelic space is both personal and purposeful: shaped by transformative experiences, deep curiosity, and a conviction that the stigma around these tools has kept too many people from the healing they deserve. Through District216, Jacob curates events, community, and dialogue that bridge the visionary and the practical — bringing together clinicians, facilitators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and everyday seekers under one roof. His work is guided by a simple philosophy: YES...AND — an open-armed embrace of possibility, complexity, and the messy, beautiful work of becoming.

🔥 SPEAKER BIOS - FIRESIDE CHAT #1 🔥

Kate Wysocki — Yoga Teacher, Wellness Curator & Sacred Space Holder

Kate Wysocki is a wellness practitioner, yoga teacher, and sacred space holder whose work lives at the intersection of trauma healing, nervous system regulation, and personal transformation. Drawing from her own lived journey through addiction, sobriety, and unresolved PTSD, Kate turned to integrative modalities — somatic awareness, meditation, and intentional psychedelic therapy — as pathways to the deeper healing that traditional recovery frameworks often miss. With experience across both corporate and wellness environments, she now works in the luxury wellness and hospitality space, teaching yoga and sharing practical tools that help people move out of survival mode and into a more embodied, intuitive way of living.

Joshua Milne — Sobriety Coach, Writer & Somatic Bodyworker

Joshua Milne grew up on the beaches of Southern California, traveled extensively, worked in the film industry, and spent years in the depths of his own personal reckoning — experiences he now alchemizes as a Sobriety and Performance Coach, somatic bodyworker, and author of three books. He is the creator of The Vital Shift, a framework designed to help high-achievers stop drinking and redirect that energy toward the freedom and success they're truly capable of. Joshua's work meets people where they are and helps them find out who they become on the other side.

🔥 SPEAKER BIOS - FIRESIDE CHAT #2 🔥

Jaz — Plant Medicine Facilitator

Jaz has spent over 20 years studying alternative healing modalities and shamanic traditions, with deep expertise in addiction treatment through natural pathways — including extensive experience with ibogaine-based approaches. For more than five years she has facilitated plant medicine journeys, guiding individuals through profound healing and integration processes that honor both ancient wisdom and modern insight. Having developed her own lineage and methodology of medicine work, Jaz uniquely bridges ancestral tradition with contemporary biohacking technologies, and now offers facilitator trainings for those called to learn and carry her integrative modality forward.

Christian Rasmussen — CEO & Owner, Amentara

Christian Rasmussen is an entrepreneur, researcher, and spiritual teacher working at the intersection of ethnobotany, consciousness exploration, and sacred commerce. Best known for pioneering the modern U.S. market for Amanita muscaria, he has become one of the largest retailers of the mushroom in North America while building a broader ecosystem of botanical products, education, and community through his brand Amentara. A descendant of industrialist Frederick Weyerhaeuser, Christian brings both entrepreneurial strategy and spiritual depth to his mission — spanning functional botanicals, traditional plant medicines, mythic symbolism, and ancient traditions — with a driving intention to help people reconnect with nature, inner healing, and expanded states of awareness.

🗣️ SPEAKER BIOS - DISCUSSION PANEL 🗣️

Danielle Nova — Founder, Lumeria & Executive Director, San Francisco Psychedelic Society

Danielle Nova is the visionary founder of Lumeria, the Microdosing Facilitator Training, and Psychedelic Recovery programs, and serves as Executive Director of the San Francisco Psychedelic Society — the first and largest psychedelic society in the United States. With nearly a decade of experience, she has guided thousands of individuals through transformative microdosing and psychedelic journeys, and has professionally trained and certified over 100 clinicians, coaches, and wellness practitioners as ethical, trauma-informed facilitators. A key member of the founding team behind Decriminalize Nature Oakland, which passed the first resolution in the U.S. to deprioritize all entheogenic plants and fungi, Danielle has made a global impact through educational programs, integration groups, and addiction recovery services reaching more than 25,000 individuals worldwide. Her work has been featured in CBS News, SXSW, and the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference.

Simeon Schnapper — Managing Partner, JLS Fund

Simeon Schnapper is a seasoned venture capitalist and Managing Partner at JLS Fund, with a focused investment lens on psychedelic medicine, biotech, and next-generation solutions for addiction and mental health. A committed philanthropist, he serves on several nonprofit boards dedicated to advancing access to care, harm reduction, and policy reform in addiction treatment — bringing both capital strategy and genuine purpose to the work of reshaping how the world approaches mental wellness.

Steven Grant, Ph.D. — Director of Research, Heffter Research Institute

Steven Grant, Ph.D. has spent nearly five decades conducting basic and clinical research on how drugs act on the brain, with a career that spans Yale University, New York University, the University of Delaware, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. At NIDA, he developed a nationwide funding program on the cognitive neuroscience of substance abuse and served as Chief of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch. After 25 years there, he followed his original fascination — sparked as an undergraduate by a paper on how psychedelics interact with brain serotonin receptors — and joined the Heffter Research Institute as Director of Research, where he continues to advance the science of psychedelic drug research.

Trevor Millar — Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Ambio Life Sciences

Trevor Millar is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Ambio Life Sciences, a social entrepreneur, and a pioneer in ibogaine advocacy and treatment with over a decade of experience supporting individuals through addiction recovery, trauma healing, and post-treatment integration. He co-founded the Canadian Psychedelic Association, served as Chair of the Board for MAPS Canada, and has co-authored peer-reviewed research on ibogaine's applications for trauma, TBI, and opioid use disorder. Featured in award-winning documentaries including DOSED and In Waves and War, Trevor brings both lived experience and philosophical depth to his work — helping shape a new model for ethical, integrative psychedelic care at global scale. At Ambio, he leads operations, strategic partnerships, and client experience, bridging clinical care with systems design, education, and public advocacy.

Kat Walsh — Founder, Trip On This (Moderator)

Kat Walsh is a host, DJ and storyteller who creates at the intersection of psychedelics, music and transformation. Her work weaves personal discovery with fun and play, advocating for joy as fuel for inspired living. Whether through her digital media platforms, hosting events or playing dynamic DJ sets as Kat’s Meow, Kat reminds us that joy, connection and wonder aren’t just luxuries, they’re essentials for the future we’re building.

May we all have the audacity to live our wildest dreams.

🎨 ARTIST BIOS - PERFORMANCES 🎨

Michael Strauss — Visual Performer & Digital Artist

Michael Strauss is a visionary VJ, digital artist, and event producer from Los Angeles whose psychedelic audiovisual experiences and immersive environments have been transforming reality — and blowing minds — for nearly two decades. His work is renowned for its ability to open hearts, lift spirits, and dissolve the boundary between art and experience. Over the course of his career, Michael has collaborated with a diverse array of top electronic music producers, DJs, and live bands, including The Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold, DJ Z-Trip, Infected Mushroom, and Dirtwire, with his visuals gracing the stages of Burning Man, Lightning in a Bottle, and Symbiosis, as well as iconic venues like the Orpheum Theater, House of Blues, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A collaborator of psychedelic legends Alex Grey and Shpongle, Michael was chosen as the official VJ for the Bicycle Day 75th Anniversary Tour in 2018 — remixing Alex Grey's iconic art live — and curated the Augmented Visions exhibition at Grey's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors museum in 2019.

Original Synth — Electronic Duo & Live Performers

Original Synth is a Santa Barbara-born electronic duo, Craig Donen and Justin Romain, who've built something genuinely hard to categorize, which is exactly why it works. Blending deep house grooves, analog synthesizer textures, cosmic reggae, and live rock energy, their sound hits your body and your brain at the same time. Using a hybrid setup of analog synths, live instrumentation, and a DJ rig, they move fluidly between live electronic performance and curated sets, keeping the energy unpredictable and the dancefloor locked in. Inspired by sonic architects like Nine Inch Nails and Rufus du Sol, they've carved out a sound that pulls from those influences while landing somewhere entirely their own, melodic, hypnotic, and driving. With 15 original tracks on Spotify and a live show built around immersive soundscapes and raw authenticity, Original Synth has been quietly leveling up the Santa Barbara music scene, and on May 9th, they bring that full-body experience to the District216 stage.

Kat's Meow — DJ & Live Music Performer

Kat's Meow is obsessed with house music — and it shows. Equal parts groovy, soulful, and mischievous, her sets weave house, tech house, and disco into a pure joy transmission. No two are ever the same — she reads the crowd, the vibe, the room, and responds in real time. For Kat, this is never just music. It's shared joy — those moments that remind you just how good it is to be alive.

Elemental Arts — Aerial & Flow Arts Performance

Elemental Arts is Santa Barbara's home for aerial dance, flow arts, and the kind of movement that makes you forget gravity is a rule. Founded as an all-inclusive training space for silk, lyra, hammock, straps, fire, and flow props, Elemental has quietly built one of the most vibrant and supportive movement communities on the Central Coast. Their performers bring that same spirit to the stage — embodying the idea that aerial is more than an art form, it's a portal. A vehicle for self-expression, presence, and transcendence. On May 9th, Elemental Arts brings their breathtaking work to the District216 stage, where the boundary between audience and experience dissolves, and bodies in motion become living art.

🧿 FACILITATOR BIOS - WORKSHOP 🧿

Workshop: Psychedelics in Recovery in Healing Circle

Facilitator: Psychedelics in Recovery is a 12-step fellowship of people from all 12-step programs and other paths of recovery who share our experience, strength and hope with each other. Our vision is to redefine the boundaries of recovery and expand the possibilities for healing. We recognize the potential of psychedelics and plant medicines as transformative tools that can enhance the recovery process. By embracing this holistic approach, we aim to empower individuals to explore new avenues of healing, both within themselves and within their recovery journeys.

Workshop: The Alchemy of Breath with Jackie Knechtel

Facilitator: A guided breathwork journey designed to shift your inner state and reconnect you to your body and awareness. Using a dynamic, two-part pranayama style breath, this experience can unlock stored emotion, expand perception, and open access to deeper clarity and presence.

🧠  BECOME A DISTRICT216 MEMBER TODAY 🧠

Find a Membership Plan that suits your needs: https://app.district216.com