This free one-day workshop and networking event is for event organizers, artists, emergency professionals, and anyone else who hosts large gatherings of people. It utilizes the infrastructure and grounds of the Surfalorus Film Festival and ESA Eastern Surfing Championship at Jennette's Pier as a hands-on classroom for elevating the safety, safety, accessibility, sustainability, and community responsiveness of events, and to build resilience in our communities. Coffee and lunch provided! Event highlights include:

Roses & thorns networking breakout
Event electrics safety workshop by nationally recognized instructor and author Richard Cadena
Learn community engaged processes for consensus-building
Facilitated site tour on designing accessible events
Solar power workshop

Registration opens at 9:45am. The symposium begins promptly at 10:15am.

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Join us for a second day of free workshops!

You're also invited to join us on Wednesday, Sept. 21st, the day after the Art of Mass Gatherings event, for a half-day workshop on best practices for the safe and sustainable distribution of power for live events! Led by industry leader and author Richard Cadena, this training covers how to identify and mitigate potential electrical hazards and identify suitable power sources for events. You'll learn to proactively prevent accidents like shock or fire and evaluate the sustainability of various sources of power. This workshop is a $250 value, made available for free thanks to the support of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Learn more or register here.

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Performing arts and live entertainment events are catalysts for culture and community-building. How can they also drive equitable emergency response and increased economic resilience for arts and events workers?

The program includes sessions led by locally and nationally renowned specialists in event safety, accessibility, sustainability, and community engagement. Participants are invited to share their own experience and expertise through a day of interactive workshops, site tours, and group conversations. The training also includes demonstrations of sustainable power and waste infrastructure and equipment, focusing on cross-fluencies between event production and emergency response. Participants will leave with concrete practices and resources to increase the resilience of their events and communities.

Made possible thanks to our partners

Contact the host of The Art of Mass Gatherings at Surfalorus Film Festival