Tmrw.Tday Culture Fest Finds The Perfect Balance Between The Party & Wellness
Max Glazer Plays At Tmrw.Tday
Tmrw.Tday Culture Fest ended its third year in Negril, Jamaica by sending attendees home inspired, motivated, and further connected to themselves and the Tmrw.Tday tribe. Many left well rested, while others were a little sleep deprived. Tmrw.Tday hosted a week-long event which was packed with nightly music events, beach parties, a sunrise party, as well as daily spiritual and wellness workshops.
"We wanted to create the space we were craving," said Stacy (Irie Soul), one of the festival co-founders who, as Director of Wellness, contributes heavily to the spiritual side of things. http://www.iriesoul.com
Tmrw.Tday, according to the co-founders, is about creating a festival of balance, and that they did. They provided attendees with an epic party while also focusing on the importance of physical, mental, and emotional selfcare.
Festival goers came from Canada, the U.S, and Europe as well as from around the island of Jamaica. The crowd, while well-behaved, were there to have fun and embrace the opportunity to recharge and grow with the music and the spiritual offerings. Some engaged only in the party, some in the wellness, but many engulfed themselves in everything this festival had to offer. Classes, starting as early as 7am, were offered in yoga, manifestation, and meditation and even included a 4-day Future Self Discovery Series by Peter Opperman http://futureselfmethod.com/. The classes were filled even with the sleepy-eyed after attending the late-night parties.
Music events were held at multiple venues in Negril, which gave you a chance to check out nifty restaurants and bars you may never have ventured to otherwise. Views of the ocean, sunsets, cliffs, and even deep inside The Caves provided the perfect backdrops to Reggae, House, Dub and Soul music. At all shows the dance floor was full, the vibe was high, and the people were enjoying the music and the company.
Jamaican artists Teflon Zinc Fence, J-Summa & The Outlawz, and others gave out-of-towners a taste of what local artists are doing musically for Jamaica and its music industry. House sets by Audiofly, Dubfire, Carmelinda Dimanno, Lauren Lane, Earth Child, Sabo, and Reggae artist Max Glazer to name just a few of many artists who kept the parties going.
Saturday night the legendary Protoje concert packed the beach with festival attendees along with many locals. Marcos Mendosa, from Toronto, started things off with inspirational spoken lyrics creating a unity of "one love" among the audience. Concert goers joined in a spoken manifestation on creating a stronger tomorrow. Protoje was also joined by artists Naomi Cowan and Reggae star Jesse Royal, who had earlier that day spoken on the conscious music panel, giving insight to the music of today and Dub. Protoje and Jesse Royal performed multiple songs including the recently released LionOrder.
Creating a festival with many different focuses takes a compatible team with a diverse skill set to see the event run smoothly.
"Combing both worlds, spiritual wellness and music are very important to us and also challenging," according to co-founder, Alaadin Khasawneh
Kevin Bourke of Kingston, Jamaica originally opened the doors for creating this event when he asked Andrew Mystery to join him. Never having worked together before, Kevin learned of Andrew and his music event experience through associates and reached out to him to be part of launching a new festival in Negril. Soon others joined in the building of this festival as a powerful team. Each co-founder who became a part of Tmrw.Tday has brought something unique and important to the event. The group believes they have come together for the right reasons. Kevin, Andrew, Stacy Irie Soul, Russell Ward, Ralf Madi, and Alaadin Kahasawneh have all poured their love and experience in music, events, festivals, wellness, PR, and media into Tmrw.Tday.
When I asked each co-founder why they felt the team worked so well together, communication was a big one. While the co-founders are living in different countries, communication is key to keeping an event like this flowing.
"Letting each person be themselves, share their ideas, and point of view is important," added Kevin Bourke
"We feed off each other's strengths to create this whole mastermind thing, you know. We each bring something to the event which it needs," said Stacy of Irie Soul.
Protoje & Jesse Royal
In today's world, it is important for us to recognize and support festivals and businesses making a conscious effort to improve the world in which we live. Through environmental practices as well as programs and assistance provided to the communities in which they perform, Tmrw.Tday has achieved some success with these initiatives. Limiting the overuse of paper, promoting the proper cleanup of the beach and venues, providing reusable water bottles and bamboo straws for purchase, are some of the efforts they encourage.
Not only is Tmrw.Tday working with their own tribe to become better versions of themselves, they are also working within the local communities through their Konscious Kids' program. The program invites local children to engage in activities and workshops put on by the festival. Last year the program landed them a nomination for the social impact award at the Festx Awards https://www.festxawards.com/2018-nominees/ .
This year Tmrw.Tday partnered with 876 Volunteer programs to reach 350 children in Negril. Simone Brown, founder of 876 Volunteer Group, recently moved from Toronto and is currently spending a year travelling Jamaica to expand her company's efforts in helping Jamaican people in every way they can. Together, Konscious Kids and 876 Volunteer Group https://www.instagram.com/876volunteer , designed a program to teach youth how to use their inner abilities and tools for success. A wellness assembly was organized for grades 4,5,6 where they participated in yoga, meditation, music performances, and heard speakers from the festival and local community leaders.
A second all-ages event was held in conjunction with the Negril Education Environment Trust http://www.neetja.com/ , a program created in 2003 by Winston Wellington to fight crime by providing educational resources. The event provided children and their parents a yoga and meditation workshop to learn stress reduction and strengthen family ties. Fundraising was also done to provide school supplies and donations to support both of these worthwhile institutions.
The festival ended with a closing ceremony honoring the connections that had been made, the knowledge learned and the dreams which had been manifested in the previous days. While some attendees stayed in Jamaica the following week to take in all they learned, many ventured home. Montego Bay airport was filled with people sporting festival wrist bands. Goodbyes, farewells, and planning for next year's event were the topics of conversation as I bumped into other festival goers. Tmrw.Tday plans on keeping the festival small and intimate, but still with some room to grow. The tribe will stay well connected and make room for new attendees, performers, and presenters for this coming year April 28th-May 3rd, 2020 . Mark your calendar and get those tickets when they go on sale to experience this unique festival whether for the first or 4th time. You won't be disappointed.
Find more info including all social links for Tmrw.Tday here https://www.mixinmeup.com/festival/tmrw.tday/
