Welcome to Festivals Insider's Organizer Q&A series. Here, we have intimate conversations with some of the festival market's most exciting and influential innovators. Looking for an alternative, multi-genre music festival based in Europe to tickle those tastebuds? Look no further than Fest Festival, held in the stunning Chorzów, Poland. After holding their wildly successful inaugural edition back in 2019, and surviving the 2020 pandemic, they are back with a bang this year! Featuring a huge range of musical artists to suit every music-head style, something that Poland has not had before - whether you're a techno-titan, a disco diva, or a folk fanatic, there is something for everyone! We chat with Tamara Przystasz, International Booking Manager of the festival...
What is your name and what is the name of your festival?
Hi, my name is Tammy Przystasz. I'm from Fest Festival.
When did the festival start and what inspired it?
Well, the festival started in 2019. In August, it was the first edition. And mainly speaking, our main inspiration from the beginning was Sziget festival, but of course not only. We really wanted to have the festival as a lot of different things, not only music, so I'm just talking here about attractions, plenty of attractions, sports like Wake Park, a lot of installations, very creative that were made by different artists from the School of Fine Arts, and everything during the Fest festival is very creative!
People are doing things just before the festival, so we have two weeks before starting the festival, for making only those creative things. I think it's really awesome, because everyone can just put something into the festival. I think this festival is something that we didn't have in Poland at that moment. We had a lot of really cool and great music festivals, but not most of them had something like we do so art mainly speaking.
When and where does it happen?
This year, Fest Festival will take place from 11th to 14th of August in Park Śląski, Chorzów, and this is the place where we have Fest Festival.
Tell us about the site and how it influences the festival?
Well, Park Śląski is amazing as a venue. I mean it gives us so many opportunities - that it's really cool. It's one of the biggest parks in the whole world, so it is an amazing place, we have a lot of green spaces, a lot of trees and it gives us a very positive us and for the festival-goers as well, of course, a really great amazing vibe. So we are very lucky that we are able to make our festival in such a beautiful place.
What kind of musical artists play at your festival?
We have nine stages with very, very different kinds of music. We have almost every kind of music I mean, I'm just talking here about techno, house, drum and bass and of course main stage with the mainstream music for that year. We gonna have Alan Walker, Kygo, Rag & Bone Man, and a lot of domestic artists that are really cool. We have pop, we have a lot of alternative sounds, not only international acts of course because of the current situation, but amazing artists from Poland and from the countries near Poland.
What else, Hip Hop stage. This is a new stage for the Fest festival, the main reason is that the new wave of Hip Hop is pretty interesting and really, really popular in Poland, so we decided to add this extra stage and it's very busy for the festival-goers for sure. We have so many acts that are like, we are starting at three and ending at two in the morning so it's going to be really cool.
We have Slow Thai for example, Tommy Cash, the EDM stage is going to be very colourful and the huge artists around the world like Fisher for example or Bakermat so also a really cool place to visit. Silesia Stage is very interesting as well, I mean it's very divided into different kinds of music; we have Soul, Neo-Soul, R&B, some Indie Pop, Indie Rock, so everyone can find something for them. The place where we have the Silesia stage is amazing. It's so beautiful with a lot of flowers and a lot of trees, it's a cool place to chill and listen to music and something special for the people who are fans of Fest Festival and of the Follow The Step company for sure.
We have electronic music which is pretty cool as well, I mean cool is the best word to say. There's a few different stages, Drum and Bass, PsyTrance, and Techno so everyone can find something for themselves. I think that this is why we are getting so popular and this festival is so amazing.
Who was the first act you ever booked?
It was a few years ago, but I remember it was the act, like one of the biggest acts for the first edition of Fest Festival, and it was Disclosure with their DJ set, and it was quite huge for us as a company and for me personally.
What’s the most memorable set or sets for you?
Disclosure because they were just finishing the whole festival and I was not so busy at that moment and I decided, okay, this is, this is my time, and I have to see them on stage. And it was so beautiful, the closing set for the first edition of our festival was something memorable.
Who is the target audience for your festival?
Well, mainly speaking, I would say I would go with 16/18 to 30's. This is the main core of the festival, the main target for the festival. But of course, we have different acts, like we have acts for people that are quite older, and some new artists that are so popular for even 14's or 15's, or something like that. But we can say that the main target is 18-30.
What is unique about your festival? What sets it apart?
I think the thing is, like I just said a few times during this interview, well, for sure the venue is beautiful. I think that the whole team that is working with the festival is very young so they are very creative, and we are trying so hard to make this festival special. This is the thing that I just want to underline here that makes us special because we are young people who just want to change something in the festival area, and I think that it's visible for the festival.
Artists for sure. The thing that we are working with different artists from Poland is very cool as well because they can put their things. I mean, they can just show how they feel about the festival and its visible for the festival-goers. It's something unique for sure.
What are some of the challenges you've faced in organizing your festival?
As a promoter, for the last few years, we've been promoting many artists, live performances, festivals, but they were much smaller than Fest Festival and Fest Festival from the whole beginning, it was like one of the biggest festivals in Poland. It was quite hard because you know, when you are doing something and you're working very hard on some project and you make it bigger and bigger and bigger. It's always easier, just you know, to adapt to different situations.
For the first festival in 2019 it was something else I think we as a team, we needed to adapt very fast, but it worked. We are working still on the festival, so it's a good thing and still we are we're educating ourselves - we are just taking knowledge from different festivals, not only in Poland but across Europe, and I think that this is a good thing.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about?
For sure I just want to invite you guys for the Fest Festival, 11th-14th of August 2021 Poland, Silesia Park. Get your ticket guys.
