Lucidity (festival)

Lucidity is a three-day long annual event held at the Live Oak Campground in Santa Barbara County, California. The event premiered in mid-April 2012 and enjoyed mostly sunny weather and good attendance. It takes its name from the remembrance of dream states which is called lucidity. The event may be described as an experiment in community, art, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. It has been compared to Burning Man ,Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, Electric Daisy Carnival, or even the San Francisco New Year’s Eve event Sea of Dreams.

There were three main stages and numerous subsidiary stages featuring bands, spoken word artists, exotic dancers and DJ's. There were various vendors including a focus on local foods, off beat jewelry and clothing.

Participants camped and paid a fee of approximately one hundred dollars for three days. Previously, Lightning in a Bottle festivals were held at that location, but they became too large for that venue and it moved to Los Angelos County.

Renegade Outpost at Lucidty

Vision and Environmental Ethic

Much of the ethic of the event is rooted in the general philosophy of "burners". The event sponsored a "Greenest Campsite" contest and a motto of "Leave It Better". There were copious reminders to pack out trash and constant activity to remove trash and keep the grounds looking well.

According to Daphne Carpenter, the festival was organized around "six themed villages that revolve around archetypes much in the same way as our dream characters represent aspects of ourselves". She lists these as Renegade Outpost, Family Garden, Healing Sanctuary, Warrior's Way, Lunatic Fringe, and Lover's Nest. <ef>http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/1204/1204_mindstates_spring_festivals.html</ref>

Art

The event featured large sculptural art.

Among the features was an installation entitled Walking Woods, which consisted of artificial trees constructed by the Fishbon collective. Others included

Solstice Floats

Branches Mobile Gallery

BambooDNA

PyroBar

Vajra’s Temple

Space Monkey Creative

Nature Dreamweaver

Symbiotic Creations

Kid’s Karma Zone

Musicians intermingled with sculptured art installations.

Attendance

Main Stage

The main stage had both live performers and DJ's spinning varieties of techno, psytrance or other forms of electronic music. The closing performance was Phuture Primitive featuring an array of dancers and an avante garde drama between an onstage photographer disguised as a spooky computer/robot.

Phture Primitive

Lunacy Stage

This stage featured primarily local (Southern California) bands, many with jugglers, exotic dance performances or spoken word.