Stay Tuned People – USYD Is Launching a New Student Music Festival
Words by Chelsey Blondel
University offers a unique opportunity to meet new people and embrace a number of activities across academic, social, music and arts avenues. The potential to enjoy the most vibrant, social and engaging time of our lives is inherently weaved into the Uni experience; but why isn’t this the case for everyone?
I think it’s a matter of accessibility, of being out there for students to see.
Together with a diverse team of USYD students I have decided to take matters into our own hands and we have put together the entirely student-run electronic music, arts and dance festival Stay Tuned in a matter of weeks.
What can students expect?
Great deep house tunes, an awesome visual experience and an electric dance floor as everyone celebrates the end of exams and the start of an amazing summer. It’s an intimate festival for students, in a really unique space on campus that’s never been used for this kind of event before. With Lucille Croft and Ludovic headlining, and support by local student DJs the vibes will be spectacular!
Festival set-up
Stay Tuned will transform the Courtyard Restaurant space with awesome art installations. We have sourced materials from Recycled Garbage in Marrickville and built sustainable and beautiful pieces to hang and stand throughout the space – think materials, LED, geometric shapes and hand-made palm trees. There’s even an ex-Vivid installation that’s been brought back to life!
A festival for students, by students
Initially conceptualised by students from USYD’s DJ Society and Sustainable Ocean Alliance, along with local student-run start-up Hangs, the team quickly expanded as Red Bull, the Courtyard, the USU and USYD’s Bright Ideas Program came on board to help bring the vision to life.
The idea came from a pain-point the team noticed; a contemporary decline in on-campus culture, particularly with respect to music, dance and art. This, coupled with a personal passion of sustainability, led the team to create Stay Tuned – a boutique, sustainable music festival showcasing local student talent.
It wasn’t hard for us to sell the idea to the venue, partners and the team we put together. The pain-points we expressed really hit home. USYD needs this kind of event to reignite campus life and bring students together. The goal for Stay Tuned is to bring peers from all backgrounds and disciplines together through music, dance and art. The support and validation has been fantastic. It’s really pushing us to make sure this thing is amazing!
With early bird tickets selling for only $15, you’d be silly not to get in quick. You can check out the Facebook event here.
Chelsey Blondel is a DJSOC exec and co-founder of the upcoming festival Stay Tuned.