Create Your Own Festival

A music festival is, above all else, a seed that is planted in the city that hosts it. It is, of course, the germs of future bands and artists who, when the time comes, will follow in the footsteps of those musical projects that have inspired others to form their own. In the same way that it is often said that everyone who bought the Velvet Underground album started a band, a festival like Primavera Sound also acts as an outstanding creative force.

However, there are also those who focus on the work of other key players in making such an event happen. Because inspiration can also come from behind the scenes. This spark is what students who have already participated in Crea el teu propi festival (Create your own festival), an initiative by Primavera Sound in collaboration with three secondary schools in Barcelona to train the next generation of music industry professionals, have begun to feel. Following the successful pilot of the 2022-23 course at the Barri Besòs Secondary School, the project continues to grow. Each year, sixth form students from the arts stream of three different secondary schools in Barcelona join the course, with the support of the Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona.

The course kicks off with an inaugural class by Alberto Guijarro, co-director of Primavera Sound, who welcomes the students and introduces them to the real mechanisms of a large-scale festival. From there, during 25 two-hour weekly sessions, students delve into all areas involved in organising a festival: communication, production, booking and logistics. Each block features different professionals from the Primavera Sound team, offering a direct and up-to-date view of how the sector is evolving.

The classes are taught at the schools themselves and are coordinated by teachers Blanca Gallo (head of the ESEM–Taller de Músics Music Management and Production degree programme and lecturer in the master’s in arts and music Centre Management, as well as manager and event organiser) and Laya Martí (musician, actress and cultural manager). In this way, Crea el teu propi festival has established itself as a subject with its own identity within the participating schools, projecting a modern educational model in line with the reality of the music industry.

The course culminates in the creation of a real festival organised by each school, where students apply everything they have learned in a practical way. And to round off the experience, there is a guided tour of the Primavera Sound Barcelona festival, the perfect finale to a course that combines learning, creativity and professional vocation.