A more personal post Glasto share on this full moon, which is potent with the magic I have collected and connected to over the past few weeks.
For those of you who have joined me here more recently, last year I was asked to manage the social media team for The Common at Glastonbury Festival, a space where spirituality and rave meet in the late night south east corner of the festival, where revellers dance until dawn to a myriad of beats and where during the day we offer prayers of peace and visions of the future. Here’s my story and mystical way of how I was led to work with The Common…
One of the key things I want to share from the festival this year is about team work and collaboration, with this from our Producer Steve Bedlam:
“I'm Steve, one of the founders of the Common. My one word is ‘corroboree’. And corroboree is when people and tribes come together to share what they've got, their knowledge and their skills… To create.”
The Common consists of lots of teams - or crews - as we are called in this context - who work together and weave as a whole to create the field and experience for the festival go-ers. From carpenters, decorators and electricians to bar tenders, stewards to artist liaison, production and performers.
Then think of this x100 for all the different stages and fields that make up the entire festival of Glastonbury itself… This is a feat all unto itself and it is quite the experience to be up close and personal to a process that creates something so spectacular for those 5 days.
This year my team - the media crew - were more established and rooted into the space - as was the whole Common crew - and as such we were able to work our collective magic in an even better way this year.
We felt it really important to show all sides to The Common on our social media channels, not just to celebrate the performers who come down to share their gifts on our stages but to also share the gifts and graft of the people that make it all possible.
It was a Strategy of LOVE, which was appreciated by the public, by our crew and our connected community alike and as a result both our account and reach grew tremendously during June. Plus it helped to create connections and bonds throughout the field and with the crew who felt seen and celebrated for all they do.
The message I got from this is that we do not have to do it all alone.
Whatever kind of platform you might be building, whether a stage or an Instagram channel, doing it alone is going to take a lot longer and ask of you to wear many hats.
I’ve talked about this in relation to social media before which you can read here…
As ever it is not lost on me that although I see how team work can make the dream work for my clients, whilst I have been resisting building a team for my own social media. So coming back to Steve’s word ‘corroboree' and seeing the magic that is created when we all come together (although undeniably team work also has its own challenges), I believe that if you can call in the right people ‘to share what they’ve got, to share their knowledge and skills, to create’ then anything is possible.
I will share more over the coming weeks as I am still integrating the experience, which didn’t end with the festival!
I love this notion of teams moving forwards - mini communities, helping each other. It’s a lifelong unlearning for me to work within a team, and I’m here for it! 💖