Bass n Babes’ Key Takeaways from Bass Coast
By Abby Cooper
A Little Background
Bass Coast is an independent, artist-owned festival tucked away in the countryside of Canada in Merritt, BC. This year, it celebrated its 18th anniversary, demonstrating its continued dedication to incubating cutting-edge electronic music, large-scale, interactive art installations, and curating a space for its open, caring, supportive and inviting community.
Co-founded by Andrea Graham (music director) and Liz Thompson (art director), the attention to detail at Bass Coast is astounding. Each art installation is clearly highlighted and marked to not only credit the artist, but to explain and describe the art’s purpose. Furthermore, the festival is intentional about creating a sustainable, eco-friendly environment, providing ample harm reduction resources, and remaining accessible to all guests. From zero-waste, re-usable cups at the bar, to an on-site drug testing booth, you can tell the owners of the festival care deeply about the attendee experience.
Intentional, Immersive and Inclusive
Bass Coast truly comes to life as a space where everyone is a participant. The stages are immersive environments, built with the intention that the audience is an active part of the experience, rather than an idle viewer. Between the stages, there is a plethora of art installations that ask you to contribute to them. I weaved a piece of fabric into one piece of art, wrote a note of reflection that became part of another installation, and inflated flowers as part of yet another art installation. The art is highlighted on the same scale as musical elements. As you walk around the festival venue, you can’t help but be inspired and entertained every step of the way. The art is intentional, facilitating peaceful moments away from the major stimulation of the dance floor.
My Bass Coast experience began with a queer ice cream social. I absolutely loved that there was a space I could go to on the first day, dedicated to queer community. I can’t think of a better way to start a festival. The organizers of the queer ice cream social spoke about the importance of LGBTQ visibility and representation. Just by looking around, you could see how queer and inclusive Bass Coast was. It speaks volumes that Bass Coast provided the space for queer attendees to join together in community. I was happy to see other groups emphasizing the importance of queer community at festivals.
Harm Reduction & Accessibility
Bass Coast’s harm reduction programming was developed by Stacy with a focus on prevention, peer education and consent. Staff and volunteers are required to view the harm reduction training, and artists are asked to as well. This shows a deep commitment to educating leaders in our community about consent and safety. As members of the EDM community, we all have a responsibility to be informed and knowledgeable about these topics, especially if we’re in leadership positions. Imagine the impact it would have if every festival required prevention, peer education and consent training for the staff, volunteers, and artists.
Bass Coast is deeply committed to accessibility, and works toward improving the ADA experience each year. They offer ramps and view platforms at the main stages and focus on meeting the individual needs of any attendee with accessibility concerns. Andrea spoke about her close friend, Mat the Alien, a prolific DJ and music producer who suffered a terrible accident and became paralyzed in all four limbs. Her close relationship with him illuminated the varying needs of people who have disabilities, and led her to double down on her commitment to making Bass Coast accessible. However, as Andrea noted, we should care about accessibility regardless of our proximity to friends with disabilities. If we want to continue attending festivals as we age, accessibility is something that should matter to everyone.
The Sounds of Bass Coast
The music programming diverged in many directions, including house and techno, the entire bass spectrum from dubstep to jungle to footwork, to UKG and breakbeats, as well as uplifting, fun, party music of any genre, and a slow-tempo stage to contrast the high energy of the other stages. Between all of the music options across five stages, there is something for every mood and everybody. In addition to Somewhere, Slay Bay, the Cabin, and Slow Tempo stages, this year was the debut of the Nowhere stage, a place you could go to read a book during the day or listen to music from the crews who are cultivating the scene in their respective cities at night.
The festival received the most music applications EVER - 12,050 applications for 80 spots. Andrea pointed out that this year, there was a huge uptick in the number of applications from women and femme and queer identifying folks. Seeing this growth speaks volumes to the hunger of women and queer identifying artists and their desire for a seat at the table. Bass Coast leads the way in the festival scene, booking 28% women and queer identifying artists, when the average across EDM festivals in North America is closer to 19%.
Some of our favorite sets from women, femme and queer identifying artists this year include:
The Librarian
Marah
AWOOD
Adame Twins
VNSSA
Stay tuned Babes of Bass interviews with Marah, AWOOD, and Adame Twins!
The Future of Bass Coast
The founders of Bass Coast are interested in preserving the intention behind the community they’ve cultivated. When it comes to growth, they don’t care to appeal to the masses. Rather, they prefer Bass Coast to remain an incubator of the underground, a sanctuary for experimentation, and a place of freedom and acceptance.
