25. Paul Bassis: The Arise Movement

Paul Bassis ARISE Music Festival [MUSIC] Hello. And welcome to Mindful U at Naropa. A podcast presented by Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. I'm your host David Devine. And it's a pleasure to welcome you. Joining the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions -- Naropa is the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement. [00:00:45.08] DAVID: Hello, today I'd like to welcome a very special guest to the Naropa University and also the podcast. My friend Paul Bassis. Paul is a very interesting guy. He's an activist. He's a co-founder / producer of ARISE Music Festival held at Sunrise Ranch in Colorado. It�s a great honor to have you on the podcast so thank you for coming. [00:01:03.20] PAUL: Well thank you. It�s a great honor to be here with you. [00:01:06.12] DAVID: Yeah, and it�s very interesting because this is the first time I have actually ever interviewed someone from a music festival per say. Everyone I interview is a special guest to the community when they come and teach, and / or a faculty member and they have some sort like contemplative approach to pedagogy. So, it�s quite a different twist we're taking today because Naropa and ARISE are working together to just - blossom a relationship. So -- [00:01:36.00] PAUL: Well, it makes sense and ARISE is more than a music festival. The name is ARISE Music Festival, but I'd like to see ARISE in a context as being more as part of a movement. And really a global movement. I like to think we named it ARISE for a reason. And so, everything that goes on there and all of the programming and the music and the workshops, which of course Naropa is involved in presenting that it�s all - and the speakers and the documentary films that we screen there - the provocative documentary films and the discussions and what goes on at the ARISE festival is intended to be uplifting. Thus, the name ARISE. And then the challenge is to live up to that and to provide for people experiences that are - not just inspiring. Of course, inspiring and not just informative or enlightening but actually empowering. [00:02:33.01] DAVID: Yeah and to speak to that I've been to ARISE for four years now. I've been involved in multiple different ways. There is literally no accident why you're here. And why I am here. I've actually known you for maybe 5 years now - something like that. Four to five years and I've worked with ARISE on some stage-managing stuff. I've also like served people coffee. I've been a musician. I've worked with you. And now, I've worked at Naropa for like 8 years. So, I got to bring these two loves together and it�s just such -- [00:03:02.14] PAUL: One love. It�s all one love. [00:03:05.09] DAVID: Yeah, it�s just one love. And one jah. [00:03:07.21] PAUL: It�s nice to quote Bob Marley. [00:03:09.10] DAVID: You're good. And I love the way you go about your musical festival. You call it ARISE and you do have a political background, an activist background so you are definitely connected to issues that pertain to human rights and - and do you want to speak about that and how the relationship of ARISE and activism kind of come together. [00:03:28.11] [00:03:29.03] PAUL: Well, yeah, I could - speaking for myself personally yeah, I mean everybody has got their own sense of what something is. And then there is this collective sense of what it is, but I will - for myself personally I have always throughout my career if you will - found ways to bridge entertainment and activism. Uh its - [00:03:53.16] DAVID: I like that. [00:03:53.16] PAUL: That's -- coded in my DNA. That's just who I am. And, in fact, my career in the music business really started as an activist producing concerts and events for causes to both raise funds that were needed for particularly environmental and social justice causes, but also to raise community awareness of issues and to build - to be a part of building a movement. [00:04:23.11] DAVID: I love that. [00:04:23.21] PAUL: But the thing about a movement - if you break it down and think about even that one simple word. That one word, movement - you got to move. There has got to - I mean Da Vinci said motion is life. You know and - and so uh what better way to move than to have some music cranking uh and to lift the spirit if you will. And there is something - talk about coded in our DNA - there is something that is really ancient about our need to be tribal. Our need as humans to come together with - with other humans and music calls us. Music is that beat, that rhythm that we feel in our heart when our hearts are beating together in that same grove. Then there is something going on there that we long for. Something that we need that we don't find in a lot of other ways and places in our modern society. And the thing about a festival is its more than a concert. This concert is going on at the festival - we have 7 stages at the ARISE festival. But there is community happening and this connection that is happening in ways that we don't get to experience in other ways. You could go to a gathering - a large gathering. You go to a football game - there could be 50 thousand people there, but they are not really interacting with each other very much other than they are all cheering for their team together. But there really is not a lot of personal connection. Where in the festival culture that's taking place particularly in a camping festival where people are going through this experience and they are waking up in the campgrounds and they're sharing that kind of thing. [00:06:03.00] DAVID: Yeah. [00:06:03.00] PAUL: So, it�s kind of a unique type of coming together - of humanity in our modern society that we don't find in too many other places. [00:06:11.15] DAVID: The music amplifies the community gathering and strengthens the community within that and I can definitely relate and resonate how the music can bring people together and then bringing the movement - the message you know so it�s not just coming together just to have a good old time and camp. [00:06:28.10] PAUL: There is nothing wrong with having a good time! [00:06:29.21] DAVID: There definitely isn't, but when there is a message behind it that is about a good message and having a good old time - you strengthen some bonds. [00:06:38.02] PAUL: Well, when there is a higher purpose than spirits are lifted in a way that is beyond coming together and being without that intention. [00:06:49.18] DAVID: So, you co-founded ARISE and you're producing it as well. It�s in its 7th year? [00:06:56.14] PAUL: No, we're going into year 6th. [00:06:58.19] DAVID: This is year number six. Ok. [00:06:59.10] PAUL: Yeah, let me just say something about that -- because one thing about being a founder or a co- founder - nobody can ever take that from away from. So, I want to encourage people to find something - you know find something that you love. Be a founder. When I say that nobody can take that away from you - what I really mean is it�s like getting your hands in the soil and working the soil and planting a seed and growing something - especially if it bears fruit and nourishes others. [00:07:26.09] DAVID: What an awesome foundation to work from. [00:07:31.13] PAUL: You know I feel very blessed. I think the people that I work with - the extraordinary people that I work with - yourself included that we all feel that we're a part of creating something that is a gift for others. And that's a beautiful thing. [00:07:45.02] DAVID: Yeah, there is definitely a team dynamic of you know because we get on site a week before and then we just huddle up and we just bring the vibe really high and I love how you give us this talk of - hey there is going to be a lot of people on site in a couple days. We got a hold some space. Let's do this. Let's do this together and I love how the message comes out because what it truly is trying to say is we're here to have a good time and we're here to like really make an improvement on people's lives. And I love that. And it kind of makes me want to realize where did ARISE come from? Like how did you co-found this? You work Tierro who is your other co-founder. Teirro Lee. How did you guys meet each other? How did you discover this thing that you just created some beauty? [00:08:29.11] PAUL: We're just very fortunate I supposed. You know I mean what anybody does is to some degree a culmination of what they have always done. You know you didn't just arrive into your position here at Naropa by accident. You didn't fall out of a tree and given all this - both opportunity and responsibility. You know, and I would say it�s been the same for us. I have been a festival producer for the better part of three decades and I left doing that work for some period of time and was - came back to it when we founded the ARISE festival and saw this extraordinarily beautiful place where ARISE uh happens. At Sunrise Ranch and you know there are things about what we are doing there - that I am so excited about that I just - I want to share this. I believe ARISE Is the only large scale relatively large-scale camping festival, music festival, summer festival in the country where in the campground there is a farmer's market - where all the food is organically grown with a couple hundred yards of where everybody is camping. [00:09:41.08] DAVID: Yeah, it�s on the land. [00:09:41.08] PAUL: That Sunrise Ranch is a working organic farm and that its uh just an extraordinary uh juxtaposition if you will uh to be able to have this beautiful place to do this - this festival that also is nourishing people while they are there. It�s a cool thing. [00:10:00.16] DAVID: Yeah. And my next question was to speak to the land itself. Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado - is that correct? [00:10:08.11] PAUL: I like to say Love-land. [00:10:11.04] DAVID: Yeah, it�s in the Loveland. [00:10:11.21] PAUL: I mean - the idea that we do ARISE at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland. You couldn't make that up. Man, that is uh - you know we're very, very fortunate and you know when you feel as though you've got something that is fragile and delicate - you want to preserve it. You want to take care of it. You want to cherish. You want to nurture it. You want to help it grow. You want to make sure that you take the responsibility of this thing that is a collective thing. That is building community and that you lifted up and that you live up to the ideals of the intention that went into it. And you live up to the ideals of what it is. So, we're constantly sitting around trying to brainstorm new ideas uh I remember when Tierro came up with this idea that we should plant a tree with every ticket sold and -- my first thought was wow! I hope everybody steals our idea. You know? And, so we've been doing that for years. We work with this great non-profit that is based here in Colorado, but they are a global organization - trees and water and people. Uh and we planted many thousands of trees since we - many thousands since we've been doing this and its one of those things that - sometimes we forget to promote that idea well enough, but I think there is a significant number of people who are attracted to what ARISE is because of these little things. You know - and there are others who will look at the musical line up and we can talk about that, [00:11:46.09] DAVID: Oh definitely. [00:11:46.09] PAUL: That are thinking wow I really want to see Thievery Corporation or Trevor Hall or whoever it is that's on the line up - is they know being a part of that is going to lift their spirit. Because to go to a musical festival like this - it�s an intangible experience. It�s not like a possession. It�s not like you go into a store and you buy a shirt you know and then you can hang that shirt up in your closet. You can take it out and wear it. You know? You -- [00:12:15.15] DAVID: It�s an experience. It�s an investment into experience. [00:12:19.10] PAUL: Yes, and what is life really in the end. It�s not a shirt. It�s not a possession. It is a collection of experiences that you could only hope that are both meaningful and lasting and when I say lasting I mean that they affect you in some way that you become a - your higher self. [00:12:41.12] DAVID: Yeah, life is like meaning making machine and it is you to give it meaning. [00:12:46.10] PAUL: That is cool. Wow. [00:12:48.18] DAVID: I am freestyling over here. [00:12:49.20] PAUL: Aren't we all. [00:12:51.08] DAVID: And so, Sunrise Ranch is also one of the longest spiritual communities? [00:12:55.06] PAUL: Its -- it�s the longest running intentional community in the world. The community there have been growing organic food. It�s been a spiritual community for over 70 years. [00:13:05.17] DAVID: And you feel that in the land. You feel that at the music festival. Guys and girls come and we all do our thing together and there is so much respect for the land. People get there, and they feel it. This is the type of music festival that if someone accidentally drops some trash you can have like 10 people want to pick it up. Like right away. [00:13:24.13] PAUL: There is a leave no trace ethos that we're - that we hold up very high. Again, to some degree there is a good number of people that are attracted to these ideas. That these things are important or that children 12 and under are free at ARISE. These are core values. Ok. So - there are people who those core values will resonate with and they are drawn to that. And as I said there are some who maybe are not really drawn to that. They are drawn to something else like maybe the musical line up you know. But they can't help but be affected and this is what you were talking about. You can't go into that valley and not feel - you know the love that is there. And I think what is there - is not just from that intentionally community - that very mindful loving intentional community that's been there for so long. I think there is something more ancient. And maybe it�s why that community settled there to begin with. There are bald eagles that live there. It�s a really special place. You know Colorado has got some beautiful magical places. And that's just one of them. [00:14:28.04] DAVID: Yes, and there is a lot of different things there like you have the children's village. You have wisdom village. You have solutions village. [00:14:35.15] PAUL: We're like village people, yes. [00:14:36.21] DAVID: There is so may different aspects to the event and you have the yoga tent. So, you have like so many things going on and you have the dome and then you showcase moves. You have artist speak about their art and work and there is just so many different things you can do. It�s not strictly just music. Its projects oriented and people getting into dirt. Actually, planting food that will be served next year. [00:15:02.18] PAUL: Yeah, well -- [00:15:03.06] DAVID: And it�s all family friendly. You're allowing kids to come in for free. There is a ton of kids there. And it�s such a good vibe to just bring the excited kids all dressed up with their fairy wings just bouncing around. Just - I want to go play on that. [00:15:17.09] PAUL: Yeah people bring such dynamic energy and they are like - I think that for a lot of the young kids that ARISE is just - its greater than Christmas. Its - unlike anything else they get to experience anywhere else. It�s not like going to school. It�s not like being in their neighborhood. It�s certainly not going to the mall. And they bring - just a beautiful energy that whether people are cognizant of that or not - they are feeling it. [00:15:46.16] DAVID: Yeah! Oh, thank you for sharing all that. So, I'd love to dive a little deeper into why ARISE and why Naropa? I can sort of speak to the relationship -- I can speak to it - I mean maybe I can - and I feel like I kind of want to hear your side as well. [00:16:05.09] PAUL: Yeah, we're freestyling. Well, I like to think of ARISE as the permaculture of music festivals. That everything has got to be a natural fit. It�s got to feel easy. It�s got to be right. And, the alignment between Naropa University and ARISE is just a natural fit. It makes sense in so many ways. I mean in every way. That the mission of this organization - of this university is not a part in any significant way from what the mission is of ARISE. We're lifting people up and empowering people and informing people and enlightening people yeah, so it just makes sense - doesn't it? [00:16:46.01] DAVID: It makes total sense. And I feel like that's what was triggered for me is I have been going for - this will be my fourth year going and the first two years I went I was like a musician. I didn't really know and then the next two years I went - I was running your second main stage - the Star Water stage. [00:17:02.17] PAUL: That's how it happens. [00:17:02.20] DAVID: Being a stage manager and I met - I met the whole community and the crew and I just feel in love and what I noticed is there was so many Naropa people there. There were so many people connected with the message and the idea of what ARISE is about and what Naropa is about. It kind of like sparked this thing in my mind. I was like why aren't we talking to each other. I was like I know you Paul. Why don't you just come and having a meeting with my boss. You know I work for the marketing team - I blah, blah - I do this. I do that. And it would just be fun to just kind of see what we can do. Like just bring a booth or whatever. And then you just opened up the doors so amazingly for us and you're like I'm going to give you a workshop and it turned that everyone we had in the workshop was already there. Already teaching workshops. You had some people on the medical team. You have musicians that graduated from Naropa. Everybody was already there. All you allowed us to do is just gather them up and just speak about their experience. [00:17:56.00] PAUL: Again, it�s a natural fit. [00:17:57.14] DAVID: It�s just so natural. It was like almost too natural. [00:18:01.17] PAUL: Is there really such a thing? [00:18:03.08] DAVID: No. [00:18:04.11] PAUL: Yeah, I didn't think so. [00:18:05.08] DAVID: But you know what I mean. Like it was just a puzzle piece just waiting to be put into the puzzle. And, I think you were even saying like why did we wait this long? [00:18:13.19] PAUL: Yeah, that's the only thing that really surprised me that we didn't formulize some sort of association - some alignment forms a league between ARISE and Naropa. It was so obvious. I love obvious. Maybe I am not smart enough to understand what is not obvious uh - but when you can look at something and go now this makes sense. That is the world I want to live in. Instead of the world we live in now - which there is so much going on that you're kind of going this doesn't make sense. Let's try and make sense of this. So - and again, I am an activist at heart. You know someone once described me as having a brain of an agent, but the heart of activist then - [00:18:58.11] DAVID: I see it. [00:18:58.11] PAUL: One of the things that - that I have always felt in my role with ARISE that it�s important for me to remind everyone - and to kind steer the festival in this way and that is that we want to be in the time that we are in. And, in 2018 - this is an extraordinary time. And there is probably - never been another time - when it was more important for there to be record breaking turn out of young people. And at mid term election. And I think that the possibility exists that mid term elections in this country historically get very low voter turn out amongst the youngest eligible voters in this country. And I think we're going to shatter all past records, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure that ARISE is a vehicle here in Colorado for that to happen. And that we've got a number of non-profit organizations that mission it is to register voters. And so, there is going to be a very noticeable, very significant voter registration effort at the festival uh - and to encourage and empower people to be engaged in civic activity. And, not to knock any of the important things that we - as citizens of this county or the state or this country or this planet - should be doing to be 21st century citizens. In other words, all of those things that we can do to reduce our carbon footprint to live harmoniously with the earth and to be mindful of the choices that we make. All of those things are critically important. But there may be nothing that we can do that is more important than turning this 2018 mid-term election into a referendum on being kind - to our fellow citizens in every way. [00:21:04.04] DAVID: So, what is like when it comes to all this - like what is next for ARISE. Every year you kind of add a little something, something. Last year you added more camping. You guys have just been blowing up exponentially and I am curious is there anything to expect this year. Anything new? [00:21:21.14] PAUL: Well, sure there is always new. And - one thing about ARISE is that there is always going to be talent there. Whether its musical talent. Workshop leaders or something that - that - that people didn't expect. Uh - maybe somebody that you never heard of. You know I mean I could give you a couple of examples of performers that we've got coming to festival that most people never heard of. They don't know who they are but are going to move - people. Ok, so - one thing that I am really excited about is the Peace Poets. The Peace Poets are coming from the Bronx. These guys are truly authentic, and they are really good at spoken word. [00:22:01.19] DAVID: I think I know who you are talking about. They did the Star Water thing. [00:22:04.23] PAUL: They did. [00:22:05.06] DAVID: Yeah. [00:22:05.19] PAUL: That's right. And uh so they were here in Colorado and they dropped by there and those guys are just so authentic. I mean - and I will tell you a short story that I asked uh Aly who works with the festival has been with us since the very beginning - does a lot of things to reach out to. Luke Nephew who is some ways the leader of the Peace Poet group because he and I had talked about him coming to ARISE and she had been trying to reach him and couldn't get through. He - you know and finally he responded to a text message saying uh I got your messages. I will get back to you real quick, but the brothers are about to get arrested. They are engaging in civil disobedience on this whole DACA thing and I am doing jail support. So, you know we are in D.C. right now doing this DACA protect and as soon as the guys get out of jail I can get back to you. And, she's just telling me story and I am going this is why I want those guys there because they are the front lines are real issues that are affecting real people and they got something to say and I am personally excited to hear what they have got to say. And I know it�s going to turn people on who don't have no reason to expect that they are going to receive the gift that they are going to get. [00:23:13.23] DAVID: Yeah, the message is so much more potent that way. I really like that. [00:23:18.05] PAUL: Yeah. There is lots of uh great things that we've got in store for people and there is going to be - it�s an exciting time. It always is. [00:23:26.10] DAVID: It�s always a different deeper experience every year. And it�s so amazing to witness the evolution of ARISE. The evolution of the community. The evolution of the land, the art, the music. Everything just keeps growing deeper and deeper and just -- [00:23:41.19] PAUL: Viva la evolution. [00:23:43.06] DAVID: Yeah. It is so much more potent. So, we only have like a couple more minutes left. And I just wanted to ask - so how do people hear more about ARISE. Like what's the website they can go to? [00:23:52.20] PAUL: Well thank you. [00:23:53.19] DAVID: A lot of the people listening - for all you all out there not in Colorado - you should check it out. I am not sure there is a live stream or stream or something. [00:24:02.00] PAUL: Well first of all go to ARISE Festival do com. It�s not complicated. ARISE Festival dot com. And you know you were asking about new things - and I have to mention this because we are really excited about this. We have partnered with Bust To Show and people can ride round trip to the ARISE Festival for $5 from Denver, Boulder or Ft. Collins. So that's for folks on the front range and that's something that we're excited about but there is also travel packages and all this kind of thing is available on the - people who are coming from outside of this uh state we do a thing where they can get glam camping, or they can have their tent already set up uh before they ever get there. So again, the easiest thing to do is to go ARISE festival dot com and start just searching around the website and you'll learn about all that is possible. And we still have surprises yet that we haven't announced yet and so I encourage people to -- [00:24:58.07] DAVID: That's what I was trying to get out of you. I wanted to hear something that no one has heard, but you know. [00:25:03.03] PAUL: You want me to break news here? [00:25:05.03] DAVID: Yeah! I understand if you can't, but I am going to push you to see if you want to. [00:25:11.07] PAUL: Well uh there are uh - certain restrictions that are holding me back from announcing some of the artists that we're going to be announcing soon. So, what I would encourage people to do is to go ARISE Festival dot com and sign up for the newsletters because the people who subscribe to the ARISE newsletter are going to be the absolute first to receive those updates. And another thing that we're doing - if you subscribe to that newsletter is we're starting a thing -- the environmental and social justice newsletter that we're going to be doing once a month that is designed just to empower people and encourage people to make positive choices. To be aware. To be engaged. To be involved and that's a really exciting thing. For those of us that work on the festival because it�s a way to take our core values beyond the festival and to be a part of building community to be part of a larger movement. [00:26:07.23] DAVID: And just so everyone knows - it is August 3rd to the 5th. And it�s at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado. And, there is another thing I just want to say - so I had Lauren Ciovacco on the podcast maybe three podcasts ago - four. And, he actually got married at ARISE. [00:26:27.02] PAUL: That's right. [00:26:27.14] DAVID: And it�s like his second wedding anniversary when he does ARISE. And he also works the medical tent. So, he does a lot of work there. And I just kind - and he is a brother of mine, so I just want to shout. Like so much love for him. [00:26:38.05] PAUL: Yes, a brother of mine. He and his lovely wife Andi uh -- [00:26:43.16] DAVID: Got little twins coming. [00:26:44.08] PAUL: Yes. And we put that out in our newsletter on Valentine's Day. [00:26:48.18] DAVID: His family didn't even know until the newsletter came out. [00:26:50.21] PAUL: Yeah. So -- [00:26:52.06] DAVID: Oops. [00:26:52.06] PAUL: So fun stuff and wonderful people. So, thank you. Actually, when we first heard from them - got an email from - I didn't know them at this time. I got an email from Andrea. I think she just wrote to info@arisefestival.com and it was given to me saying that these people want to have a - get married at ARISE. I thought wow that is so cool. We ended up giving them the yoga tent space to have their ceremony. [00:27:18.03] DAVID: A beautiful space. [00:27:18.12] PAUL: But at first, I saw uh that it was - Andrea and Lauren and I just assumed that was a marriage equality kind of thing. Didn't realize that Lauren was a he, but they are beautiful people and we're so uh happy that ARISE has that family feeling for people. That it�s a safe place to be able to do such a thing. [00:27:38.19] DAVID: Yeah and I just love this connection with ARISE and Naropa. And so last year we had a - we had a partnership and we did a workshop on Right Livelihood and bringing that out of the music festival - so living to fullest potential. [00:27:51.18] PAUL: You did a panel. [00:27:51.18] DAVID: We did a panel talk. We also, we had our booth so it�s really amazing for you to let us have another booth, another - we're going to have a sematic workshop. It�s just so amazing. [00:28:01.12] PAUL: There is no more you's. It�s just us. And you know everybody that's involved with this festival in some way or another whether Naropa University or every vendor, every sponsor, every ticket buyer, every volunteer, every staff member of Sunrise Ranch - everybody is a stakeholder. And together everybody lifts this thing up and again I just want to say that our conscious intention is to live up to the name ARISE and to raise the bar and come up with ways that we could be a more loving community. A more productive community, a - have more fun than anybody else can have any other time throughout the year and I know that people leave this festival and for a couple of days their cheeks hurt from smiling. You know, but if we are going to be effective as a community of people uh that are part of a larger community of people that are part of a global community of people - to - that we're going to be effective in creating a world that we want our children and grandchildren to inherit from us. If we really recognize that we are the ancestors of the future, then we have to - come together and celebrate in the most high way. And, music is that fire that we gather around and so uh - we're just trying to you know do it right. [00:29:21.16] DAVID: You're doing it right. [00:29:22.09] PAUL: Well, yeah thank you. We are. Thank you for being part of it. [00:29:24.17] DAVID: We are doing it right. [00:29:25.04] PAUL: And the ARISE music festival is thrilled to be in this partnered relationship with Naropa University - kindred spirits, like minds uh - and soul sisters and brothers. [00:29:39.05] DAVID: Yeah, we're just doing it. I really appreciate you uh just sharing with us today. It was really beautiful so thank you. [00:29:44.07] PAUL: Thank you very much. See you at ARISE. [00:29:47.06] DAVID: Oh yeah. So, I would like to thank our very special guest Paul Bassis and thank you for coming. He is an activist. He is a producer - a music festival producer and the co-founder or ARISE music festival in Sunrise Ranch, Colorado. So, thank you so much. [00:30:03.06] PAUL: Thank you. [MUSIC] On behalf of the Naropa community thank you for listening to Mindful U. The official podcast of Naropa University. Check us out at www.naropa.edu or follow us on social media for more updates. [MUSIC]