21st Lotus World Music & Arts Festival
September 18 – 21, 2014
Ticket info • Buy Tickets Online • Festival Schedules
Here’s the big picture — check out the full schedule of events, peruse the artist roster, or visit our performance schedule page!
- Our fab 2014 Festival art (above) comes from Ambica Prakash and Mike Englert, the creative minds behind Washington, DC -based design firm eighty2degrees. Ambica and Mike have Bloomington roots and are Lotus fans — we’re proud to present their design for this year’s Festival T-shirt and collectible pin.
- Lotus season starts on September 5, with the opening of Color + Movement: The Making of Lotus Visual Art, at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center. The show — which is free to the public — is one of several special exhibits of Lotus-related arts and artifacts in the month leading up to the Festival.
- The Festival weekend — September 18 – 21 — starts with a Thursday kick-off concert featuring Söndörgö (from Hungary) and Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (from Italy), and ends with the World Spirit Concert, featuring Arga Bileg (from Mongolia) and Derek Gripper (from South Africa). In between, there’s a weekend full of music from 20+ fantastic performing artists.
- The Festival Arts Village and Lotus in the Park anchor our free Festival programming, with hours of hands-on activities for all ages. In the Arts Village you’ll find everything from inflatable sculptures, to giant masks, to chalk art mandalas, to a giant Lotus brain. At the park, spend the afternoon enjoying live performances, interactive workshops, and arts and crafts.
Buy a 2014 Lotus Pin and show your support for free Festival programming — and the pin gets you into the World Spirit Concert, too.
- Volunteer! We need 500 or so volunteers to bring Lotus to life this September. Check our Volunteer Info section for details, and apply online. The 2014 Volunteer T-shirt design – a tribute to all of the busy volunteer “bees” who work the Lotus hive – is created by illustrator Katie Vernon.
- Be a Sponsor! Festival admission covers just over 60% of Festival costs – the rest comes from donors and sponsors. Check out our Sponsorship info page for details on for details on how you or your business can get involved.
- Coming from out of town? Check our Lotus Lodging page for information on special rates.