Take a deep inhale, hold it for a second, and let it go. Feel your shoulders drop, maybe the muscles around your eyes relax. If you like that feeling, the feeling of relaxing through breath, then this might be the festival for you. Art With Me is a music festival where music isn’t the whole point. It’s just one of the festival’s six pillars — along with art, food, wellness, culture and education — which festival organizers hope foster balance for those who attend. Next to performances of (comparatively) low-key house music performed by superstars like Bedouin, Jamie XX and more, there’s breathwork, sound healing, tarot, vague “alternative therapies,” similarly vague mushroom-centric activities, multiple types of yoga, workshops on art and human connection, herbalism, cacao ceremonies, talks on the environment and, of course, NFTs.
After starting in Tulum, Mexico, in 2018, Art With Me brought its consciousness-raising retreat to the barrier islands of Miami in 2021. Just one weekend before Art Basel, Art With Me erects huge sculptures of nameless people at Virginia Key. A latticed woman made of gold sits near the shore; a massive wooden man whose chest splits open into an walkable arch draped with plants acts as a gate of sorts. The stages themselves are boho, decorated with lantern lights and strings of decorative flowers interspersed between the trees. Unsurprisingly, people like to compare Art with Me to Burning Man.
For all of its buzzword activities, Art With Me does seem earnest in its mission. It sends only a small fraction of its waste to a landfill, composting and recycling the rest, and runs a nonprofit, Care With Me, that promotes art and care for Earth among children. At least during the day, this is a family-friendly event, too, with dedicated kids programming.
The Specs
- Tickets come in two levels: General Admission and Premium. Both are available for one or two days.Two-day GA passes start at $169.
- Two-day family packages are available for those that want to bring their kiddos. They start at $126.75.
- Here’s the festival’s app to help get you through the weekend.
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