Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following first  appeared in The Floyd Press on August 4, 2011

The Imagine Tent teen scene at Floydfest was conceived of two years ago during Floydfest Revival when a group of local teens, who were wandering the festival grounds, waved down festival staffer Joe Klein, wanting a ride in his golf cart.  After talking to the teens and learning that they had outgrown many of the activities at the Children’s Universe, Klein asked what they would like to see at Floydfest for their age group.   A brainstorming session ensued, which included the idea of having a tent just for teens.   Klein spoke to Floydfest co-owner Kris Hodges who was immediately on board with the idea and had already been thinking about adding more teen-centered events and activities at the festival.

“Kris wanted a safe and sober hangout were teens would be exposed to consciousness raising opportunities and where they could feel a sense of belonging,” said Klein, founder of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), an organization that hosts transformative retreats for teens, parents and professionals that work with teens.

The Imagine Tent, hosted by iBme, made its debut in the Global Village at the festival in 2010.  This year the tent and scheduled activities were expanded and drew anywhere from a dozen to sixty teens at once throughout the four day music festival, said Kolisha Stermer, an iBme staffer and co-director with Klein of the Imagine Tent.  Participating teens came from all backgrounds. Some had been to iBme retreats in the past, but the majority of participants were newcomers to the scene.

“Kids that didn’t know each other made friends.  A couple of kids from Australia weren’t sure they would fit in but ended up feeling accepted,” said Stermer, who was instrumental in creating a welcoming and relaxing ambiance in the 100 x 40 foot tent, one of the largest at the festival.

Using draped fabric, hanging lamps, and greenery, Stermer and other staff transformed one section of the tent into a lounge. “Floydfest provided the couches, pillows and carpets, as well as a laser light show. Plants were donated on loan by Slaughters,” Stermer said.

Incorporating the iBme teen retreat model, Stermer, Klein and other iBme staffers facilitated  periods of meditative silence and led the teens in small discussion groups and games, designed to help create a sense of community.  Teens also attended “wisdom talks” and workshops, such as mural painting and creative writing.

Some Imagine Tent activities were for teens only, others were open to festival-goers of all ages.  William “Whit” Whitten of Drum Talk in Charlottesville and Charisse Minerva of Portsmouth, a spoken word artist and drummer, led well-attended open drumming lessons, along with spoken word poetry with teens.

Speaker and author of Dharma Punx, Noah Levine, who traveled from California, spoke to the teens on topics of interest to them. Levine, who was a troubled youth, turned his life around through the practice of mindfulness.  “The status-quo is confusing pleasure with happiness,” he said.  He spoke of our culture’s aversion to neutrality, asking, “how can I be happy even when there is no fun or it’s boring or painful?’

Other speakers included Klein, who gave a wisdom talk titled “Sex, Drugs, Facebook, and Ice Cream, which explained to teens how mindless consumption can lead to addiction.

At a closing circle on Sunday afternoon the teens shared appreciation for each other, for the adults involved and for the opportunity to have their own space.  They made a list of suggestions for how to improve the scene for next year. One of the ideas they will be working on is a contest to see who can design the most creative cup holder.  They collectively decided that they didn’t want to use so many plastic bottles of water after being exposed to ideas on sustainability at the festival. Some attended a sustainability panel discussion led by Hodges, SustainFloyd director Mike Burton and several performing artists.  Plans are also in the works to further expand the Imagine Tent offerings to include making musical instruments available for teens that want to learn more about music production and performance.

“The kids were fantastic. They responded to the opportunity and took responsibility for keeping the scene safe and clean,” said Stermer.   The only tricky part was that the teen lounge was so inviting that the Imagine Tent staff had to gently redirect adults who wanted to hang out there.  ~ Colleen Redman