TLDR
Friends Club is intentionally small, intimate, communal, and deeply cared for. Those same qualities make the current model difficult to sustain. We’re asking our community to help us build a new model for community care — one supported by many people contributing what they can so we can keep protecting what makes Friends Club special.
A vulnerable ask
To preserve what makes Friends Club special, things have to change.
Hearing what Friends Club means to so many of you has had a big impact on us. It has inspired and driven us to go deeper into building a strong and resilient community.
And we need your help to do it.
More than a festival
Friends Club is not just an event for us.
It’s a carefully built environment where people can access a more honest version of themselves in the presence of others doing the same.
The depth of the experience comes from the way people relate and connect to each other, and from realizing that their unique contributions help shape what the weekend becomes.
Community stewardship
Friends Club is an expression of the community culture we're building together, and we're really proud of that. Shaping this culture requires our attention year-round, and mostly happens behind the scenes.
We see this work as important, but we aren’t paid to do it.
We hear you
The most common reflections we heard about this past Friends Club are the same things we love about it. It’s the intimate size, the communal meals, your ability to form deep connections, and that you can feel the care we put into it.
What we all value most about Friends Club are the very things that make the current model difficult to sustain.
The challenge
Friends Club doesn’t fit into the typical event models, which is part of what makes it special.
Most festivals
Stay afloat by adding revenue streams
- Grow attendance every year
- Add sponsors, vendors, VIP tiers
- Sell alcohol and create more ways to spend money on-site
- Use mass marketing
Friends Club
- Intentionally small, intimate, deeply cared for
- Relies on word of mouth to preserve culture
- Communal meals and community vibes
- Nowhere to spend money
Mimicking other event models would fundamentally change what makes Friends Club special.
Let’s build the future we want
Many of us can feel the gap between the world we live in and the one we want to be part of. Society often asks us to move faster and consume more, at the expense of being present and genuinely connected.
We want a culture that reflects what’s important to us. Where people feel valued, not sold to.
Hi/Ed is a place where this community’s vision gets put into practice.
Over time, that can shift what feels normal to us, and how we show up in other parts of our lives.
Our ask
We are asking you to support us in building a new model for community care.
It’s a model built on many people contributing what they can, so the work can keep serving the people it is meant to serve.
Every contribution matters and helps make this vision possible.
We love this work. Come talk to us about it anytime.
If you believe in what Friends Club is becoming, this is one way to support its future.
With love, Paul, Kara, and Hi/Ed
