Portugal
Artur Mendes
ESNS: 2024
Co-director, Boom Festival / Being Gathering
Born in Lisboa, Portugal. Besides being one of the directors of Boom Festival and the Being Gathering, two transformational festivals, he is also a member of the board of directors of Portuguese Association of Shows, Festivals and Events - APEFE. University degree in Social and Organisational Psychology (ISCTE - University of Lisboa), later started a MA in Culture Management. Studies on permaculture, ecovillages design, organic agriculture, THNK School of Creative Leadership, and design thinking. Sports, meditation, and culture journalism are part of his background too. The will to support change led him to work on the social sector on ICE - Instituto das Comunidades Educativas, Associação Khapaz, and CET - Centro de Estudos Territoriais. He became active in the electronic music scene in Portugal in the mid 90s. He has been involved with Boom since the early days as party-goer and production staff besides organising and curating events of several genres. He was part of the curation and executive production of Red Bull Music Academy Portugal, and co-curating music releases for Red Bull Homegroove, Buraka Som Sistema/Red Bull, and Dance Club magazine. As culture and music writer was a former collaborator with media outlets such as NEO2, Dance Club, DIF, Zoot, LuxFrágil, LeCool, Ling, Mini International, or Yorn. For Portuguese TV contributed to the iconic culture shows “Pop Up” for RTP and “Fuzz” for SIC TV station. He co-wrote/co-produced documentaries such as “Lusofonia, A (R)Evolução” and “Boom Festival 20 Years”. He was a contributing writer for the books “Goa 20 Years of Psychedelic Trance” and “Da Raia Seca ao Pinhal”. He was editor and co-writer of “Boom Book” and “Boom Festival 20 Years: A Visual and Oral History”. Representing Boom, he has been a guest speaker in events such as Web Summit, ADE Green, Nuits Sonores, Green Events and Innovations, ADE Mumbai, CTM, European Festival Conference, Talk Fest, Event Summit UK, Green Operations, MIL Lisboa, BIME, Re:Build, Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture workshops, among others. His purpose as a Boom team member is to positively affect people through initiatives that transform them and regenerate the land to awaken the subversive self of the Boomers so they can transform their communities when going back home.