Elements Dance Festival Co-Founder: Independent Thought and Experimentation Benefit the Entire Industry
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<img class="c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto" src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-Festival-2026.jpg?w=942&h=628&crop=1" alt="Elements Festival Experience" srcset="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-Festival-2026.jpg?w=942&h=628&crop=1 1800w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-Festival-2026.jpg?w=942&h=628&crop=1&resize=300%2C200 300w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-Festival-2026.jpg?w=942&h=628&crop=1&resize=681%2C454 681w" sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 100vw" height="" width="" decoding="async">
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<span>Elements Festival Highlights</span>
<cite class="lrv-u-color-grey-dark lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0094 lrv-u-font-size-10 u-line-height-17px u-margin-t-2px">Julian Bajsel</cite>
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The highly anticipated 2026 edition of the Elements Music & Arts Festival officially commences today (Aug. 7) at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. What originally launched in 2013 as an intimate, single-day gathering in Brooklyn has steadily evolved into an expansive three-day woodland celebration nestled deep within the Pocono Mountains.
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Even as a proudly independent production, Elements boasts a world-class artist roster capable of rivaling any major electronic music enterprise. This year's stellar lineup features heavyweights such as Charlotte de Witte, Chris Lake, Subtronics, Porter Robinson, Of the Trees, Above & Beyond, Cloonee, Excision, and Azzeca. Organizers project an enthusiastic attendance of up to 40,000 festival-goers, marking a substantial increase from the 33,000 participants who gathered in 2025. The event is spearheaded by co-founders Brett Herman and Timothy Monkiewicz, supported by a dedicated core group and countless seasonal staff members.
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Characterized by its whimsical atmosphere and immersive artistry, Elements frequently draws comparisons to renowned North American gatherings like Lightning in a Bottle, Electric Forest, and Shambhala. Each of these kindred events channels the free-spirited ethos of Burning Man—a community gathering Herman has attended twenty times and consciously integrated into the festival's DNA. Consequently, the primary focus remains centered on interactive art, shared adventures, and participant-driven culture, empowering attendees to craft custom camp installations throughout the wooded landscape.
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Sustaining and scaling an independent festival within one of the nation's most competitive entertainment markets—situated a mere 100 miles outside New York City—presents a formidable operational hurdle.</p>
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“It has been an extraordinary challenge,” Herman acknowledges. “An independent festival encounters the exact same economic pressures as any other business—navigating persistent inflation, fluctuating fuel prices, and global uncertainties. On one side, fixed operational expenses continue to climb, while on the other, consumer discretionary spending is tightening. Essentially, the candle is burning from both ends.”</p>
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Despite these hurdles, Elements 2026 stands as the most ambitious and fully realized iteration in the festival's history. Herman proudly asserts that this year’s installment is “elevated in every conceivable way.” The 2026 grounds introduce entirely redesigned Fire and Earth stages, alongside substantial sonic and visual enhancements to the Air and Water environments, complemented by a massive influx of interactive art installations.</p>
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“A core pillar of the Elements philosophy is the ambition to dream bigger, bolder, and more imaginatively with each passing year,” Herman notes.</p>
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<img class="c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto" src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-billboard-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif" data-lazy-src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025.jpg?w=300" alt="Elements Festival Crowd" data-lazy-srcset="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025.jpg 1800w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025.jpg?resize=681,454 681w" data-lazy-sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 100vw" height="683" width="1024" decoding="async">
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<span>Elements Festival Grounds</span>
<cite class="u-letter-spacing-0094 lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-size-10 u-margin-t-2px">Julian Bajsel</cite>
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Securing long-term stability and high-profile talent was far from guaranteed. The festival successfully navigated pandemic restrictions by hosting *In My Elements*, an exclusive 250-person retreat requiring rigorous health screenings. However, the 2021 event faced severe logistical hurdles—including lengthy entry queues and unexpected flooding from Hurricane Ida at its former Lakewood, Pennsylvania location. These setbacks ultimately prompted a relocation roughly 70 miles south to Long Pond. Even at the new site, adversity struck in 2024 when the remnants of Hurricane Debby triggered localized flooding and necessitated a hasty restructuring of the opening day schedule.<br><br>“Inclement weather in the Northeast remains a persistent obstacle, serving as a critical lesson during our transition from a rustic summer camp to a professional racetrack venue,” Herman reflects. “We understood the absolute necessity of engineering a site capable of withstanding environmental extremes.”<br><br>Through perseverance, Elements has not merely survived; it has flourished. Below, Herman shares insights into scaling an independent brand, the vital role grassroots events play in the broader festival economy, and more.</p>
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<strong>Financial discipline is paramount for any festival, particularly an independent venture. How does Elements approach budgeting?</strong><br><br>It is an exceedingly delicate balancing act to deliver an extraordinary consumer experience while maintaining genuine value. We strive to price our tickets competitively compared to industry peers, ensuring exceptional value for our audience. Achieving this requires rigorous oversight from our entire team at every phase of production. There is no room for financial bloat. We must source the most competitive vendor bids while fiercely protecting the capital allocated toward experiential upgrades—the magical details that ultimately define a guest's weekend.</p>
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<strong>Those magical details are crucial. How do you cultivate that surreal environment without overextending financially?</strong><br><br>We have continuously reinvested back into the guest experience throughout our history—pouring resources into artistic installations and intangible elements. While those upfront capital expenditures sting in the short term, they yield profound long-term dividends.<br><br>For instance, wandering through the woodlands reveals spontaneous art pieces, hidden side quests, and pop-up performances. Because we have the privilege of constructing permanent infrastructure, we can conceptualize bolder, more intricate architectural marvels and amortize those investments across multiple years. That strategic continuity has been instrumental in shaping our long-term vision rather than starting from scratch annually.</p>
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<img class="c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto" src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-billboard-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif" data-lazy-src="https://www.billboard.com/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025-3.jpg?w=200" alt="Artistic Installations at Elements" data-lazy-srcset="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025-3.jpg 1800w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Billboard-Elements-2025-3.jpg?resize=200,300 200w" data-lazy-sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 100vw" height="1024" width="683" decoding="async">
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<span>Artistic Installations</span>
<cite class="u-letter-spacing-0094 lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-size-10 u-margin-t-2px">Julian Bajsel</cite>
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<strong>Proximity to New York City presents immense opportunities within a competitive dance music market. Do regional radius clauses pose a significant obstacle?</strong></p>
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They certainly can be challenging. However, we have cultivated strong, collaborative relationships with the stakeholders involved in these negotiations, and more often than not, we successfully reach a mutually beneficial compromise. There is a distinct cultural appreciation for independent promoters. People genuinely recognize the hustle. Even as operating expenses—spanning artist guarantees, vendor rates, and labor costs—continue to escalate, there is a collective desire to see independent operators thrive. The broader music industry benefits immensely from independent innovation and risk-taking.</p>
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<strong>You consistently secure high-profile headliners. What attracts top-tier talent to your festival?</strong></p>
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We offer an exceptionally distinct environment compared to standard arenas or traditional concert venues. It circles back to those intangible elements: awe-inspiring stage designs, immersive woodland environments, and curated non-musical attractions. </p>
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All of these components culminate in a deeply community-centric happening. Because the overall journey extends far beyond the perimeter of any single stage, the holistic package offers an experience radically different from standard talent-driven bookings.</p>
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<img class="c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto" src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-billboard-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif" data-lazy-src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bilboard-Elements-2025-2.jpg?w=200" alt="Headliners at Elements Festival" data-lazy-srcset="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bilboard-Elements-2025-2.jpg 1800w, https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bilboard-Elements-2025-2.jpg?resize=200,300 200w" data-lazy-sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 100vw" height="1024" width="683" decoding="async">
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<span>Main Stage Energy</span>
<cite class="u-letter-spacing-0094 lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-size-10 u-margin-t-2px">Julian Bajsel</cite>
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<strong>What is your vision for the future expansion of Elements?</strong></p>
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One of our founding tenets is that every edition must surpass its predecessor in creativity. That objective constantly challenges us to elevate production standards and captivate our audience year after year. We generate far more concepts than we can realistically execute annually. My favorite aspect of the production cycle is the preliminary brainstorming phase, where we encourage our creative teams to propose concepts entirely uninhibited by financial or physical constraints.</p>
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We subsequently scale those blueprints down based on shifting ticketing metrics throughout the year. Because we archive countless ambitious ideas for future installments, we maintain a limitless blueprint for continuous growth. Determining a strict capacity ceiling is difficult, as the priority is maintaining an intimate, comfortable atmosphere rather than chasing sheer scale. Our ultimate goal is not to be the largest festival on earth, but rather to craft one of the most transcendent festival experiences available anywhere.</p>
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