The series
ZAO Festivals
The ZAO's series of community-owned, artist-built music festivals. Free to attend, built to help artists grow, and the crowd that funds it owns it. New York, Miami, Maryland and Maine so far; the flagship was ZAOstock in Maine, October 2026.
ZAO Festivals presents ZAOstock. One umbrella, many events, one DNA.
ZAOstock 2027: Saturday, September 18, 2027. Place to be announced.
01
Artist-built
The lineup and the day are built by the artists and the community. Curated by the people in the room.
02
Community-owned
The crowd that funds it owns it. A festival as a protocol, not a product: open, shared, repeatable by anyone.
03
Free and open
Free to attend. Built to help the artists grow. Built in public, every step shared.
The chapters
Four so far.
April 2024
ZAO-PALOOZA
New York City
Twelve artists, the community’s first IRL meetup. Volunteer-organised in six weeks. Broke even.
December 2024
ZAO-CHELLA
Miami, Wynwood, during Art Basel
16+ musicians, 100+ visual artists, the first live WaveWarZ battle, AR art.
July 2026
ZAOville
Laurel, Maryland
Co-hosted with DCoop and The VEC. Open mic, live sets, a DJ night swim.
Oct 3, 2026
FlagshipZAOstock
Ellsworth, Maine
The flagship, and the first in Maine. Free, one day, downtown, at the gateway to Acadia.
The team
Built by these people.
A volunteer crew across operations, music, design, finance, livestream and content.
Maceo
Shawn
Zaal
FailOften
- OB
Ohnahji B
DCoop
Iman Afrikah
Tom Fellenz
- TR
Thy Revolution
- E
Eve
Bacon
Eduard
Cheeka
- Z
zee3
Tony
From the festivals
What it looked like.
ZAO-CHELLA 2024 Miami recap
ZAO-CHELLA 2024 coverage
Be part of it
Sponsor one, play one, talk to us.
In 2027 ZAO Festivals runs two events: ZAOville and ZAOstock.
Questions: info@thezao.com