ZAOstock 2026 · Sponsors and partners
Thank you to everyone who backed ZAOstock 2026.
Saturday, October 3, 2026. Franklin Street Parklet, downtown Ellsworth, Maine, then Black Moon Public House next door. These are the partners who supported it.
Who supported 2026
The partners.
Each had a named point of contact on the ZAO team.
- City of Ellsworth
- Parklet venue
- Black Moon Public House
- The evening, and the official after-party
- Star 97.7
- Local radio promotion
- Wallace Events
- Event equipment and tenting
- WaveWarZ
- Live music-battle format, online all year
- COC Concertz
- Co-presenter
- Bomb Squad
- Crew, content and merch
- WE THE MEDIA
- Media and content capture
- Heart of Ellsworth
- Community partner, Art of Ellsworth: Maine Craft Weekend
- Baraza
- AI-voice media distribution
Who we are
The ZAO, since 2024. Every week.
The ZAO is an independent community of musicians and digital creators. Music first, community second, technology third. ZAO Festivals is its events arm; ZAOstock is its flagship, and it runs at break-even.
100+consecutive weekly sessions since 30 July 2024
3live festivals run since 2024, before ZAOstock
- ZAO-PALOOZA
- New York City, 2024. Twelve artists. Volunteer-organised in six weeks. Broke even.
- ZAO-CHELLA
- Miami, Wynwood, during Art Basel, December 2024. The first live WaveWarZ battle.
- ZAOville
- Laurel, Maryland, July 2026. Co-hosted with DCoop.
WaveWarZ
Two artists go head to head. The audience decides.
A live music-battle format, online all year. The audience picks the winner, and the winning artist is paid straight away.
1,596battles run, as of 1 October 2026
A future edition
Want to talk about the next one?
ZAOstock 2027: Saturday, September 18, 2027. Place to be announced.
Write to info@thezao.com.