Wizards' Exposé - Ritual Art Showcase
Ritual Art Showcase of Austin’s weird and wondrous wizards. This brand activation and costume gala promoted Enchantments Media’s new Youtube channel launch and provided a platform for mixed-level performers to influence the community with unique ritual performance magick in a supportive setting.
An Enchantments Media Production
Enchantments Media produced the Wizards’ Exposé to active the Enchantments brand and further the mission of liberating our creative genius and loving our fate.
The Activation
The Challenge
The Enchantments brand had begun to gain traction through our Vocal Chaos Magic workshops, integrated marketing activations, and a few viral blog posts. As part of our expansion, we were gearing up to launch our YouTube channel—an exciting new venture that promised to further elevate our brand presence. To kickstart this initiative, we devised an experiential marketing campaign aimed at cultivating a dedicated fan base in Austin for our YouTube channel. Our overarching goal was to surpass 100 subscribers and drive increased workshop attendance, leveraging the power of local engagement and digital outreach.
The Role
Partnering with Ministry of Muse, also known as M.O.M, led by Bre Lembitz and Iffy Roma, served a dual purpose:
The collaboration would assist M.O.M. in solidifying its position as a burgeoning Events Production company in Austin.
The Wizards’ Exposé production would establish a community of consciously-minded co-creators with a rich network of local performers.
In this partnership, Bre Lembitz handled ticketing and accounting, while Iffy Roma managed stage flow and performances. As the Creative Director and production lead, my role was to ensure that the Enchantments vision was faithfully executed and that every customer touch-point reinforced the Enchantments Media brand. This encompassed directing event branding, designing campaign assets and sourcing print materials, developing the micro-site, securing creative partnerships and sponsors, overseeing set design and crowd flow, handling booking and venue logistics, coordinating staff, and orchestrating event programing and writing scripts.
Additionally, I offered a complimentary psychomagic workshop to all booked performers, ensuring that the ethos of the Enchantments brand permeated through all showcased rituals with the intention of catalyzing positive shifts within the community. Alongside the fabulous Ixi Davis, I also served as the Master of Ceremonies,
Guests were enthusiastically urged to attend adorned in full wizard attire, thus embodying their most empowered selves and contributing to the enchanting atmosphere of the gathering. Folks in costume received a $5 discount.
To commence the evening, we initiated a clowning workshop followed by a ceremonial dance. Recognizing laughter as a potent pathway to transcendence, inspired by the sacred Heyoka clown priest in the Lakota tradition, participants bestowed blessings upon one another through gibberish incantations, liberating themselves from any fixed identities by embodying alternate archetypes.
The opening ceremony seamlessly transitioned into an ecstatic dance deeply rooted in the 5-rhythms dance practice. Capitalizing on Austin's vibrant dance community and their yearning for sacred, conscious dance spaces, this ritual alone attracted nearly 150 participants, setting the tone for the night.
Then, the festivities took a delightfully weird turn with a psychedelic fashion show. Featuring severed mannequin heads, towering glamorous jellyfish, mischievous muddy bog trolls, and a procession of aristocratic goat-headed figures. Enchantments garnered significant attention through social media by capturing and sharing photos and videos of audience members strutting their stuff on the catwalk, thereby amplifying our online presence and paving the way for future events.
Following the fashion extravaganza, the ritual art performances took center stage, showcasing the talents of 13 diverse artists, each allotted a 5-minute slot to perform a public ritual. Embracing participants of all skill levels and backgrounds, the event was lauded for its inclusivity and diversity of acts, which ranged from mesmerizing fire-dancing and avant-garde drag latex-kink to graceful Korean fan dancing, breathtaking aerial performances, captivating acrobatic displays, and exotic bouffant clowning.
The closing ceremony unfolded in the form of an old-school hip-hop magick-themed clown dance party. Despite the relatively steep $30 ticket price for the Austin scene, the event sold out, packing the venue to standing room only. Our partners, Gem and Bolt Mescal and Third Eye Tonics, expressed their delight at the surge in social media engagement and product purchases, further solidifying the success of the evening.
Not only did we exceed our initial target of 100 YouTube Subscribers, but we also successfully solidified Enchantments Media as a prominent local brand dedicated to fostering genius, liberation, self-awareness, and love within our community. Our commitment extends beyond mere content creation; we leverage the transformative potential of social-practice art and psychomagic public rituals to engage our audience in profound ways. Through our innovative approach to experiential branding, we sparked meaningful conversations, facilitated personal growth journeys, and created a supportive space for exploration and self-discovery.