Sitting Down with Britz Robins, Shambhala 2015

For Britz Robins, being Shambha-Mom is just one of the many joys that comes with being part of Canada’s longest running electronic music festival. First attending Shambhala in 2003 as an enthusiastic fan, Robins has been working with Shambhala going on nine years, becoming the first full-time employee hired outside of the family back in 2008. Her role has changed over the years, from admin help to vendor coordinator, to hosting the press during the festival but her holistic, grassroots approach means she is someone you can always talk to at the festival.

Nomadic Groove (NG): Let’s talk about the festival’s growth in popularity in the past few years.

Britz Robins: The first year I went in 2003, Shambhala was 3,000 people. So to watch it blossom and grow into this beautiful festival that is a world-wide name now… We’re still a small festival in the scheme of things, but we’re a small festival with a big name. I think that’s really cool. It’s been really amazing to watch the growth. And then just watching the level of production that Shambhala has come to has been really amazing for me.

NG: What are some of the challenges that Shambhala is facing this year?

BR: Entry is always a challenge. Getting every one in, in a timely manner, is always a challenge because you have so many people showing up. Our gates don’t open until 8:00 am on Wednesday [August 5], and people choose to show up nearly 24 hours before the gates open. So there’s the challenge of making sure every one is practicing good self care when they’re in the heat of the day like that. We used to have people line up along the side of the highway and then people were being very unsafe. So we just decided that it would be much safer just to hold people on the property which is what we do now.

NG: Speaking of safety, what are some of the precautions that Shambhala puts in place to ensure that festival goers can have the most fun possible while also staying safe?

BR: We actually have the most harm reduction plan of any festival in North America. We have a fully staffed medical team that includes doctors, nurses and paramedics. The minimum is level three for your first aid. So it’s a high level of care on that end. And then also with our harm reduction, we have an education pill testing tent that’s run by an organization called ANKORS out of Nelson [BC]. That’s a very, very big part of keeping people safe. Giving them the education and the tools they need to make better decisions about how they’re partying.

NG: Tell me more about the harm reduction strategy used by Shambhala.

BR: Our harm reduction team is really forward thinking. Harm reduction’s goal is to meet people where they’re at. So whatever you’re at in life, whatever that means to you, they’re going to meet you where you’re at and give you the support and education you need to do what you need to do, or support you in staying clean and sober. They’re such a beautiful, caring group of people.

NG: What are some of the safety services that Shambhala provides for people that are different from other festivals?

BR: We have The Sanctuary. It started out as a psychedelic crisis comedown area, but it’s actually evolved to be much more than that. Basically, people who are high on psychedelics, they don’t need to be in first aid. At the same time, you can’t really send them back out to the party. They need somewhere to chill out and calm down and so that’s kind of how that space was created. But it’s evolved into this space that’s more of a mental health care unit. It ends up being kind of like a counselling space. Anyone who needs emotional support in any way would go to that area. It’s a pretty interesting offering as far as festivals go I think.

We have a thing called Outreach and they’re our mobile harm reduction unit. They basically go around and talk to people about safe partying. They tell them where they can access harm reduction services.

We also have a women’s safe space. So that’s kind of like The Sanctuary but it’s a much smaller, quieter space. Women only. If someone is feeling unsafe in their camp, or whatever, we can have them there. It does offer a lot of the same kind of counselling and support that The Sanctuary does.

Finally we have camp Clean Beats which is a clean and sober campsite. That’s for people who are in recovery and for people who choose to party without the use of substances. There’s people outside that camp that choose to party that way but this is more for people that want that kind of guaranteed environment. So they do three AA style meetings per day for the folks who are recovery. It’s a pretty cool offering and it’s rather new. We’ve been doing it for three years. We have people who have been in recovery and thought they could never go to festivals again. They come out to Shambhala and there’s just this really beautiful support system for them and it blows them away that it’s even something that’s available to them.

NG: What are some of the issues Shambhala has faced when trying to implement harm reduction programs on the grounds?

BR: We’ve really been thought leaders in this particular area and it’s a little bit different culture out here in BC. BC in general has been very forward thinking in terms of harm reduction [the needle exchange in Vancouver]. Our main goal is to keep people safe and we have a track record of doing that. Even when we’ve come up against potential issues, people have been able to see the value and the additional safety it provides. It’s definitely something that we think about and that we know is a huge challenge. We would love to see other festivals be able to move forward with programs like this. At the end of the day, it’s really about keeping people safe.

We’ve had a very safe festival. We’ve been running for 18 years now and we’ve had two fatalities. One was drug related and the other was a pre-existing health condition. If you look at other events, what we’re seeing at Shambhala is nowhere near that [numbers of deaths and hospitalizations] and I think it has a lot to do with our high level of care and the fact that we’re educating people on how to make safer party decisions. Part of that is that it’s not just this is what this does, this is what that does. It’s make sure you’re sleeping enough. Maybe people call me Rave Mom because this is kind of the culture I come from. Shambhala has a very maternal, motherly thing going on where we’re like okay you’ve had such a good party tonight, maybe you should go sleep a little bit, drink lots of water… We do put out that kind of messaging, and it’s really important to us. Self-care is as big a part of partying safe, as everything else is.

NG: What’s it like being Shambha-Mom?

BR: Most of the time it’s really good. Sometimes people can let their emotions run a little high and Mom has to step in and tell them to take a time-out. They’re such a great group of people and I really enjoy the fact that part of my job is having an online relationship with some of these people. I think it’s really cool. And then the best part of that is meeting people in person on the grounds and actually being able to give them a hug.

NG: Any advice for noobs from Shambha-Mom?

BR: Don’t get too caught up in your own schedule. Take some time to just let go of where you need to be and what you need to do and just go where the music or adventure takes you because that is one of the funnest parts of Shambhala. Just kind of, letting go of your own agenda and seeing where you end up.

Shambhala takes place August 7 – August 10 in Salmo Valley, BC. The festival first took place in 1998, celebrating local music and art with 500 people gathering on the ranch of the Bundschuh family. Now, the grounds are transformed into the biggest city in the West Kootenays for the weekend of music, dance, art and lots of Shambhalove.

Check out my five favourite moments from last year’s event.