Preview | The Collective digs back to their roots with Flower Moon Festival

The Collective will host the Flower Moon festival April 29 at the Garden Amphitheater, featuring 15 musical acts made up of current and former members of the student organization, which is a network for local entertainers and artists. Poster courtesy of Makena Snipes

For music festival lovers experiencing post-Coachella blues, a third lineup of performances awaits just a quick shuttle ride away from campus. With up-and-coming talent, free transportation and a bar for students ages 21 and up, supporters of the local art scene can spend the night basking in the talent of Chapman students, graduates and dropouts. 

On April 29 from 5-10 p.m. The Collective will host the Flower Moon music festival at the Garden Amphitheater in Garden Grove. Three stages will be occupied by 15 acts made up of current and former Collective members, along with vendors selling products and artists’ merch. While the Collective may have begun hosting performances at house parties, coffee shops and warehouses, president Lexi Zdanov said they’re ready to take on the bigger stage. 

“This event is meant to reach out to the greater Chapman community and the greater Orange community to get people to come through and see what we're about and what we've been working our asses off for,” said Zdanov, a senior health science and dance double major.

The Collective is an arts and music club with a goal of providing exposure to artists around Chapman, regardless of major, year or medium. The club was born in 2019 when Chapman alumnus Phil Mentz wanted to host a festival to bring the university’s arts community together; however, this was postponed due to the pandemic. 

The Collective leaders and performers gather on the steps of Memorial Hall to promote their upcoming Flower Moon festival. Photo courtesy of Lexi Zdanov

As a final project for The Collective, Zdanov dedicated her senior year to bringing Mentz’ original goal to life — thus the Flower Moon festival was born. 

When looking for performers, Zdanov had two conditions: the artist had 30 minutes of original music and could fill out a contract on time. 

“I don't believe that you have to work your way up and pay your dues to get to that gig you want,” Zdanov said. “I think that if you're the most talented person in the room and you're passionate and you want to do that gig, then why should I hold you back from doing that?” 

Gracing the stage, singer and junior business administration major Will Tulp will perform a 30-minute set. Under the subtle stage name Will “Tulip,” Tulp joined The Collective to gain confidence as a performer and grow his platform to over 28,000 monthly Spotify listeners, with his song “Highdrive” reaching over 1 million streams.  

“(During the pandemic) I'd been releasing stuff here and there, feeling generally uninspired like most people were feeling during the time,” Tulp said. “I needed to light a fire under my ass into doing things that would actually make me happy and fulfilled again. I started playing some shows with The Collective and I fell back in love with the idea of doing music.”

Although he’s still mastering the nuances of performing, like properly sipping water without spilling on himself, Tulp isn’t set on the idea of perfection. 

“As long as I'm having fun up there and making it fun for everybody … then it's going to be a good show,” Tulp said. “It doesn't really matter if I sing every note beautifully and it doesn't matter if every once in a while we end the song too late or too early. Who really cares about that at the end of the day?”

Alongside Tulp, four former Collective members will grace the stages, including Kate Stephenson, who served as the opening performer for Summer Salt, and Arden Jones, who will be opening for the upcoming Tai Verdes tour. 

“Everyone is right on the verge of blowing up where everyone's gonna know their name,” Zdanov said. “We're catching everyone at a time where you can say, ‘I saw them first at the Flower Moon festival.’” 

Junior strategic corporate and communication major Jackson Gefen told The Panther he’ll be crossing off a bucket list item by performing at a music festival. With dreams of becoming a DJ, Gefen first began performing his freshman year of high school doing sets at an arcade in what he calls “the sketchiest part of Seattle.” After moving onto working at festivals, Gefen is bringing lessons he learned along the way to The Collective.

“What I've learned is that no one takes you seriously when you're young,” Gefen said. “No one takes you seriously until you can prove that you're going to put in effort. (Flower Moon) has been in the making for a long time, and I hope that when we throw this festival, we set the precedent that we're capable of doing this.”

For Gefen, The Collective has become his support system. With the help of over 100 contributors to put this festival together, he said the process has instilled his faith in the local art scene and given him a community to fall back on.

“It's very humbling and it's very heartwarming,” Gefen said. “I mean it's having people who love to see you do what you love. There's no way to describe it, honestly.”

Tulp seconded Gefen’s notion by saying he’s never been short of help on anything he pursues. He even has developed from a solo act to a band through musicians he met at The Collective. 

“I'm so lucky that I have a group of awesome incredible musicians (who are) leagues better than (me) in terms of technical performance,” Tulp said. “At the same time, they're so willing and excited to play my original music and to help change it up and to help make it as good as it can be.”

According to Zdanov — barring any “tragic mishaps” — her, Tulp and Gefen will commemorate all their hard work and dedication with matching tattoos of the Flower Moon logo. For those on the fence about attending the festival, all three send the same message: don’t hesitate to come support your local artists.

“If you're creative in any aspect, you should be coming to this event, because I think that this event is the culmination of the creativity and imagination of a bunch of us,” Gefen said. “If you're passionate about anything in the arts, there's no reason for you not to come to this event, because this is the highlight and showcase of our imagination and aspirations and our creativity gone wild.”

Tickets for the Flower Moon festival are available for purchase on TicketWeb through The Collective’s Instagram page. Tickets are $25 for Chapman students with a valid ID and $30 for non-Chapman guests. To secure transportation to the event, send a direct message to The Collective’s Instagram account.