Atlas Festival

Hey there travellers! If you're reading this then you're a little bit interested in our story...

At the end of January 2016 I left my events catering job of over 10 years. I enjoyed the freedom of the events world and loved the career progression within the company, however I'd always had a yearning to run my own business and it felt like the right time. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do; I needed the freedom of making my own decisions but I couldn't even decide what direction I wanted to go in now that I'd gained that freedom!

So I ran away across the world to 'find' myself... Well, not really. I absolutely loved travelling and seeing what the world has to offer, and I took the opportunity to have a break after all those years of 16 hour days and weekend working. After 2 months of exploring I'd love to say I had inspiration for my new company whilst sunbathing on the white sands of Gili Trawangan, however it wasn't to be. I came home with even less of a clue what I wanted to do.

After a summer of part-time work at my old company and feeling at a bit of a loss and a failure, it hit me... Wanderlust and everything about the exploration lifestyle, that's what I needed to bring to my new business. I had all these ideas bubbling up and in my excitement I'd planned an event before I'd even thought of a company name. I wanted Atlas to be a celebration of what was out there, a festival like no other, fusing music with inspirational ideas and activities all based on travelling the world, hence the tagline 'The World In a Weekend'. Using the travelling theme I wanted to bring new ideas to the festival world- having imaginative areas such as the Adventure Park where you can participate in outdoor activities, the workshops which have all been hand selected to represent the varied idea of 'travel' and what it encompasses, the inspirational speakers and countries which are favourites of mine and companies involved are only ones I believe in. Travelling is not a 'one-size-fits-all' model and so the focus of Atlas is on all the different experiences you can get out of life, not just a focus on the music available which is the norm for most mainstream festivals nowadays.

Floor 3 Events Ltd, my company, was finally born in September 2016, and I could concentrate fully on bringing my vision of Atlas to life. Floor 3 sounds like a strange name for an events company, however it has a sweet meaning. Many, many moons ago I met the most wonderful, extraordinary, inspirational group of ladies you could ever wish to meet in our university halls. We met on floor 3, our home for the year and it became the moniker for our team. The name stuck, and years later what better homage to the people who still keep me going through thick and thin.

Atlas is a constantly growing project and it hasn't been an easy ride- the UK seems to have reached 'peak' festival and the competition is increasing by the day. But we are really working on making it feel like you are part of an intimate experience where we really care about you and what you want out of a travelling event. That's why I appreciate every single ticket sale and make it a personal point to send you a welcome email once you have made the decision to pack your Atlas passport and come and join us.