TomorrowWorld

TomorrowWorld
Genre	EDM
Dates	Final weekend of September
Location(s)	Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia
Years active	2013-present
Website
Official site

TomorrowWorld is a large electronic music festival held in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. TomorrowWorld, as Tomorrowland, is organized by ID&T Belgium, owned by two brothers: Manu and Michiel Beers. ID&T Belgium used to be a joint venture with ID&T Holland, however, the two brothers bought out all the shares after ID&T Holland was sold to SFX, an American entertainment company. The festival resides in the town of Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, 25 miles southwest of Atlanta, and has taken place since 2013. In its inaugural year, TomorrowWorld received a nomination for Best Music Event at the International Dance Music Awards.^[1]

History

In March 2013, ID&T and SFX Entertainment announced that it would start holding an American spin-off of Tomorrowland, known as TomorrowWorld.^[2] The festival is held at the Bouckaert's Farm in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, located 25 miles southwest of Atlanta.^[3] The site was specifically chosen due to its resemblance to Boom, Belgium, where Tomorrowland is traditionally held.

In June 2013, festival organizers revealed the "Book of Wisdom" design from Tomorrowland 2012 would be reused as the main stage for the inaugural edition of TomorrowWorld.^[4] The "Book of Wisdom" was chosen as the main stage, according to organizers, because it was symbolic of Tomorrowland writing the next chapter of its storied history in the United States.

Given TomorrowWorld was the first EDM event following two deaths at New York’s Electric Zoo Festival, ticket sales slower than expected overall. Adding the unconventional location and a higher age restriction of 21, industry insiders feared a potential flop. Nevertheless, TomorrowWorld had a successful inaugural edition without incidents.^[5] During the final week of September of that year, over 140,000 people gathered at Bouckaert's Farm to listen to the likes of Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Hardwell and more than 300 other EDM artists performing on eight different stages.^[6] Nearly 30,000 individuals stayed on site at the TomorrowWorld campground, known as Dreamville.^[7] All told, people from seventy-five different countries and all fifty U.S. states attended the inaugural TomorrowWorld festival.

The second edition of TomorrowWorld happened on September 2014, and brought a larger crowd with 150,000 attendants.^[8] An innovation was employing only cashless transactions, done by the same radio-frequency identification wristbands that served as entry tickets.^[9]

Economic impact

A study commissioned by TomorrowWorld organizers concluded that the festival had an economic impact on the metro Atlanta area equivalent to the $70 million generated for the city during the NCAA Final Four Championship games held in March 2013.^[10] Independent research firm Beacon Economics reported in its study that visiting attendees' direct expenditures added $28.7 million into the local economy across areas such as lodging, restaurants, sight-seeing, etc. An estimated $4.3 million in tax revenues went to state and local governments as a result of event-related spending for TomorrowWorld 2013. This would be the equivalent of hiring 80 full-time school teachers for one year at a salary of $53,000. Labor income for workers in metro Atlanta and the greater state of Georgia increased by $34 million thanks to the direct and indirect work needed to support the influx of people and increased business from the event. TomorrowWorld employed the equivalent of 749 annual full time jobs.

The second edition was also a financial success. SFX's profits were $10 million higher compared to the first TomorrowWorld,^[11] allowing the company to recover from net losses during the second quarter of 2014.^[12]

Future events

Festival organizers announced TomorrowWorld would return to Chattahoochee Hills on 2015.^[13] Atlanta eventually extended the festival lease for ten more years, warranting annual editions up to 2025.^[14]

Awards and nominations

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to TomorrowWorld.

• List of electronic music festivals

References

External links

• Official site

Coordinates: 33°38′10″N 84°42′27″W / 33.6361338°N 84.7075252°W / 33.6361338; -84.7075252