RISE Festival

What RISE Festival does

RISE Festival is a Nevada-based non-profit charitable organization (Rise Festival, LLC) that produces an annual three-day experiential event at Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert, approximately 20 miles south of Las Vegas. Founded in 2014, the company curates a multi-zone program built around three core venues: The Path (an immersive meditative art journey with large-scale installations from artists such as HYBYCOZO, Whitaker Studio, and This is Loop), The Compass (a 360° open-air site hosting the world's largest sky lantern ceremony releasing 30,000–40,000+ biodegradable lanterns per night), and The Horizon (a 200-foot-wide main music stage featuring 18 artists across three nights, including recent headliners such as Rüfüs Du Sol, Calvin Harris, and John Mayer). Revenue is generated primarily through tiered ticket sales (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond) sold direct-to-consumer via risefestival.com, supplemented by premium VIP table service through a partnership with Tao Group Hospitality (The Sanctuary), and merchandise including a limited-edition Lonely Ghost capsule collection priced between $20 and $145. The company is led by CEO David Oehm, President/COO Ashley Goodhue-White, and Art Director John Connors, with a headcount of 11–50 employees. RISE Festival positions itself as a charitable mission-driven organization advancing artistic initiatives through tax-deductible donations bundled into every ticket purchase, and emphasizes sustainability via 100% biodegradable lanterns and a Leave No Trace desert cleanup program that collects 1–2 tons of litter annually.

Name

RISE Festival

Legal name

Rise Festival, LLC

Website

https://risefestival.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

RISE Festival is a non-profit that produces an annual three-day art, music, and sky-lantern event at Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert for individual festival-goers, monetizing through tiered ticket sales, VIP table service, and merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Event Festival

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (711310), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Festival Organizers & Promoters (MPAGAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Concerts & Music Festivals (THAJAFAA), Cultural & Community Festivals (Ticketed) (THAJAFAI)

Keywords

• Live music festivals
• Sky lantern ceremonies
• Immersive art installations
• VIP table service
• Event ticketing

Headquarters

HQ city

Sloan

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Primary revenue stream from tiered ticket packages (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond) for the three-day festival event. Each ticket includes a tax-deductible donation supporting artistic initiatives worldwide.
2. VIP Table Service: Premium bottle service and VIP table reservations at The Sanctuary, a luxury viewing terrace partnership with Tao Group Hospitality. Over 40 premium VIP tables available each evening with curated bottle service packages.
3. Merchandise Sales: Sale of festival merchandise including apparel, accessories, and limited edition collaborative pieces. The 10th Anniversary collection includes items priced from $20 to $145, with a collaboration featuring Lonely Ghost streetwear brand.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

RISE Festival organizes and sells access to an annual three-day live event at Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert featuring large-scale art installations, world-class musical performances across its Horizon main stage, and the world's largest sky lantern ceremony at The Compass venue. Core offerings include tiered ticket packages (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond), VIP table service at The Sanctuary in partnership with Tao Group Hospitality, and festival merchandise.

Product overview

RISE Festival is a physical event festival, not a software platform. It operates as a single unified experiential event featuring three distinct venue areas—The Path (meditative art installations), The Compass (sky lantern ceremony), and The Horizon (main music stage)—alongside premium add-on experiences including The Sanctuary VIP package and official merchandise. The core product is the annual three-day festival combining art, music, and the world's largest sky lantern ceremony at Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert. All offerings revolve around the live event experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RISE Festival (Annual Event) The annual three-day RISE Festival held at Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert, combining art installations, live music performances, and the world's largest sky lantern ceremony. Founded in 2014 and operated by Rise Festival, LLC as a non-profit charitable event for individual attendees.
• The Horizon Stage Open-air main music stage and one of the largest music festival stages in the U.S., hosting headline performances from artists such as Rüfüs Du Sol, Calvin Harris, and John Mayer.
• The Compass (Sky Lantern Ceremony Venue) 360-degree open-air ceremonial venue at the center of RISE Festival, home to the world's largest sky lantern ceremony where over 30,000 biodegradable lanterns are released each night into the desert sky.
• The Path (Meditative Art Journey) Meditative, immersive art experience featuring large-scale installations by world-renowned artists including HYBYCOZO, Whitaker Studio, and This is Loop, along with RISE Meditation Halos with wooden pergolas and daybeds.
• The Sanctuary (VIP Experience) Luxury VIP experience offering premium tableside bottle service on elevated viewing terraces overlooking The Horizon stage, in partnership with Tao Group Hospitality. Over 40 VIP tables available each evening with curated bottle service packages.
• RISE Festival Merchandise Official festival merchandise including apparel, accessories, and collectibles. The 10th Anniversary collection includes items priced from $20 to $145 and a limited-edition capsule collaboration with Lonely Ghost streetwear.
• Festival Ticket Packages Event access passes available in Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers, each including a tax-deductible donation supporting global artistic initiatives and tier-specific curated benefits and experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Tens of thousands of guests attend annually
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Lonely GhostminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 August 2025Collaboration on 'I Told The Sky About You' capsule collection - a limited edition fashion line celebrating the 10th anniversary. The collection merges elevated streetwear with poetic messaging. Creative Director Bronson Christensen described it as reflecting the duality of organization and organic, manmade and natural, control and release. The phrase 'I Told The Sky About You' is an ode to the Sky Lantern Ceremony.
• Tao Group HospitalitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 July 2025Partnership to unveil 'The Sanctuary' - a collection of luxury viewing terraces with VIP tables and premium bottle service. Tao Group Hospitality brings their iconic nightlife experience into the Mojave Desert. Over 40 premium VIP tables available each evening with full evening reservations and curated bottle service packages. Jason Strauss, Co-CEO of Tao Group Hospitality, noted the partnership aligns with their belief that celebration can be meaningful.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Lightning in a Bottle: California-based transformational music and arts festival with strong wellness/meditation and sustainability positioning. Comparable in ethos (art, music, communal ritual, sustainability) but smaller in scale than RISE.

Direct peers

• Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC Las Vegas): Insomniac's flagship electronic music festival held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway each May. Comparable as a large-scale, ticketed Las Vegas festival with massive stage production and similar experience-seeking attendee profile.
• Burning Man: Annual experimental desert gathering in the Black Rock Desert built around large-scale art, ritual, and community. Closely comparable experiential model to RISE's Path/Compass art-led, emotionally-fraught desert ritual.
• Life is Beautiful: Multi-day music, art, and culture festival held in downtown Las Vegas each fall. Most direct geographic and thematic peer to RISE—same Las Vegas tourism base, overlapping music-and-art positioning, comparable attendee scale.
• Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival: Long-running four-day Tennessee music and arts camping festival. Comparable as a multi-day, tiered-pass music-plus-arts festival targeting the same experiential live-event consumer, with similar production ambitions.
• Coachella (Goldenvoice/AEG Presents): Premier U.S. destination music festival held annually in the California desert, drawing hundreds of thousands over two weekends. Directly comparable as a ticketed, multi-stage music festival with tiered passes and major headliners, targeting the same experiential-seeking consumer.

Regional players

• Sky Lantern Festival (Pingxi, Taiwan): Original lantern-release festival in Pingxi, Taiwan and related Chiang Mai Yi Peng lantern events. Comparable as a regional public lantern-release tradition, but non-commercial and culturally rooted rather than a ticketed contemporary music-and-art festival.

Broad incumbents

• Tomorrowland: Belgium-based globally-iconic electronic music festival with massive bespoke stage production and global audience. Comparable as a destination festival with flagship stage architecture on the order of The Horizon, but on a much larger and international scale.
• Outside Lands: Another Roots Produced multi-stage urban festival in San Francisco combining music, art, food, and sustainability programming. Comparable as an established multi-day experience-led festival with similar artistic curation discipline.

Others

• Tao Group Hospitality: Major nightlife and hospitality operator partnering with RISE on The Sanctuary VIP offering. Relevant as the strategic partner enabling the festival's premium tier, not as a competing festival operator.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/therisefestival
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/therisefestival
• Facebookfacebook.com/riselanternfestival
• Instagraminstagram.com/risefestival
• TikToktiktok.com/@risefestival
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/risefestival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about RISE Festival