It’s billed as the world’s biggest lantern and music festival and, this year, the lights of Rise Festival will shine above the UAE skyline.
The annual event, which is held in the US every October, is coming to the Dubai desert in November.
The day-long festival will bring together as-yet unannounced musical acts and will culminate in the visually spectacular release of thousands of lanterns into the night’s sky.
Rise, which was first launched in 2014 and has been held just outside Las Vegas, in the Mojave Desert, every year since, will take place on November 8 at a currently undisclosed location.
Here's an idea of what to expect:
The festival – which has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors to its US iterations – promises a sustainable approach, with each of its custom-created, biodegradable lanterns free from plastic or metal.
Rise also has a policy launched in the US, which will be echoed at the Dubai version, meaning every lantern will be retrieved from the desert sands and properly disposed of, as will any post-party litter.
“Rise champions tolerance and unity, and gives a voice to our hopes, dreams, goals and aspirations,” said co-founder Dan Hill in a statement announcing the UAE event. “Rise shares so much in common with the vision of Dubai that we couldn’t think of a better place on Earth to host our first international festival.”
Ticketing information is yet to be released, though festival-goers can sign up to be notified of early bird tickets at risefestival.com/dubai.
