The True Story of What Happened to The Bloom

THE TIME IS RIGHT TO BLOOM AGAIN

While this time is certainly sobering and the trajectory of the world looks bleak, I don’t believe we should give up hope.

Why is that? Well, because where once denialism was the norm and business-as-usual a massive force of inertia, now all levels of society—from the biggest corporate CEOs to the military and other traditionally conservative strata—realize we are in the midst of a systemic emergency that requires extraordinary adaptation. People everywhere—and especially young people—are seeking answers and open to solutions outside the norm of what we’ve known before.

Since I was a youth, my peeps and I have always talked about and been preparing for the time when the system would crumble under its contradictions. Well, holy sh*t, here it is… it’s exactly that time!

Are we prepared for it? Well, that I’m not so sure about. When I look at myself and my peers now—and consider all the visions we’ve shared—it feels like we’ve had difficulty moving from the margins to fully-empowered realization. Perhaps that’s understandable in a society run by capitalism. We’re not necessarily naturals for that game. (Although some of us are pretty good at it 😏) But we’ve been carrying something just as important, if not more.

At this time, the highest way I can contribute to this critical moment is by telling our story and translating the best gifts of our culture in the most powerful way possible. It is the story of the inspired realities we’ve co-created that carry the glimpses and seeds of a saner, more balanced world.

CONTRIBUTING TO THIS HISTORICAL MOMENT

Clearly, neither transformational festivals nor The Bloom contain the answers to all the world’s problems. I’m certainly not proposing that. But do we have something meaningful to contribute to the conversation? Can the gifts of what we’ve shared impact and inspire millions of people who might not otherwise have access to these precious free realities? Of this, I have no doubt.

Seven years ago, when I started The Bloom, I didn’t know what I was doing—but somehow, I knew it was something I had to do. The journey has been hard in many ways. It certainly hasn’t been the straight-line to success I might have imagined. It’s pushed me to my edges and exposed my flaws many times.

But where, when I started this, I didn’t quite know how to pull it off, well, now I know exactly how it should look and feel and how to find our story. The journey has transformed me to become the person who can fulfill the vision.

A TV series makes the most sense, because, well, everyone watches TV. (Although maybe not on actual televisions as much anymore.) It’s the way to reach everyone. And it crosses over into the 3D capitalist muggle world the most seamlessly. This is the industry tolerant of crazy creatives, as long as you’ve got the talent to back it up.

I plan to staff the team, as much as possible, with people who have the talent, skills, drive, and qualifications for the job—AND who share the same love and caring for this culture that I do. People for whom dedicating themselves to this project will also be a dream come true.

Working for a world-class network will be a career opportunity for these people in our community. If we knock it out of the park, the future only gets brighter. This story can stand as a legacy for the future and a platform for greater things. This isn’t a flimsy fad, some minuscule moment of viral infamy. This is a story to tell our grandkids and, in fact, hand it off to them as something even greater than what we’ve known.

SO WHAT NOW & WHAT’S NEXT?

My work will continue along two tracks. One track is pursuing the TV deal: first, finding our showrunner and then looking for the right network. This track could happen quite fast. Or it could take time. You can make a difference in helping it happen! Please keep reading to find out how below.

While this track runs, my next creative focus will be completing and publishing my article, “What Are Transformational Festivals (And Why Do They Matter)?” (working title). As much as my TED talk helped spark this conversation initially, this article will replace that talk as the matured update and the most in-depth piece on the subject available.

The article will break down the key socially relevant elements of the culture and provide evidence via what I’ve found filming at so many festivals and discussing the subject with producers, artists, builders, and participants. My intention is to further establish the legitimacy of the subject and substantiate the juiciness of the phenomenon to build interest in the television series.

IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING TO SUPPORT, PLEASE DO THIS SIMPLE ACTION 

If The Bloom ever meant something to you—if the vision I’ve outlined makes sense—if you can appreciate the journey it’s taken to get here—I ask you to please please please do this one thing:

Take a few minutes and add a meaningful comment to the website. It can be about The Bloom, about why the story is important for the world to see, about the impact of this culture on your life… Any of these will help. (Thank you very very much to those who’ve done this already!!)

The only way we can fail is if the decision-makers determine that this is a niche with little interest for anyone outside the niche. We’re not going to attain the kinds of metrics of established subjects or genres, so we need to compensate with the quality of comments conveying that this story carries something of greater relevance to the rest of the world.

I’d love to have at least a hundred comments on the website (more would be awesome!) before we start having potential showrunners, and, eventually, the networks, looking at it.

Will you add your voice to help realize this story in its ultimate form?

If you only add one comment, please add it to the TV series page

Want to go one deeper? Add your comment to the break down of the cultural inquiry aspect of the series and the twelve conversations we’ll be bringing to the world

And of course, you can always share, like and all the other usual social media stuff…

THANK YOU!!!

INSPIRED TO GO ABOVE AND BEYOND?

There’s no corporation or wealthy benefactor underwriting this work. There’s only a person (with some allies) who’s determined to realize this vision and has sacrificed a lot for it already. A person of relatively humble background whose knowledge and insight comes from paying dues for many years (decades). A true believer, the one who can carry the torch to the finish line.

I’ve spent the past months building the new website. My goal is to make this next push without interrupting it with the need to take on other work that will divert my focus and creative energy.

If you would like to join me on this journey as a sustaining supporter, I would welcome you 🙏

Or if you’d like to make a one-time donation to help keep the wheels turning, I would be very grateful 😻

If you’re a potential benefactor or angel investor who would like to help make this all go faster and be more effective, let’s talk!

We have something special and truly profound to share. And now, more than ever, the world could use our medicine. When our story is ready and all it takes is to hit play, it’s going to take society by surprise and impact many, many, many people around the world, who right now have no clue that any of this exists—or that such freedom could be possible in the world… And who knows what they’ll do with the inspiration?

JOIN THE JOURNEY