In an period the place inventive professionals are drowning within the relentless churn of social media algorithms, Glastonbury’s legendary Shangri-La subject has taken a radical step: it has moved totally away from the digital noise.
For his or her 2025 transformation below ‘The Wilding’ theme, inventive director Kaye Dunnings and her staff made the daring determination to ditch social media promotion in favour of one thing revolutionary: actual human connection.
This wasn’t an off-the-cuff experiment. “We have spent years exploring the impression of consumerism and digital overload, particularly with our earlier ‘The whole lot Should Go’ theme,” says Kaye. “For 2025, we wished to transcend critique and really mannequin options. That meant stripping issues again; not simply within the bodily house, however in how we talk.”
The facility of bodily presence
So, for starters, as an alternative of the standard barrage of Instagram tales and Fb posts, Shangri-La introduced this 12 months’s lineup by sending out 100 handcrafted packages to journalists, artists, and stakeholders.
Every contained a good looking limited-edition risograph poster, packets of sunflower seeds, and private notes—all designed by Rosie Lee Wilson and riso-printed by Josh at 16 Tonne Press, on recycled, acid-free paper made by Arboreta Papers.
“Getting one thing within the mail that is not a invoice or a bit of paper making an attempt to promote you one thing is a uncommon, stunning factor,” says Kaye. “Giving a present is an excellent factor to do.”
The response was fast and profound. For instance, Shangri-La’s head of communications Fiona McGarva recollects visiting BBC Radio’s Deb Grant in individual to ship her poster: “We simply sat down and we talked about it for half an hour, and had a cup of tea. She bought it. She considered it. She was . Individuals have framed them and so they’re rising the seeds that went with it on their balconies.”
Past the algorithm lure
This method is greater than only a advertising technique; it is a philosophical assertion about how creatives can reclaim company over their work, which Fiona says was partly impressed by this text on Artistic Increase. “It is easy to get misplaced within the churn of digital content material,” she explains. “We wished to sluggish issues down, to ask individuals to interact extra deliberately.”
One other ingredient of the brand new technique was “Signal Up for Pleasure!”, a curated e mail publication that turned the only channel for official updates on Shangri-La. Regardless of being introduced solely as soon as, through the preliminary announcement in April, and within the spirit of secrecy, not sending a single publication till the week of the competition, it rapidly gained 3,000 subscribers. The outcomes had been staggering; the publication achieved an open charge of over 50%. As compared, the standard determine even for a profitable e mail publication is round 15%-25%.
As Fiona places it: “If we put out a put up through the competition to our 30K Instagram followers, we would get 50 likes. However we had 50% of our publication subscribers—that is 1,500 individuals—and so they’re all studying it. They’ve purposely opened it, and so they’re solely your factor; they don’t seem to be simply rolling previous it. And the numbers are nonetheless rising. We plan to construct this group over the following two years, sharing our tales with them, and welcoming them to be a part of one thing particular.”
The artwork of anticipation
For Rosie, who designed the visible id throughout all supplies, the method itself turned a part of the message. “I’ve a background in printmaking, and I actually love the materiality; the precise holding one thing in your palms,” she enthuses. “If you take a look at issues digitally in your cellphone, there isn’t a anticipation; it is only a regular circulate of fixed data. If you’re sending one thing by way of bodily mail, you construct need and anticipation in a very highly effective means.”
This philosophy prolonged to Shangri-La itself, the place Rosie and her collective Large Triplets ran reside print workshops in a specifically designed Develop Room, which culminated in a zine that was distributed at no cost on the finish of the weekend.
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
“We had been working workshops whereas it was a very full of life, enjoyable bar with individuals getting concerned and responding to the themes, then we had been creating double-page spreads,” she remembers. “By Sunday, we had sufficient stuff to collate every thing—lengthy arm staplers, guillotines, risograph—and we made round 150 copies.”
Importantly, the entire course of was deeply rooted in Somerset. “Each Kaye and I are primarily based right here,” says Rosie, “and the risograph studio we used for the posters, 16 Tonne Press, is just some miles away. We organised picture shoots on Glastonbury Tor. The paper inventory for the posters is produced in close by Bristol. It was really a celebration of our local people and its cultural and legendary historical past.”
The invention precept
What makes this method notably necessary for creatives is the way it addresses the lack of real discovery in our hyper-connected world.
“That feeling of getting misplaced, I believe, is missed,” displays Kaye. “Shangri-La was once a bit like that within the very early days, 18 years in the past, once we did not all have smartphones, Google Maps and What3Words. We had been new. We had been within the furthest nook from the Pyramid Stage. It was a discovery. And I wished to convey a little bit of that magic again.”
As a part of this, the staff intentionally withheld details about what guests would discover in numerous areas, relying as an alternative on phrase of mouth and the traditional artwork of storytelling. “It is about folklore, about passing tales down and telling them slowly, telling them from one individual to the following,” explains Kaye.
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
“Individuals went into an space of the sphere referred to as Realm, and we actually did not inform anyone what was happening in there. It is about individuals popping out and telling another person, after which telling another person. And I believe that is stunning.”
Classes for the inventive group
So what can creatives be taught from this? I would argue the Shangri-La experiment provides a number of sensible insights for creatives fighting digital burnout.
Shortage creates worth. By limiting their bulletins to 100 bodily packages, the staff remodeled a routine press launch right into a coveted artefact. “Individuals talked about it, shared the bodily gadgets, and signed up for the publication as a result of they wished to be a part of one thing totally different,” explains Fiona.
Tactile experiences reduce by way of digital noise. In a world of infinite scrolling, bodily objects demand consideration and create lasting reminiscences. As Rosie observes: “At Glastonbury, individuals completely love something that has been made on the competition, as a result of we’re all suspended inside this euphoric house that feels so distant to what we generally really feel at dwelling, at work, which is commonly a sense of isolation or disconnectedness.”
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Alex Kurunis
Photograph by Alex Kurunis
Authenticity requires dedication. The staff needed to battle inner resistance to their no-social-media method. “I needed to actually battle numerous individuals about not doing social,” admits Kaye. “They did not actually get their heads round it initially.” Nevertheless, the dedication paid off, leading to deeper engagement than a whole lot of rapidly forgotten social posts.
Sluggish processes allow higher work. By rejecting the demand for immediate content material, the staff might deal with craft and intention. “We introduced in all of these sluggish processes,” explains Fiona. “What I really like about real-life posters is that if one thing modifications, the artist administration cannot ring you up and make you are taking it down or edit it. There are various stunning situations of paintings when it is only a bit off. That is why it is stunning.”
The way forward for inventive communication
This 12 months’s Shangri-La was conceived as a “pilot episode” for a longer-term imaginative and prescient. With Glastonbury taking a relaxation 12 months in 2026, the staff can have time to refine their method earlier than going “actually deep” in 2027. However the implications lengthen far past one subject. “We wish to encourage different occasions to contemplate slower, extra intentional methods of constructing group and sharing tales,” says Kaye.
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
Photograph by Paul Blakemore
For inventive professionals drowning within the infinite calls for of social media administration, Shangri-La’s experiment provides a unique path—one which prioritises real connection over algorithmic attain, craft over content material, and human tales over digital metrics.
Nobody is saying that each inventive ought to abandon social media totally. However in a world the place genuine human connection feels more and more uncommon, maybe it is time to ask: what would occur if we dared to decelerate, step again, and keep in mind that the most effective inventive work has all the time been about real human connection, not simply the phantasm of it on a display?
As Rosie says: “Having one thing produced by a collective in that house involves symbolise these themes of connectedness and connection to the land, and to the supplies.” In an age of digital overwhelm, which may simply be probably the most radical inventive act of all.
