The weekend of August 1 through 3 saw the return of the Friends With Benefits Fest to the Idyllwild Arts Academy campus. This was their fourth year in Idyllwild.
As in past years, FWB Fest 2025 offered attendees three schedules, Music, Ideas, and Experiences. Music included shows at the Holmes Amphitheater, a surround sound venue at the dance stage, sunset concerts a short hike above the amphitheater, and after-hours parties indoors. Ideas included large and small panel discussions and presentations on issues at the intersection of technology, commerce, and art at Lowman Hall and the Krone Library, renamed the “House of Paper” for the weekend. Experiences included yoga classes, nature walks, pool parties, a tattoo popup, and things like an AI powered personal perfume maker.
FWB is both a company providing professional services connected to NFTs and blockchain, and a social network adjacent to the company. Although blockchain is associated in the popular imagination with crypto currency, FWB is more social than financial. One becomes part of an online community of like minded individuals that also meet up in real life. People become members by filling out an application, and, once approved, buy “tokens” that allow them to access content online, participate in a “Discord Channel” (something like a chat group, blog and news site) and attend events in the physical world.
The Town Crier asked festival-goers about their experiences. Many came from Los Angeles, but had never been to Idyllwild before. All were delighted by the combination of technology, arts, nature, and sociality.
Matt, from New York, said “I came last year because I work in crypto and a lot of my friends were here. It was all about meeting people in tech. This year I came back because I was just remembering watching the sunset over there, swimming in the grotto, the natural beauty of Idyllwild. I’m just here to be in nature this time. All my tech friends and crypto friends are just a bonus.”
Jasmine, a fashion designer from London by way of LA, said “ I will definitely be back… It feels very organic, peaceful, it’s a really nice reset. The fact that crypto is a digital thing that doesn’t really exist, it’s on the internet, its not a tangible thing, and then you are in this place which is very much a tangible thing. The way they’ve combined feels very organic, it doesn’t feel out of place. Having the spiritual… integrating it with AI, its been really interesting. That is kind of the world that we are entering into, this world where it is really digital and we’re struggling finding our human side to it, and so having this kind of environment and community in this space has made it more relatable.”
Jasmine’s friend Natasha, another creative from LA, had hoped to attend IAA when she was in high school, imagining an “oasis” of creativity here. She also thought that Idyllwild’s free spirit, including its status as an incorporated area, had some parallel with the decentralized nature of blockchain and FWB. “No big chains here!”
Fari, “founder of Beauty on the Blockchain, bringing beauty products on-chain,” said “I’ve been to so many crypto conferences and crypto events but none of them have been in nature. This has been especially beautiful, we’re touching grass, it feels like were playing with the same people we see over an over in conference rooms and convention centers, super techie places. There is an awesome balance here of tech and meditating, getting reiki, nature walks…
Logic, a visual artist and “blockchain entrepreneur” from LA, thought the Fest “operated at the intersection of art, music, technology and wellness, and I think that is a perfect blend.”
For more about FWB Fest 2025, visit our new youtube channel, Town Crier. The interviews quoted here will be posted along with an interview with FWB Co-Founder and Festival Director Paul Tao.
