SoulPlay Celebrates 10 Years of Creativity, Inclusion and Connection
This California festival creates space for 2SLGBTQIA+ people’s expression and finding community.
What will you do this Summer? What will you choose that involves travel and transformation? Yes, there are the ubiquitous Pride festivals and tea dances where you can express your outrage at what is going on, followed by a period of euphoria as a temporary escape. There are also some good alternative music festivals where you can follow your favorite musicians and hope they articulate what you are going through, emotionally. But what are you going to do this Summer that focuses on you, and your inner journey of healing, joyfully with other like-minded souls?
SoulPlay Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary June 12-15 at Mandala Springs Wellness Center in Cobb, CA, offering a vital counterpoint to the social estrangement that is occurring via a raft of anti-LGBTQ legislation, nationwide. This four-day immersion in affirming community and nature is a place where queer joy, authentic expression, and chosen family are welcome and flourish.
Take a sneak peek here:
“In a political climate where Trans and queer existence is increasingly policed and repressed, spaces where 2SLGBTQIA+ people have spaces to fully show up as themselves unapologetically are more crucial than ever,” says shiloh burton, who will facilitate workshops on Developing & Practicing Your Love Ethic and Pleasure Alchemy at this year’s gathering. “SoulPlay has been committed to creating a brave space for the past 6 years.”
What distinguishes SoulPlay from other festivals is its intentional focus on consent culture, boundary setting, and affirming diverse gender expressions and relationship structures.
Consent culture is crucial in queer communities because it fosters safe and respectful interactions, particularly within relationships and sexual encounters, where individuals may have faced historical discrimination or experienced violence. It emphasizes respecting personal boundaries and promoting open communication, which is especially important given the multifarious expressions of sexuality and gender within the LGBTQ+ community.
The festival’s robust Inclusion and Belonging Team works year-round to ensure that all aspects of programming and community guidelines create safety for marginalized identities.
“For many in our community, SoulPlay represents a rare opportunity to experience what liberation feels like in our bodies,” explains Lucid Dawn, a multi-year SoulPlay participant and recent author of Dispelling the Binary. “The workshops on communication, embodiment, and authentic expression give us tools that uplift our lives and support queer joy throughout the year.”
This year’s celebration features several 2SLGBTQIA+ presenters including Z Griss, Ariel Vegosen, Lucid Dawn, shiloh burton, and Tony Holmes alongside workshops specifically addressing queer experiences, relationships beyond heteronormative models, and the intersection of identity and embodiment. The festival’s approach to gender-inclusive spaces, pronoun awareness, and body autonomy create foundations for genuine connection across differences.
SoulPlay offers a diverse lineup of presenters offering experiences from movement and dance to deep relational practices. The Irreverent Reverend, Dereca Blackmon leads our festival with ceremony and inspiration to rise above our differences and deepen our connections. Other premiere presenters include Z Griss of Embody More Love making offerings at the edge of grief and eros, Matt Sturm leading our Joygasm, Eliza Maroney with her unique Samba Yoga, Emma + Fin of Normalizing Nonmonogamy will help us find friends for the festival, Daway Chou-Ren to make space for our rage, William Winters of Bonobo Network for impact play, and so many more. Check out the full presenter line-up here.
An alternative to Pride
“At a time when gathering in community feels both radical and necessary, SoulPlay offers something beyond typical Pride events,” adds Holly Burlet. “Here, queer joy and authentic expression aren’t just celebrated for a weekend—they’re woven into the fabric of how we build community across all identities.”
The four-day gathering limits attendance to 700 participants, creating an intimate container where genuine connections form while offering programming that ranges from playful movement to deep relational practices. SoulPlay’s unique approach combines the depth of a retreat with the celebration of a festival, all in a substance-free environment where authentic connection becomes the natural high.
SoulPlay also offers an incredible roster of conscious music artists to uplift and elevate the spirit and keep things moving and grooving! This year’s musical line-up includes: David Starfire who is known as the pioneer of Global Bass music and composer for meditation and psychedelic therapy, get funky with Mystical Joyride and their genre-fluid, psychedelic world-pop band, Marya Stark who brings mystic worlds to life, the melodic deep bass and tribal sounds of Agua Mayyim, Rafe Pearlman inspiring harmony and unity, Rachel Lark and her catchy anthems about taboo topics, sing around the campfire with Lauren Arrow, enjoy the melodic frequencies with ALIA, dance at the pool with DJ Dragonfly, Maya Light, and Qoi, and hold your tender heart with Scott Elliot Ferreter. Learn more: https://www.soulplay.co/music.
“What makes the SoulPlay journey meaningful isn’t just the workshops or performances—it’s that for four days, 700 people explore together what a more connected society might feel like,” adds Misha Bonaventura. “Participants take these evolving tools for connection and belonging back into their communities, creating ripples of change far beyond the festival.”
Accommodation
There are several options for accommodations at SoulPlay Festival:
1. Tent Camping (included with ticket) – Bring your own choice of camping set-up and build your home away from home. The camping area is centrally located with easily accessible water spigots. Hot Water Showers and bathrooms are also available throughout the venue. Please bring your own toiletries and towels.
2. Dreamy Cottages (sleep up to 4 people or even more if you bring floor mattresses): Several beds with bedding, kitchenette, air conditioning, private bathroom and deck. These are ideal for groups. And like the name suggests, they are dreamy.
3. Private Lodge Rooms (Sleep 1-3 people): Choose a room in a luxurious lodge that comes complete with bed and bedding, bathrooms and showers in the lodge, and a shared deluxe kitchen and cozy living room. A/C in the lodge as well.
4. Glamping Bell tents (sleep 2-3): Comfortable luxurious bell tents, set up with bed, heater, and power. Regular and large options available.
5. Car Camping: A limited number of centrally located car camping spots will be available that are mixed in with tent camping. Drive right up without having to haul your gear.
6. RV Sites with or without Hookups: Roll right in.
Hot Water Showers and bathrooms are available throughout the venue. Please bring your own toiletries and towels.
About SoulPlay
SoulPlay is a unique combination of a retreat and a festival, a classroom and a playground, an invitation and a dream that we can be more inclusive, more consensual, and find more belonging across all identities. For ten years, this intimate gathering has created transformative experiences focused on heart-opening connection, personal expansion, and play in a substance-free environment.
This year’s celebration features a progressive workshop journey that builds in depth throughout the four days, with offerings ranging from dance and movement to deep relational practices and personal growth. Alongside transformational workshops, attendees enjoy performances by conscious music artists including David Starfire, Marya Stark, and Mystical Joyride.
