Meet NextFest Team: Over The Top

As part of the NextFest competition, Over The Top is bringing forward a multisensory festival experience that blends music, art and movement. Led by team members Benjamin Allingham, Sadib Sufian, Karl Chatel and Simon Lewandowski, Over The Top presents Uncover Ottawa.

What inspired Over The Top to create a festival came from their experiences attending music festivals in the National Captial Region and their vision of what a truly memorable festival could be. Many of the festivals Over The Top attended left them feeling disconnected. The festivals didn’t give off the energy they were looking for and often felt like just another face in a crowd rather than a part of the experience. Over The Top's goal is to create something different, a festival that puts people and the community first. That means being fully immersed in the music and atmosphere. At the end, festivals should be a shared, meaningful moment that embraces PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, & Respect) .

Over The Top would love for Uncover Ottawa to become both a home and platform for Ottawa’s underground arts community. It should be a place that celebrates radical self-expression across all artistic mediums. With expression comes acceptance and anyone may be a part of Uncover Ottawa. Over The Top's goal for their festival is to have real tangible impacts on their showcasing artists.

Over The Top's Thoughts on the NextFest Experience

The NextFest experience has been very beneficial. We came into the workshops with a good overall understanding of our concept and how to execute it in the most professional way. Throughout each workshop, Traci and the OFN team gave us additional information regarding each pillar, which made us more confident and helped reassure us along the way. Also, the guests who came throughout the sessions were a bonus and really helped us better understand the ins and outs of running a festival or non-profit organization. They explained to us exactly what was needed and made sure everyone was on board. Now, as we end off our workshop experience, we are more excited than ever before to move forward with this festival. Thank you so much for allowing our creativity to flourish and help us better understand what it means to throw a successful festival.

You can find Uncover Ottawa on Instagram, @Overthetopottawa, or their email, info@overthetopottawa.ca

As Over The Top continues to develop Uncover Ottawa, stay connected to see more festival ideas from the NextFest's teams.