# ICM: ZAO Festivals

The ZAO Festivals are the IRL / live-culture arm of The ZAO - real events where the community and artists show up in person. Part of The ZAO ecosystem (see thezao).

## The festivals
- ZAOstock - the flagship. 2026 edition: Oct 3 2026, Ellsworth, Maine. Community-run music + culture festival; budget in the low five figures ($5-25k range). Ties to the Art of Ellsworth / Maine Craft Weekend calendar.
- ZAOville - a ZAO festival/gathering (mid-2026 prep, ~Jul 25).
- ZAO-PALOOZA and ZAO-CHELLA - earlier/recurring ZAO festival brands under the umbrella.

## Why it matters
- Festivals are how The ZAO returns value to artists in the physical world, not just on-chain. They are a production lane alongside WaveWarZ and ZABAL Games.
- ZAOstock is spinning toward its own repo/ops as it graduates.

## Find it
- thezao.xyz (events), the ZAO calendar
- Farcaster: /zao

## Related boxes
- The ZAO (thezao)
- Zaal (bettercallzaal)
- COC Concertz (coc-concertz)