Nashville’s electronic festival Deep Tropics debuting a ‘sustainability summit’ Thursday

Nashville’s electronic dance festival returns this weekend with a lineup extending past DJs. 

The Deep Tropics Music, Art and Style Festival will still feature plenty of thumping subs — but also yoga, ice baths, a talk on “cultivating intentional community,” and even an eco-burlesque show. 

But first, an inaugural sustainability summit on Thursday will set the tone for the ethos and possible future of the festival. 

Courtesy Petey Mac

Deep Tropics will host multiple events designed to promote ecological fashion and consumption in Nashville on Aug. 16-17, 2024.

“We really wanted to expand our focus from just sustainability in the music industry and use our event infrastructure to create something that would bring together people from across multiple industries,” said Joel Atchison, the co-founder of Deep Tropics and director of its cultural programming and sustainability efforts. 

More: This Nashville nightclub wants to normalize sustainable partying

The festival, now in its sixth year, has stated goals of becoming a “climate-positive” and zero-waste event. Deep Tropics bans single-use plastics, offers recycling and composting, and promises carbon offsetting, which is a complex endeavor.

Community engagement and education opportunities throughout the festival represent another type of sustainability effort, Atchison suggested.

The summit will include a variety of talks on topics like food, buildings, waste, energy and the music industry.

Courtesy Petey Mac

Electronic duo Coco & Breezy performed at Deep Tropics in Nashville on August 19, 2024.

Speakers include Kendra Abkowitz, Nashville’s sustainability chief, State Sen. Heidi Campbell, Carol Ziegler, a professor and co-founder of Vanderbilt University’s Climate, Health and Energy Equity Lab, and Alixa García, a co-founder of Climbing PoeTree, a “social justice spoken word, hip-hop, and world music duo,” among others. 

The summit runs Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Colliers Nashville. Atchison encouraged engaged citizens and ecologically-conscious people invested in making Nashville greener to attend. 

In the coming years, he hopes to expand the festival’s cultural programming across the city. 

“We really believe that this is our first step toward our long-term vision for Deep Tropics transforming into a week-long conference that takes over the entire city,” Atchison said. “You can think about South by Southwest or Miami Music Week.” 

But Nashville’s version would focus on wellness and sustainability — surrounded by some lighthearted partying.