Life Is Beautiful Is Not Just a Music Festival—It’s a Cultural Smorgasbord

Life Is Beautiful is, quite likely, the only festival where you can catch Porter Robinson’s live show, hear a talk by scientist Bill Nye, gaze at work from British street artist D*Face, and taste and drink creations from celebrity chefs and renowned mixologists. The event happens this weekend, September 25–27, in Downtown Las Vegas.

Justin Weniger and Ryan Doherty first got involved with Life Is Beautiful in 2013, its launch year, as media partners with their company, Wendoh Media. Last December, they acquired the festival and brought in Insomniac Events as a co-producer. Under the duo’s guidance, Life Is Beautiful has grown into a world-class event incorporating the best of the food, music, art and lecture panel worlds.

Here, Weniger and Doherty discuss what makes Life Is Beautiful special, the curation process, and how it’s positively impacting Downtown Vegas.

Let’s first talk about the goals of Life Is Beautiful.
Ryan Doherty: Originally, the pitch for the festival was that they could add another layer to the revitalization of downtown, which had been going on for the last five years. The art program came in, and now there are massive murals all over the buildings downtown. It’s another shot in the arm for downtown revitalization.

There’s a big food component, as well. What goes into bringing in that aspect of the festival?
Justin Weniger: We showcase some things from Downtown Las Vegas, some things from around Las Vegas, and we have chefs from around the country for cooking demonstrations and to serve food at the festival.I don’t know that there’s another festival in the country that is as ambitious with their cocktail program as Life Is Beautiful is. Off the top of my head, I don’t even know how many different cocktails will be served at the festival, but you’re not going to a festival where your options are just beer, wine, water and Jack & Coke.

With headliners Steve Wonder, Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons, and electronic artists including Major Lazer, Tchami and Madeon, the lineup is super eclectic. What were the considerations the Life Is Beautiful team made when deciding who would play this year?
Weniger: Being a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame [winning], multi-platinum artist for as long as [Steve Wonder] has, he brings so much energy to the stage. His set is going to be two hours long, and we’re probably going to have to pull him off the stage when we hit curfew.

Imagine Dragons is a hometown act. They grew up playing the bars in the downtown area before downtown was popular, when it was one of the least desirable places to play. This is a bit of a homecoming for them to come back and headline the show on Saturday night.

Kendrick Lamar, I don’t know that there is anyone in hip-hop right now that has more respect of his peers and of the music industry, and I think it’s well deserved. I actually saw his shows at Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, and he absolutely blew the place away, with a full band behind him. It sounds a little more like a funk set than one guy with a mic rapping the whole time. It’s a really high-energy show. There’s a lot of synergy with the lineup, where he has a lot of respect for Snoop, and Snoop has a lot of respect for him. Stevie Wonder has gone on the record saying that Kendrick is the most exciting new artist to come out in a very long time.

I think for the topline, it’s a really diverse mix, but there’s also a lot of synergy. I don’t know if you saw when Imagine Dragons and Kendrick played at the Grammys together two years ago, but they’re artists who have a lot of respect for each other, as diverse as they are. We want a diverse lineup. We love the Insomniac integration into that, and the EDM integration into it, because I think it gives it a home at the festival, which is now giving the experience that EDM music serves.

Shamir is from the Vegas area, too. Was it important to include locals?
Weniger: Yeah, we also have a whole local music showcase stage. We want to give that a home. We hope that some of those guys are growing and come back to play bigger stages in the years to come. Brandon Flowers from the Killers is also from Las Vegas, obviously, and Imagine Dragons. Las Vegas is well represented. That’s important to us.

Can you tell me a little about how people are going to attend the learning sessions?
Weniger: The learning venue is right in the middle of the footprint. It’s a nice, indoor facility. A lot of the learning sessions are programmed earlier in the day. All the talks are short talks—20 minutes at the most—so you’ll be able to take a break, go in, get some inspiration, hear what some of these people have to say, and then go about your day.

How has Life Is Beautiful evolved since you’ve been involved?
Doherty: The original foundation of the festival is still there. I think that every year, you change the relevant music or relevant speakers. The footprint is always enhanced every year. A dozen new art pieces go out and end up staying up until someone paints over them, which hasn’t happened yet.

We’ve been continually beautifying downtown, and we’ve also opened a lot of venues. Justin and I own bars and restaurants. Since we’ve come in, we’ve sort of leaned on a lot of our downtown relationships and national relationships to get the festival different sponsorships and partnerships—Insomniac being the main one this year, so that we can do a dance stage. We’re rolling with the idea that dance music is popular enough, where having it will make more people come to the festival.

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