News
Trips Festival:

Inside Outside: on the Significance of the Trips Festival

January 27, 2016  •  Michael Kramer

What do we make of an event now, fifty years to the day from when it occurred? At the Trips Festival, we see older beatnik artsy modes of happenings and installation art dying to their corpses indeed, and what would become, with Bill Graham at the helm, the modern rock music concert industry, emerging. Learn More →

On this day in 1966 Ken Kesey in Union Square promoting the Trips Festival

January 20, 2016  •  Jason Herrington

Ken Kesey and others pulled up to Union Square to promote the Trips Festival – organized by Kesey, Stewart Brand, Ramon Sender and Bill Graham at the Longshoreman’s Hall between January 21-23 1966. KRON-TV was on hand to document the promotional event, and the original footage can be seen online courtesy of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. View the incredible original footage here. Learn More →

The Trips Festival Explained

January 14, 2016  •  Adam Hirschfelder

The Trips Festival was a transformative event that helped mark the beginning of the hippie counterculture movement in San Francisco. Organized by Stewart Brand, Ramon Sender, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and Bill Graham at the Longshoremen’s Hall for January 21-23, 1966, the event brought together the city’s diverse underground arts scene, including rock music groups, experimental theater performers, dance companies, light show artists and film producers. Learn More →