Desi Today Magazine
As we entered the second wave of the Pandemic, it was clear that Diwali celebrations, as we knew before, won’t be possible this year. A unique Diwali party was on with 5X Fest! It was not just another livestream virtual party or music festival to combat social isolation. The organizers of Lower Mainland’s 5X South Asian Youth Festival worked on an improved technology to edge our virtual experience closer to the real world. It was a step away from a complete virtual experience. Unlike virtual music festivals or live streaming where your experience is on the tip of your finger, the 5X fest, literally, encouraged you to be on your toes to unlock entertainment content. The festival that started on September 28, ran for 8 weeks and culminated on November 14 and 15.
The 5X: Race to the Stage organizers partnered with Mumbai based global wellness and fan engagement platform Stepathlon to offer a free app combined with gamification and engagement. Participants could connect the app to phones to record daily activities like walking, running or dancing. The aim was to give the participants a real life experience of walking towards a stage. Based on the number of your steps or time of activities, participants were able to unlock performances, daily contests, challenges and events. Participants explored the hottest in South Asian youth culture through creativity and movement, while encouraging mental and physical health.
The event comprised of an 8 week virtual journey that began in September, where participants combine creativity and movement each day, uploading content and logging their activity to discover over 40 stages and unlock exclusive content, merchandise and prizes. Following a ‘reward the many’ approach, prizes are awarded daily and included a mixture of real life prizes and one-on-one online activations such as musical workshops, workouts, cook-offs, and more, that users will enjoy from the safety of their own homes. Those who progressed through the entire festival were awarded a Golden Ticket to the 5X Mainstage: a weekend with 14 A-list South Asian creators on November 14 and 15, 2020.
5X is one of Canada’s biggest South Asian millennial festival showcasing art, fashion, and film that had its origin in 2016 under the parent organization VIBC. Throughout the year 5X continually engages with open mics, DJ workshops, club nights – and now – online community discussions and weekly Twitch streams. Previous editions of the festival have hosted notable guests, such as Rupi Kaur, Raja Kumari, Jasmine Sandlas, Mickey Singh, Sandy Lion and more.
The 2020 5X: Race To The Stage, was produced in collaboration with Stepathlon, whose Founder and Chairman Ravi Krishnan also holds the title of 5X Festival’s Non-Executive Chairman. Founded in 2012, Stepathlon is a proven platform that has worked with 722 companies, engaging over 500,000 participants across 1,010 locations in 65 countries. 5X and the Stepathlon teams worked in partnership to develop a virtual, music-centric experience tailored to the global South Asian millennial audience, a purpose made especially urgent due to the current realities of a COVID-19 world.
Featured artists
KAY RAY
Kiran Rai AKA KayRay is an actor, filmmaker, and YouTuber. Not seeing any visible Punjabi females in the industry motivated her to tell her stories through film, acting, and modeling. Graduating from Seneca College in Media Productions gave her the chance to work behind the camera as a creator, understanding the art of film and production.
BROWN GIRL LIFTS
Navpreet Banga is a Youtuber with her channel BrownGirlLifts having more than 200,000 subscribers to date. Navpreet posts videos on the content sharing platform and the views run into a couple of millions; she is fairly big on Instagram as well, with more than 300,000 followers. She is a lifestyle blogger who talks about life in general, encourages young girls to follow their dreams, raises important issues on mental health, offers make-up tips and also pursues weightlifting.
BFUNK
Bhangra Funk is a dance style created by Shivani Bhagwan & Chaya Kumar which combines elements of Hip Hop and traditional Bhangra moves. Their viral YouTube dance videos have seen more than 150 million cumulative views, and they’ve collaborated with the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan himself, and have received co-signs from other Bollywood superstars like Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Kapoor and esteemed choreographers Geeta Kapoor and Tricia Miranda.
ALOK MENON
ALOK is a gender non-conforming writer & performance artist exploring themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging & the human condition. Their distinctive style and poetic challenge to the gender binary are internationally renowned.
PALLAVI SHARDA
An international film/theater actress & classical Indian dancer. Her credits include Oscar nominated film Lion & Bollywood films Begum Jaan & Hawaizaada. She’s the first Australian to break into Bollywood and become leading lady in the film industry.
AVAN JOGIA
Avan Jogia is an artist whose work spans film, writing, and music. His first book, Mixed Feelings, was published in September 2019. Avan and his brother, Ketan Jogia, make up the band, Saint Ivory.
