Host with the Most: Elysium Gathering

Humanitix has a deep love for hosts that do good, but too often, event creators and makers go unthanked. We want to spotlight them and shine a light on hosts that go above and beyond for their community.

Today we want to celebrate the hosts of Elysium Gathering, after they called on their community to help out an attendee requiring a new wheelchair.

Who is Elysium Gathering?

Established in 2018, Elysium Gathering is a multi-day music and arts camping festival for revellers of all ages. Held close to The Grampians in Victoria, the gathering's primary purpose is to create a place where individual growth and deeper human connections thrive within a community of like-minded souls.

The host of Elysium Gathering, Luke Laux, is passionate about enterprise and social change, which led to the founding of the festival with the goal to “use my skills and experience to assist in creating positive social change.”

The event aims to establish this by “providing safe spaces that are abundant with live music, art, theatrical performances, workshops and ceremony.”

Promoting accessibility in the event sphere

Last year, one of their biggest supporters, Mark, was diagnosed with a neurological disease that left him paralysed.

Luke saw the importance of supporting accessibility for attendees: “Mark has a crazy capacity for gratitude… He was negotiating to purchase a 4WD style wheelchair to give him more access around the [festival] site. As such, we proposed with the team to raise money for him.”

At one of Elysium’s pre-festival events, the festival’s community of attendees, workers and volunteers reached into their pockets and raised $1,420 in support of Mark. With the funds generously gathered by this loving community, Mark was able to purchase a specialised wheelchair that allowed him to attend and work at this year’s festival.

Humanitix Chief of Staff, Jenny, thinks Elysium deserves a shout-out because “We're on a mission to give everyone equal access to Humanitix events, regardless of their accessibility requirements. This year, Elysium’s hosts made a massive difference to their attendee’s ability to enjoy their favourite festival.”

Mark was extremely excited and grateful for his new ride, “I can't thank you enough! Being in a manual wheelchair, I was limited in where I can go and what I can do… The reason why this machine is so great. I can just go wherever, go bush, full power!”

“It flies!” Mark said in a thank you message to the Elysium community, “I’ve still got to pimp it out,  and you can imagine what is going to get done to it [at the festival]. It’s going to be great; you’re going to see me in the field this season. I’m going to be having a lot of fun.”

And boy, did he have fun. Here are some snaps and videos we got back from the festival. Well done Luke and the Elysium Gathering community for your kindness and thoughtfulness - it's wholesome content we just can't get enough of.