Pep Salazar, director of OFFF — the design and creativity festival he's shaped since 2007 — joins Radim to unpack what it really takes to build a "city for three days." ~ 

Pep traces his own unlikely path, from a teenager who dreamed of being an actor in a small town near Barcelona, through his formative years building Sónar, to the moment he realised passion alone can blur your vision and every idea needs a manager to make it real. 

They talk about why OFFF shows unfinished work instead of polished portfolios, how a team of seven becomes thirty-five once the doors open, and why Pep would rather rebrand the festival every five years than let it stand still. This is a conversation about risk, honesty, and the invisible, exhausting, joyful work of building a community that actually means it.

Takeaways

• Passion can blur your vision — every big idea eventually needs a manager to protect it and make it real
• A festival isn't a finished portfolio piece; showing the process and the unfinished idea is what builds real trust with a community
• Location does double duty — the city gives you context, but the venue has to speak the same language as the event itself
• Curating without a fixed theme keeps a lineup honest and lets creativity stay wide instead of narrow
• Saying no to most people who want the stage is one of the hardest, least visible parts of the job
• Deliberately rebranding every few years keeps a design festival credible — you can't ask others to embrace change if you won't
• Growth doesn't have to mean franchising — co-producing with local partners builds real community instead of a copy-paste event
• The job is made of a thousand three-minute conversations, and learning to actually enjoy them is its own skill

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

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Pep: Yeah. You need to improve. You need to add layers. You need to change. I love to design the festival With my team, every year we, have the plot and we draw, we design the festival, and we say, "Okay, can we put the stage here?

No, no, maybe here." We change, we don't change. We change that one. We change the other one. We change the, the outdoor tent. We change the market. Every year we have a change, and every three years we have mas-massive change, and every five years we have a rebranding. we're kind of crazy.

But, but the thing is that we are a festival on design. If we don't change, how can we say to people to show us how image is gonna change, you know? I need to take risks ​

Radim: Welcome to Daring Forever, a podcast about being human, wired for wonder, capable of courage, perpetually becoming. It's about the waves that knock us under and the strange stubborn grace with which we surface. My name is Ryan Mallenich. I'm an author, creative, and an eternally curious human being on a mission to speak to incredible people whom I call forever daring humans, those in pursuit of an extraordinary life.

Every week, I share an interview that is packed with amazing stories, value, and I can only ask you, how will you dare forever? This podcast is inspired by my upcoming book titled Daring Forever, which is now available for pre-order out in October

​

Radim: My guest today spent two decades turning a design conference into one of the most sought-after festivals in the creative world. Pep Salazar is the director of OFFF, a festival and a community built on the belief that showing the unfinished idea matters more than the polished portfolio. In this conversation, we go back to his own beginnings as a drama student in a small town near Barcelona, through his years of building Sónar Festival and into what it really takes to design a temporary festival city for three days.

 one that now travels to Mexico Sevilla and Montreal and beyond. This is a conversation about risk, honesty, and why community, done properly, is the hardest and most rewarding thing you can build. It's my pleasure to share with you my conversation with Pep Salazar​

Hey, Pep, welcome to "Daring Forever." It's great to see you. How are you doing? 

Pep: Hi, Radim. I'm really, really good, and I'm really happy to, to be here sharing with you some time, and yeah, let's talk about whatever you want because I'm happy to be here.

Radim: you are here on my, new season called "Daring Forever" because, as you can tell, as you know from our conversations, I'm a fan of what you do, and I'm really fan of what you've created and what you've created especially for the community at large because it's not easy.

I'm always full of praise for people who are the ones behind the scene because it's nice to see a great speaker on the stage. It's nice to think that they've kind carried a festival. But if it wasn't for people like yourself and your team, none of this would've existed.

 So Pep, for those who may have not heard of you, which I doubt is anyone at all, would you introduce yourself? Who are you? What do you do? 

Pep: Thank you for your words, kind words. And, uh, Yeah, I'm Pep, Pep Salazar. I'm, uh, director at OFFF. I've been running the conference from the last 20 years. Conference was, uh, founded in twen- I joined 2007 because of series of, uh, circumstances, and then I realized that OFFF was a gem to polish, and, I rise up what's OFFF right now, which is many, many things.

It's, it's a festival, but on top of that, it's a community and, and other things we can talk about. 

Radim: Absolutely. I I like the expression that you say it's a gem to polish because, I mean, pretty much everything is a diamond in the rough, isn't it? Like we're just trying to find the best possible version of this.

 But Pep, I've got this habit of doing this on the show. We ask people where the creativity comes to them. Obviously you are per se, you wouldn't recognize yourself as a creative. And I remember us having this conversation in person about, "Hey Pep, you need to come on a podcast." And you say, "I'm not creative."

I'm like, "No, no, no, you, you're coming." We're making this happen. Because what was your direction of travel? Like where did you grow up? was creativity ever on your radar or did you happen to stumble into a festival and go, "Okay, who's 

Pep: No, I came from a small town, but it's not small today but it was pretty small town near Barcelona.

It's called Terrassa. I was born there. my parents wasn't at all about culture or creativity and I don't know why but I, really started loving theater and plays at the age of 14, And then I realized that, uh, I wanted to be an actor so I studied drama for five years. I've been four years studying drama in Barcelona and then I went to London for one year to study drama Yeah, I was remembering, uh, the other day I was doing this kind of Meisner technique, which is a repetition technique that you repeat the other one and that starts the dialogue. And that pulls me into the, you deep culture in a way and in deep creativity. And then I realized that I I wasn't an actor.

I mean, everybody can be an actor but you you need to be very lucky and you need to hang, up with people that maybe you don't want to and you need to build families that maybe you don't want to. that's the acting thing. And I realized that I was, cool in behind the scenes and then I went to the university to, I knocked to the university.

I say, "Hey, can I come back to study some cultural policies and management and that kind of things?" And I did that really, really fast I joined Sónar, you know the music festival? I joined Sonar to work with them back... That was back in the year 2000, 1998. And, uh, I joined them when they were like, starting growing, and I learned a lot on how to make a festival, and I learned a lot on how to make a team that believes in a project and, a team that focus on an objective.

and then the festival goes as a house, you like a place where people meet, and I have always had that idea that we build a city for three days. People comes, live the city, and then they go out. combining that, you know, for curiosity on plays, theater, drama, music, dance, and yeah, then I found off and it design, and it was more, more than design. It was digital design. It was motion. It was, VFX. It It was an interesting thing to jump in, and I dived really, really deep until today. So that- that's my journey in two minutes. 

Radim: Wow. what a story.

Pep, I've known you for a while, but I never knew that you wanted to be an actor. So how does a kid growing up in Terrassa, how do you get to the immersion of this world? Because I don't think I've ever had anyone who said, "I wanted to be an actor." What was your appeal? What did you watch? What did you consume?

Was there a local culture? What did you do? 

Pep: In my high school I did some plays. I remember it was Lysistrata. It was a classic one. it's a really nice one because it's about a woman doesn't want to have sex with men because men are in war, and that's something that can happen today still, you know?

and I remember having this, punch of, uh, being on the stage and doing plays, getting a dress, getting these guys, uh, being somebody that you are not. it's, uh, maybe I have something on my childhood that I cannot explain yet, and that becomes like I wanted to be an actor.

Actually, I still write drama and that I prefer theater than, uh, cinema But nowadays it's TV series, TV shows, and it's, it's another world for sure, and I know young people that are studying drama and their focus is another one.

They want to be famous, 

Radim: So in your own words, you said it's like building a city for three days, and I love that expression.

 You mentioned you've learned quite a lot about building the team and learned a lot of skills, but what was it like to be thrown into this festival, which is already a beast, with your post sort of graduate experiences? What, what was that like? Did you find yourself scared or was it exciting? 

Pep: I was excited, but I was really scared the day before we opened the doors because, we were waiting them, you know?

We were waiting the community and that Sónar community, yeah, it's people that goes to a festival to dance, They want to dance. And you need to be ready, to bring them the best music you have, the best artists you can, and the best experience you can. can.

Nowadays everybody's talking about experiences, and the festival bubble is, is huge. In that days, we were building that festival bubble in a way by building that experiences and, you by taking care about, water, beer, food, whatever, but music, contents, contents, contents, contents, and design, design, design.

Not only design on visual design, but how you design the experience, how you design the stages, how you design the place. and in that days, I started in the production team on Sónar by Day. I ended being the head of production of Sónar by Day years after. And Sónar by Day in that moment was in the center of Barcelona, MACBA, CCCB.

So it was in the city, and it was so packed, and it was so amazing, you know, and so exciting and so vibrant, but so scary also because you don't have a way to escape, it's something that you have to have in mind. But not a way to escape if something bad happens, but a way to escape for the music also, you know?

I remember it was one year that we have a, blind guest, and it was Scissor Sisters, so nobody knews about Scissor Sisters playing at Sónar live. And when they start playing with the guitars and everything, people on the queue was pushing the queue because they s- they listen and say, "Hey, that's Scissor Sisters.

 and, you know, with that moment and people queuing That kind of moments happens at festival and that, that makes you, you know, feel like, "Okay, I'm doing something for good making, making people happier." Not happy, happier, because they come happy, so they are happier. And that's something outstanding because, you know, it's something that I'm grateful every day because I made my life by doing that for many, many years and that's something to consider.

And I consider almost every day 

Radim: That's really interesting because you talk about sort set curation getting people to come to dance, and we wanna make sure they can dance. And now we talk about like how things have moved because we're creating experiences. Like things are a bit bigger.

I mean, a bit bigger, a bit different. I remember going to festivals at that time around 2001, 2002. I you didn't really care if it was you in a mud pit somewhere in the middle of a forest. Like as long as the band was playing, if your favorite DJ was playing, like we're having fun, you know.

And now things have moved on, I think in in the good way because the worlds are more immersive and you got more things to do outside of it because, yeah, when the DJs stop playing and you find yourself in a, in a mud pit in the middle of a forest or wherever else, you're like, "Okay, what next?" So what was that change that you've seen, that seismic change in the production, the values, the experience that now festival is really what you're describing, building a city a few days.

what did that change feel like? Was it because it was gradual, but was it one day you find yourself building totally different festival to when you started with? 

Pep: Yeah, sure. Uh, just learning, you year after year and learning, with honesty, listening people, but not only for surveys, but talking to people and talking to the audience during the festival, when it's happening.

And, I think we were lucky in Barcelona also on people attending Sónar because the three directors, for me, they are genius and they were like with really good ideas and, and ideas that you can make, it through and you can, uh, make a real thing from the idea.

So I learned in a way to, you know, to make these ideas happen. yeah, all my life I think it, follows me that, okay, I have this idea, can I make it happen? How can I transform an idea to a project or to something valuable? That's one thing. And then the other thing is, adding layers of value all the time.

 That's really important to make a brand, existing. Sónar is existing from the last 30 years or 32 years. It's, something out of the world. But it's because they are adding layers of, contents, adding layers of experiences, adding layers of, uh, context also. Context is really important.

Reading the context, the surroundings, the city, where are you doing the festival? The venue, where are you doing the festival? The people attending, who is these people? Why they attend? Why they come, back? also the contents, the music you play or the design we promote. It's really important to understand the context.

Radim: Absolutely. I I mean, as you said, talking to people when it's happening, I think is one of the best insights to get because you get people in the moment, and then you get people reflective, weeks and days afterwards going, "Well, you know," you know? So I think you get the most honest answer when people are actually in it.

 how important would you say is actually the location? Because, you know, you have-- I can think of, of Sónar, I can think of Primavera Sound. that's another massive festival. Obviously, now you've got OFFA. It's kind of like thinking about OFFF Festival is non-negotiable. Like everyone travels from these corners of the world to come to OFF because, I Barcelona plays part in it, but obviously it's the institution now.

But how important is the location? And, do you think if it was anywhere else, would it be harder to do it? Or is it, is it just a perfect location because of, of where it is? 

Pep: It's, for OFFF it's many, it's many answers here. location is, uh, 60% It's really important.

high, And location for me is two things. One is the city, so that means the context I was talking about before. You need to understand the context. You need to un-to understand the community. Is there the, politics, are, are going to help you?

In Europe, we have, different cultural, uh, ways on politics than in Asia or, uh, North America or, or South America. So you need to understand your players, you your play field, you need to understand it. But then the other one is the venue, and the venue is seventy percent. The venue it's almost everything ' and now I'm going to OFF.

Uh, we're doing OFF in Barcelona from the last thir-fourteen years now in the same venue, which is the Design Hub. we were traveling with OFF, and then we returned to Barcelona in two thousand and ten because the Design Hub was opening. And the thing is that the venue speaks the same language as the festival.

So we're, on the same storytelling. We're we understand each other very well. So I bring international audience to the venue. The venue brings to me local powerful. And that's something that combining is really powerful. And that's why I think that, uh, Barcelona is a key, it's a key player at OFF now.

 And that's why five thousand people from seventy-four countries fly to Barcelona to meet at that specific venue. that's amazing. have this app that when somebody buy a ticket or you buy a ticket or whatever, I know where you buy the ticket, because of the data.

And when somebody from, Japan or, uh, Australia, New Zealand buy the ticket, I'm ready to give you the best experience." Because, it's a lot of things on your back your guests are coming from very far. I mean, they, they, they taking one plane, maybe two planes, spending one week, spending a lot of money, a lot of energy.

So you need to take care of that. 

Radim: yeah, I love your answer because as you said, 70% is the venue, 60% is the city. and over 5,000 people from 74 countries. I those numbers are staggering when you think about it.

Because when you said you got a lot of pressure on your back, obviously when you, put yourself under a lot of pressure or or you accept the situation as as a good adrenaline because you really care. You really care about the experience. I have spoken at different festivals which had like a satellite versions in different countries, different continents.

 They just showed up with pull-up banners. You know, they were like, "Hey, we got this venue for one day. we put 1,000 people here. We just put some pull-up banners. We get all the speakers and we go home," you know? your expression of like, we build a city. it's a different beast and obviously I can't be sort comparing cheese and chog and going this is different.

But the experience, obviously, it's the level of detail obviously and, why people would come back. Because as you know, we did a live podcast, uh, on a previous season with PJ Richardson on the stage in in the room upstairs, and he was talking about the fact like how he felt devoted he felt obliged to create basically the best possible titles ever because it reminds him of the experience of how we come together as people in our community.

That some people just, they do get a credit card, they max out a credit card for the experience. they want to be there, and I think that's, unmistakable passion for this event. By having something that, if you wanna get into debt just to be in there, that's something that speaks volumes obviously.

And a making of, a couple of decades to create this. So what I wanna know is to, jump into obviously from Sona, which is just music heavy and kind of almost like a linear offer where you wanna make sure that people dance and, people don't crash themselves with listening to, Scissor Sisters.

 But what was it like being a festival, which was originally started as very flash-- Was it online flash film festival or something? That was what it was called or- originally. And then obviously you got digital storytelling experience and different nature because 

I just wanna know obviously, what was that change? What was the transition to go into something which is just a little bit more, different? 

Pep:  Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was, challenging in a, in a first way because first of all, as I tell you, you need to understand the context, so you also need to understand What are you working on?

And I met Hector, which is the founder of, OFFF. He founded in 2001, and Hector is a videographer, and he's a cinema maker, and he's an artist, and he needs a manager, you know? because, artists are artists, and they need to play art, and they need managers to put them, in the way to, to play art.

and the challenge was to understand my reflection, but the challenge was to make it professional. not making as a something that, uh, is a side project or something that I only have passion. Because when you have a lot of passion in something, it's great, but then you can blur your view, and then you cannot build a, project that.

So I, find that moment Hector needed management at all cost because he was moving from Barcelona to Lisbon. with Sonar, I have the opportunity also to work, internationally. So I have experience of working in Germany, England, Portugal, many places.

I tell him, "Hey, man, I working in Portugal is not the same like working in Barcelona because it's not your home. It's not your place, different rules," So, I decide to join because I like risk. I like taking risk and learning by taking risk. And I decide to join, and I say, "Okay, coming to you, and let's go.

Let's go to Lisbon. Let's make the festival together." yeah, from now, from that moment because then I learned that, speakers and, uh, creatives, designers are not music stars, And it's a change. It's a big change, and it's a day festival, so you can go to the hotel to have dinner with the artists, And it's more relaxing, even it is stressful because it's a lot of people and lots of things going on, but it's way more relaxing in that sense. And also behind every speaker, behind every creative, behind every studio, behind every, brand- 

 it's a lot of ideas, and it's a lot, a lot, a lot of ideas.

And having the chance to share that ideas is something, and share the process is something that really inspires me in that moment and still inspire me. Because when you do a music festival... I've been involved in other music festivals during that period also, mostly jazz. when you do music festival, what you do is, you show the final piece Jazz can be a little bit different because jazz they improvise a lot, and the improvisation in jazz is, is something that only jazz musicians and a few audiences understand.

but the other music is a finished thing, so you show the finished, project. At OFFF, we ask to show the unfinished project, or at least to show the, the process to go to that finished project. And that journey from the idea to the finished project is something that makes OFFF really, really unique.

from that moment, well, you know, maybe you know better than me, but from that moment, it's hundreds of design conferences doing, more or less the same because communities need to understand process also. the other thing this is a design conference, okay?

But we put the festival mood because I love festivals, I learned how to make festivals when I was 20-something, and we put the festival mood in Barcelona. That means outdoor areas, people going in and out, uh, different, uh, schedules at the same time. That's a festival, you know?

That's not a conference 

Radim: I love this. I love your sentiment, I love your vision because you said, you know, if you're passionate, that can blur your view. You artist needs managers. And the way you describe the music festival versus creative festival is really good because you're right.

I mean, when it comes to jazz, you know, there's some freedom. You know, they say that every mistake in a jazz composition is an opportunity. Like, you know, if you just get a note wrong, it's-- it can take you anywhere because it's more like a river, you know. Like you got start and finish, but the middle part, it can go anywhere.

 Whereas, DJ sets and something like-- there's, there's a level of planning, but it's a final piece and it only happens in that moment. So I like your sentiment about that, showing what's behind the finished piece, like showing how you get from A to B to Z to whatever you need to get is the magic because ultimately that's how we grow, right?

Because we want to understand how did you do this and what did you do and what happened? Because I think, the sentiment in the creative industry now that a portfolio talk is a little bit predictable and are you there to tell the story of yourself? Are you there to tell, not to make yourself look good, or are you actually, you giving us ideas and value that can really, further someone's work?

Because ultimately the kids who, max out their credit cards and actually go and travel, you know, across from, from these 74 countries, they go there 'cause they want to be inspired because you can't see something in a finished portfolio how it happened. So I do like that, you that's the focus on happens because the more we share, the more we talk, the more we, show one another how how we got from A to B to A to Z or from zero to one, I think that's, that, that's what makes us stronger.

So I like what you're saying that that coupled with the festival experience, not not it being a conference but being a festival is what makes it really, really interesting. what changes have you seen mostly with you being on board? Obviously, the world of creativity moves on very fast, and we don't have to talk about AI.

It's more about world of experience, right? Because I've been coming to OFFF since 2015, and I've seen the venue that you've been using for the last, you know, 15 years or 16 years change every single time. There's always another add-on. There's wall being built. There's another window, another...

Stage is in a different place. It used to be the other way around. let's talk about that part for a bit because the changes in, in its history itself the recent times is just incredible. So did it come from a data point, talking to people, trying to find better ways?

Obviously, even the screen this year was much, much better. So like, wow. Let's talk about changes over time. 

Pep:  Yeah. You need to improve. You need to add layers. You need to change. I love to design the festival With my team, every year we, have the plot and we draw, we design the festival, and we say, "Okay, can we put the stage here?

No, no, maybe here." We change, we don't change. We change that one. We change the other one. We change the, the outdoor tent. We change the market. Every year we have a change, and every three years we have mas-massive change, and every five years we have a rebranding. we're kind of crazy.

But, but the thing is that we are a festival on design. If we don't change, how can we say to people to show us how image is gonna change, you know? I need to take risks because I can take, to take risks, you And if I rebrand the OFFF brand and the OFFF logo every five years or every six years, and it doesn't work, I have the option to rebrand it again.

because for lucky, OFFF is well known and it's established. So when you have this established thing, you can play a lot, and it's so fun, and I like to have fun by doing that. also because we need to understand the changes on the industry and how the industry is changing, how the formats are changing, how people focus is changing.

But I want to maintain some old styles. I want to maintain long speeches, like 50 minutes talk. I don't want to be, 15 or 20 or 18 minutes speed talks. We need places to be safe. Um, places to be safe means places that you can sit and listen for somebody for 50 minutes. places where you can invite somebody to go on the stage and say, "Hey, you have 50 minutes.

You're gonna explain your whole life." so that's something important. Then also, I don't change in, uh, streaming the contents. We don't stream the content, so you need to be there to feel that and to understand how the life is changing in the creative business. But then every year we, like to improve things and we like to test things. I want to add more, uh, installations maybe, remove the, sponsors', stages, the stands. Not remove at all because they need it, but, you know, having more space for installations because sponsorship nowadays is changing also.

It's not being there with a stand, it's being there with contents and that's, uh, understanding the industry, understanding what people is looking for is also important to make all this, all the puzzle, in the place. It is a big puzzle, I have to say 

Radim: As I said, so every time I come to the festival, I can really feel every single change, how you turn a conference into a festival. What sort of conversations do you have with your team drawing your plans and kind planning all of this? And what requests do you get from actual people in the public, you from a firsthand feedback?

how do you guys put it all together? 

Pep: Yeah, I have 

this team is, we're a small team. We are seven people. and in the production and in the design, we're s- even less. And, uh, I have these ideas sometimes that, you I remember telling them, "Hey, I want to put, something in the lake."

I for the people that doesn't know, the design half has a small, artificial lake on the front. So I want to use that space, and put something on the lake and, the first moment I wanted to put an stage to do worships there, and cover the lake and, then we cannot do it because of the, people that we can allow to be on the lake.

 But yeah, we draw something and then we put the market on the lake, and that was, a risk and it's still a risk, but it's working because that lake is open to the city. It's not, You don't need to have the ticket to go inside the, market, so we leave it open. The same with the two big screens outdoors.

 And, my team gives me also more ideas because they are younger than me and they, attend other festivals and we go to other festivals to see and to, feel what's the mood. So that's why we create, I the walls so people can paint, uh, a mural with an artist, the outdoor areas, uh, all the graphics and all the how we, dress the, whole festival and everything.

 So it's, more or less, uh, something that we do together. I have some ideas, but then we do together because they also have ideas and, And then, of course, we look at the budget, you know, and it's like, okay, are we going to get rich? No, never. Are we going to get poor? Let's try not get poor, but... 

Radim: yeah, it's incredible story when you think about it.

Seven people versus 5,000, you can make your mind up, like how many people would you expect to run a festival, right? 

Pep: Yeah, but it's, uh, seven people during the year. Then when the festival comes, we grow the team and we're around 30, 35.

Radim: Wow. 

Pep: But yeah, on music festivals you need, 200 people. 

Radim: you got obviously scalable staff with all the production and, 

your production team is incredible. Like the people behind the scenes running, especially the roots, visuals and sound.

 I had such a nice experience of giving them my talk in the last minute, and I realized I had a mistakes in it. Like, "Can I replace it?" They're like, "No, you can't." They're basically playing me. But you mentioned that your team goes onto festivals into different places. So obviously OFF is not just rooted in Barcelona.

It's, currently popping up in different places like Mexico City, Sevilla, and now Montreal. I know that you lived in Montreal for about a year. So first of all, I wanna know, did you try poutine? And what's it like to take the-- show on the road? Because as you said, when you talked about Lisbon before, different rules, different cities, different audiences, different expectations.

So what's it like to be running this, in different places? 

Pep: let me tell you the truth and, the context We've been in Barcelona, then we go to Lisbon two years, and then we go to Paris, and then we realized that Barcelona had the design hub working, so we decide to come back home.

 So come back to Barcelona and make, the Barcelona experience bigger and bigger and bigger until what is now. And then, doing the pop-ups, out, uh, on different cities because we turned out that there was a lot of cities that they have this, venues, museums, contemporary museums, design museums, et cetera, and they were, empty of, this kind of content.

 we realized that the communities, the creative communities around the world, local ones, also wants to go and wants to move to their place to understand the process. so we say, "Okay, let's do a font tour." And we start in Cincinnati, which is, Cincinnati is in the middle of Ohio. Ohio is south Chicago in the middle of the States.

And in Cincinnati, which is a weird place, it's a really nice contemp-contemporary art museum, and they needed content. So we arranged, you know, this partnership. "Okay, I'm bringing you the brand and the content. You, put together all the communication, the local production and the venue, and we build a community together."

And that's the idea when when we go out. Now we are in Sevilla, we are in, Montreal. We're going to be in Tallinn, in Estonia next year or so with the same idea, you know, to build more local communities, rising local communities, maybe not in the city, but in the region. When we're talking about Tallinn, we're talking about the Baltic region.

 We're talking about Montreal, we're talking about the east, uh, northeast, region that includes Chicago, Boston, New York, even Toronto. and yeah, the Montreal experience, my personal one was, exciting because, uh, have to say. I love Montre-Montrealers, but I don't like it.

And you know, I quit smoking in Montreal because, uh, it was minus 20 degrees. You know, it was like, "No, I'm not going out to smoke." 

Radim: that's an in- that's an incredible one. I I like that we've taken a detour. I mean, I remember my first ever talk, was in Montreal. My first and second talk was actually in Montreal some 14, 15 years ago. And I remember just before we flew back, they were like, "Have you tried poutine?"

I was like, "Oh, no." So I tried it I-- but I really liked it The next year when I got back, a-- I was like, "I'm gonna go big. This is-- I've got such good memories." And I remember feeling so sick afterwards. I'm like, "I will never eat this again," because this is heavy meal. but yeah, I know what you mean about the minus 20, 20, 25 because you ask-- I mean, lots of my friends from the places, they're like, " what's the difference between 20 and 30?"

Like after minus 20, you can't just tell the difference. It's just basically really cold. Yeah, we've taken a detour what you've got there really good, obviously it's just as you said, like there's local places where you're trying to build communities that just span beyond the city, and it's just like how do you work, I guess, you have to tell me if you work with local partners or how much of that local knowledge is really important for you, for your success to take off on tour.

Pep: you need to work with local partners, of course, because nobody knows everywhere. and I trust my local partners because they are part of the community itself, and they are part of the creative industry. but also they need to understand how to make a festival or how to make an event on that size.

The thing is that, let's call Barcelona like the central thing. So from the central we provide, the knowledge, the, the knowhow and all the experience and also the parts of the production, lots of communication from the global community and the contents also, you the relationship with the speakers and with the companies and everything.

 So we more or less build it together. So it's not a franchise. It's something that we co-produce. and yeah, and I need somebody that locally knows very well the region. We're going to announce two more surprises. it's not signed yet, so I I will wait. But You will know the first because two more places that, can be so exciting.

 And also, it's exciting to understand, you know, It's creativity all over the world, man. I mean, it's incredible. you go to, I don't know, a, small village in, in a, small country, and I'm sure that s-some designer there designing something. It's like, it's amazing how creative community is all over, uh, and I like to understand it, and I like to understand it locally.

Radim: I mean, that's interesting. I was expecting I might get exclusive, you know, two more places. Let's talk about it. But no, look, I, I know that Tallinn's happening. But what I want to know is what, You sounded really excited about the fact that creativity is everywhere, and the most, I would say, it's a thankless task.

But put together a, curated lineup, you will never please everyone. Cause there's always people-- And I've been to so many festivals, and there's always people that'll be like, "Oh, this wasn't enough of this. This was too much," and, "That speaker was here again," This is happening." And you're thinking, always try to, as I said, I always try to think about the people behind the scenes, people like yourself who put this together, and you're like, you're working with so many variables.

Like, who's available? who can come? who's actually good? Who's got something to say? And it must be really hard to do this. So when it comes to curation and discovering creativity and kind of bringing something to the bigger audience, especially in Barcelona, how much of curiosity and discovery refers-- Like, how do you look for speakers?

Because that's what the lineup is, and and hats off to you in 2026 and all the previous few years. it's getting bigger. You're giving it more dimension. There's more architecture. There's more, experiential design. It really, I think, showcases how we are growing as creatives in our curiosity, in our demands, and what we need because I think what used to work 10 years ago will never work again.

You know? that time has gone. So again, long-winded question about curation, like how do you put it all together? what is it about the responsibility that can make you, you know, freeze? Or how how stressful can it be to actually put together something that you will believe that will bring people to Barcelona Yeah. 

Pep: it's hard to say no to somebody because, uh, because it's a lot of people asking to be speaker, and everybody who wants to be a speaker has something to tell in their side. But maybe it's not in that moment for the festival or for my vision of, how I want to do the wave of the contents of the festival.

that's one thing. So I'm thinking, I decide not to have themes because if you have a theme, then you are so constrained. So I decide to have an under word or an under title to play more, for the campaign rather than the contents itself. Then I decide to open, to have a wider vision on creativity, inviting architectures, inviting more photographers, inviting, uh, these experiential design people, people that design stages or, even scientists that are related to arts in a way.

to have more, appealing, talks and not only, talking about motion or design, at conferences are talking only about motion, and that's great But I want OFFF to be a big and a wide vision on creativity in a way. so I build it- Asking mostly. of course I search webs. Of course I have the, communications and the newsletters from the media, et cetera. And of course, I, I know the industry. But I ask, Hey, who is the next? Who is doing that? who you think that..." And I ask people that I trust, And who is these people that I trust? Can be speakers, can be, people in the industry, you know, can be people that send me an email, "Hey, Pep, I think that this is a good, speaker for OFFF." let's take a look. And, that's my way, you to build it not only by myself or my own edition, because the festival is not for me.

I'm not doing the festival for me. I'm doing the festival for a community. So I try to think, then of course are haters everywhere, we love haters, and we love people that say, "This is a bullshit." Okay, that's good. But bullshit exists and needs to be there also.

 and then sometimes it works and most of the times work. Sometimes it doesn't work. But most of the times work because people on the stage have something to say 

Radim: yeah, I welcome the opportunity every year to send you a list of speakers that I think you should book because it's nice to see friends on the stage, like our friend Natalie Gordon or, Björn Kusoffsky from St- Stockholm Design Lab.

 I was like, "Oh, I managed to do it, you know. I managed to make the connections because I really care about the fact that there's so many incredible people and talented and generous people who should be on the stage, and sometimes, you know, can get lost in the big net, right?

 How 

Pep: can we talk about a community if we don't do the community for real? 

Radim: Absolutely. I want to talk about now about the future and hopes and dreams and fears and that kind of stuff because world is moving fast. you've got you've got a finite space and infinite dreams.

 I know that you don't necessarily want to go into 20,000 people and make it a impossibly corporate.

But like, what would you do if you could do anything? What is the one thing that you kind of potentially now, like what is your 

desires, uh, to see in the future? 

Pep: it's complex because the world is complex every year. it's getting worse than five years ago. Everything is so unstable, and you can feel it when you organize something international.

But, at the same time, we need places like OFF, That's why I come to the office every day, you know, because we need to build it, and we need that kind of places. I say sa- safe places. I like, I like that expression. my fears is that the world is getting so complex that people maybe cannot travel or People with fear also, like the fear that we have on the pandemic can return suddenly. I don't have a fear on technologies because I was having lunch with Joshua Davis that he's in Barcelona this week. We were having lunch, three days ago, something like that. And I said to him, "Hey, Joshua, people is talking about AI, but you're working with AI from the last 20 years, 25 years, right?"

And he said, "Yeah. We call it machine learning in that day, but it's the same." So I'm afraid of technologies at all. Uh, the contrary, I like to show technologies, and I like to have, uh, technologies and software sponsors at the festival. And that makes me dream, you on how to, create better content, My dream actually is to create my own content, like of creating own content, for good, maybe for a platform, so we can reach more people and, don't know yet. We're still working on the, live series events. But maybe we need to create more content as we create the main titles from decades, as we create the campaigns.

But as you know, the last edition, we create a new thing called the closing show. That's a show, it's an audiovisual show, a performing show that I'm doing. I'm acting as a promoter, so that means that we are creating. And I'm going to do it again for 2027 also with local, talent, because I also want to highlight, the talent that is living in Barcelona.

I think that's my dream, you know, having the capability to create new things 

Radim: Yes. But speaking of new things, I mean, I have to say the addition of the projection on the side of the building was utterly remarkable. it's created a festival that lasts for extra four or five hours in a day, because to see all of the people gathered outside and having all of this beautifully shared, semi-quiet experience, kind of being in awe of having this projection happening, it's such a unique thing because y- sometimes you think like, "Oh, this, experience is complete," and actually being able to find, the projection, I think someone came to you and said, "I think we should do it," and you're like, "Of course, that's a great idea."

 It's turned into a whole 'nother level because, like, how do you get people focused? Because the word focus was one of your answers at the beginning. Like, the world is changing. You know, sometimes it's scary, but also it's more fragmented. We do so many more things. We've got a lot less time to focus on our general things, and it's just like, how do you give the experience to everyone?

Actually being able to do that is utterly remarkable. did you have any feedback from the local people coming to see the projection and being like, "Oh my God, what are you guys doing? This is incredible"? 

Pep: That's a thing. First of all, it's the second year we did the screen, we call it the screen, and it's the second year I thought, "Why we didn't do it before?"

You know, But, things come at a time. And then, yeah, we have, a lot of comments from local people because the screen is open. Again, this is also the open part. Because I know OFFF creates, high standards levels on, creativity and our community, the, the people I, curate and the, also the open call, they bring us, uh, really high standard levels of, digital art, right?

And I thought that showing these high standards of digital art to the city, open to the citizens, without explaining that, hey, you need to be part of the community or you need to be a professional to understand. No, no, you just need to be a citizen. Come here, sit down, relax, and watch. Mm-hmm. And enjoy the art.

And that's, that's very powerful, you know, because then you are showing, criteria, and then you are showing, uh- Good art. and people reacts very well because when art is good, it's like when music is good. You don't know why, but you're following, When it's bad, it's like you don't know why, but you're going home.

it's the same. 

Radim: You're absolutely right. When art is good, it's good. When music is good, it's good. When it's not, we all know. We, we can all smell the bullshit, you know? We all know that there's a potential for something better. But how far in advance do you work on all of this?

Because, feels like it comes and goes real quick, like the three, four days. it's a blizzard of ideas, creativity, colors, opinions. how far ahead do you have to think of what you can do and, I mean, like, even just the structure of things. is it constant cycle? 

Pep: Yeah, it's a constant cycle, I have to say.

It's one, year, but, uh, it's even more because, uh, I need now to have the dates of 2028 clear because I, because I need to, I put the schedules together. Now I'm working on 2027 a lot, but, in two months, in September, October, I would love to have the dates on 2028, so I can, I ask speakers or ask a studio to make the graphic design of the campaign or whatever.

 As, the more time I have, the better 

because we are on the wheel.

Radim: I wanna know one thing. when the doors open, you know, let's say we just, you obviously finished your last version just not, not that long ago. Do you allow yourself to enjoy it? or are you troubleshooting? Are you looking for things going wrong? Because that's what I want to know. Because if you're project managing something, if you're running a show, do you have the ability to actually even find a moment and say, "Yeah, I'm enjoying this."

But otherwise, you might be looking for all sorts of problems and mistakes. 

Pep: I have a million three-minute conversations, and that's something I learned from the years to try to enjoy these short conversations because, uh, it's, uh, so stressful. And I, I find moments to enjoy from the last two, three years.

I have-- be very honest. because, the festival is going, the team is, the same. We know how to do it. of course, I'm, I'm running around all the time and looking things and, and seeing people and watching people. Then, I need to find my moments myself alone, and I like to sit in the middle of the room, and listen one or...

Not one, but not the long keynote, but maybe, I don't know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes. and I try to enjoy it, and Yeah, I I always bring my family there and, you know, I try to make a family moment. having a pizza and a beer and, speaking with people.

That's, the most enjoyable moment when I speak to people. I'm there, I don't know, at seven o'clock, eight o'clock, on Thursday or Friday, you know, and people comes to me and they say, "Hey, Pepe, we're having good time. Thank you for that." and then say, "I'm having good time. Thank you for being here."

you so I'm trying to balance, of course. 

Radim: you said you're having five million three-minute conversations, and I think that summarizes everything that you started doing with SONAR. It's like you're having conversation with people as it's happening to understand what's happening, what's going good, what's not going good, you what you can improve.

And sometimes, obviously, when the machine's moving, you can't change much because everything's set in stone, which is rolling. But it's, it's those conversations that, I remember every year, you know, three-minute conversations. It's like, "How are you doing? How is it going?" On to the next thing.

And I think it's a remarkable job because you're surrounded by an incredible production team, you know, from Laura to Dan to everybody else, Elena. you guys got it going really good, and I think it's nice to hear that, you know, you can get your family to come over and actually enjoy it and, uh, appreciate it.

Because every year is different, and I think this we always try to recreate experiences in our lives that like, is it as good as the last time? You know, let's say, a new movie comes out, is it as good as the one and is it better? Is it this? But are we allow ourselves to live in the moment?

Because when you think about it, you can't recreate one festival over and over and over again. You know, sometimes it's gonna flow high, sometimes it's gonna flow low or lower, shall I say. And it for that experience to actually to be your own because, you know, we've got different perception of reality.

You can put two people in the same festival and one will love it, the other one will hate it, you know. And it's got nothing to do with the festival. It's just the hardwiring of our bodies and our minds going like, "Yeah, some will like it, some will not." So- I felt like there was this shift, especially this year, that we there was more honesty with the talks.

There was more honesty in how things are, how things can be, what are the challenges and how we are the same in all of this. Because as you talked about a person creating something in a small village somewhere in the middle of nowhere that you would never expect creativity to thrive, we all break the same, we create similar with similar passion.

We kind look into this world and try to m- get something out of it. So in your case, you see a shift to more storytelling and honesty in the festival or 'cause as you said, like it's great to show what's behind the scenes, and you say a theme would make it a bit more narrow.

But like what is the, overall ambition that you wanna do, let's say 

Pep: with the, it doesn't comes from me actually really. It comes from the need of the speakers and the need of the creatives to, express themselves in that way. Kelly Carson, for example, she's always, explaining that, uh, she needs to explain, storytelling and she needs to, explain herself that many people do, that.

And that way of explaining it's, something that is with the speakers and with the agencies also. But not only with the speakers, you know, I remember the Uncommon talk last year opening the festival was like, "Wow, man." that's a real story.

But even if you're big or not, or if you are just a jour- a journalist or if you are a 3D creative, I think that people needs to 

express themselves in that way. 

Radim: Absolutely. I, I think it's a real testament to what you've created because obviously when you've got, the influences of advertising, architecture, all of that stuff coming together, it, it actually gives the crowd slightly bigger view on the creativity per se, because some festivals are-- mean, I look at South by Southwest and the, the lineup is all chaotic.

And when you look at it, you're like, "Whoa, what is going on?" Because, you sometimes people say that, festivals like OFF could be a bit more of an echo chamber that, be looking at similar work from similar people for similar ideas. But where you've taken it, actually you've taken it in a beautiful place where you bring in, you know, incredible creatives with incredible storytelling to audiences that would not normally watch it, not normally hear it or look it up, and then go home with a different experience.

 So again, hats off to you for what you're creating because it's incredible. Um, as you know, I'm a big fan and will always, always will be. is there any, place on earth where OFF would be a, fantastic thing to have?

Where you would love to create your, small city? You would like to build a city for three days, AKA Of Festival? 

Pep: Many places. Maybe I dream on Japan because it's the most difficult one to work with as an Occidental.

I would love to, go to that, places. I'm happy. And I don't know, you know, I'm happy with, with the places. Africa, Who knows about Africa? Nobody knows anything about Africa. imagine, putting an OFF Nairobi. I would love it, but they don't have a structure, so it's almost impossible.

 I've been in contact with somebody in Morocco, in Casablanca a few years ago, but then they disappear, um, you know, they blow up because they don't have a structure to make an event, even a small event or whatever, an international event with the standards of, from OFF.

So 

Radim: I like that you set yourself challenges. I mean, Japan, just because it's difficult. Let's do Japan in one day because it's difficult. But Pep, I'm so happy that we spoke today because I didn't know that you were budding actor growing up, you Terrassa, outside Barcelona, doing all sorts of stuff that has taken you to this place.

Because when you think about it, every single experience that you've had was from behind the scenes, as you said, like we want to have a festival that doesn't just show the finished piece. You know, there's a story behind it. And when I look at the, organization that you got in place, you know, that is the whole, theater behind the scenes that makes all of this possible.

So hats off to you for keeping the dream alive, keeping the festival alive because it's no mean feat. And yeah, I don't think we could have a better person in charge than you. So thank you so much. thank you, Radeen, for having me and, uh, it was a nice conversation as always talking to you.

Now, not a three-minute 

Pep: conversation, a long one. I like it very much. And, hello to your community, and yeah, very welcome. Thank you. 

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Pep: Hey, thank you for joining me on this episode of the Daring Forever podcast. As always, I'd love to know your thoughts, questions, and even suggestions, so please get in touch via the show notes or social channels. This episode was produced and presented by me, Radim Malinich. The audio production was done by Neil McKay from Seven Million Bikes podcast.

Thank you for being here, and I hope to catch you on the next episode

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