Electric Spring Festival: Juan Pardo and Peter Jackson on Building a New Dance Tradition in New Orleans
⚜️ Juan Pardo and Peter Jackson introduce Electric Spring Festival, a new New Orleans dance music gathering rooted in community, local talent, and the primal power of the dance floor at Music Box Village. ⚜️
Electric Spring Festival: Juan Pardo and Peter Jackson on Building a New Dance Tradition in New Orleans
New Orleans has never struggled to produce music. What it has struggled with, at times, is sustaining electronic music spaces built specifically for the dance floor.
Electric Spring Festival (@electricspringfest) enters that conversation not as a traveling brand or outside takeover, but as a locally rooted effort from two longtime collaborators who have spent over a decade immersed in music projects together.
Hosted at Music Box Village on March 27 and 28, 2026, the inaugural Electric Spring aims to create a hyper-local, community-centered electronic festival focused on intimacy, sound design, and celebration of New Orleans’ vibrant DJ ecosystem.
We spoke with founders Juan Pardo and Peter Jackson about why now, why here, and what they hope this first year represents.
NOLA EDM: For those meeting you for the first time — who are Juan Pardo and Peter Jackson, and how did the Electric Spring Festival come to life?
Tell us about the team behind the festival, your shared vision, and what sets Electric Spring apart from other events in the Gulf South.
ELECTRIC SPRING: We have been friends and partners in various music projects for over 10 years. During that time we gained a shared appreciation of electronic/dance music on a global scale and started to see how much the art form and its community are truly a universal language. We got inspired about doing an event in New Orleans to bring together what is an incredibly vibrant scene of local DJs, producers, artists, technicians and patrons.
NOLA EDM: Electric Spring is launching as a brand-new festival in a city that already has a rich music history. What gap were you hoping to fill in New Orleans’ dance music ecosystem?
ELECTRIC SPRING: Our primary goal is to provide an enhanced experience in terms of the lineup, the venue, sound&lighting for both the patrons and the performing DJ’s. We are offering a pure and intimate dance music community focused event. These elements are where we feel like we are offering something unique.
NOLA EDM: This marks the inaugural installation of what you hope becomes an annual tradition. Why was 2026 the moment to make this real?
ELECTRIC SPRING: We need each other more than ever. We see the dance floor as one of the most effective places to gather and be reminded we have each other and there is still a lot to appreciate in our community despite how dark the rest of the world may be in 2026.
NOLA EDM: Music Box Village is not a conventional festival ground. How does its musical architecture and experimental design shape the kind of experience you’re building?
ELECTRIC SPRING: We feel that the dance music community is rooted in some primal places and Music Box Village is the epitome of a primal expression of renewal, rebirth and the funk that is New Orleans…and also so relatable to the origins of the club/dance/rave culture that is our core identity.
NOLA EDM: The lineup leans heavily into New Orleans-based artists. How important was it for you to prioritize local talent for year one?
ELECTRIC SPRING: The current scene in New Orleans is as vibrant as any metropolitan center for dance music going today. We look to celebrate that vibrancy and encourage its growth and sustainability on the global stage.
NOLA EDM: Electric Spring describes itself as genre-fluid and culturally expansive. How are you approaching curation across three stages without losing cohesion?
ELECTRIC SPRING: It feels like we are doing a crazy chemistry experiment on some level. For example on Friday, ÌFÉ will be doing an amazing “Opening Ceremony” that will be a special moment to help set us on a righteous path for the weekend. Get there early! Strap in….it’s gonna be fun!
We wish we had 3 more stages and 3 more days to fit everything in that we wanted to showcase. We hope we can survive into the future to be able to offer more artists and genres a place to perform.
NOLA EDM: Beyond music, you’re bringing in food vendors, local art, and New Orleans-based sponsors. Was it intentional to keep the festival hyper-local for its first year?
ELECTRIC SPRING: We are very focused on supporting the local entertainment, nightlife, service, blue collar/roadie economy.
We are also focused on affordability in every aspect of our pricing (tickets, food&bev, etc).
NOLA EDM: What do you want someone who hasn’t been on a dance floor in years to feel when they walk into Electric Spring?
ELECTRIC SPRING: Welcome Home!
NOLA EDM: When people look back at year one five years from now, what do you hope they say Electric Spring stood for?
ELECTRIC SPRING: That Electric Spring is an event that is about the deep and meaningful power of dance music and the community that this genre of music allows us to experience. And Electric Spring is yet another part of the amazing fabric of New Orleans’ rich cultural history celebrating music of all kinds.
Tickets are now on sale!
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About NOLA EDM:
NOLA EDM is a New Orleans-based music and culture platform dedicated to documenting, promoting, and producing events that highlight the Gulf South’s electronic and underground scenes. Through artist interviews, editorial coverage, and festival production, NOLA EDM connects fans, promoters, and creators shaping the city’s next wave of sound. Follow NOLA EDM on Instagram for weekly event updates, giveaways, and exclusive artist features.