Thinking about going to She Arts Festival this October, but waiting for someone to come with you?
We know the feeling. You get to the entrance alone and suddenly notice you have two hands, nowhere to put them, and absolutely no idea where to look.
Then comes the classic thought: “Is everyone noticing that I came alone?”
The answer is: no.
Most people are too busy figuring out where they’re going, checking their phones, finding their friends, or trying to look like they know what they’re doing. You are almost certainly not the main character in a stranger’s internal monologue.
And honestly, there’s something freeing about going to an arts festival alone.
The Awkward Part Is Mostly in Your Head
Walking into an event by yourself can feel awkward, especially when you imagine everyone else arriving in groups.
But once you’re inside, you have much less time to overthink it. There’s a performance happening, people are moving between spaces, someone is looking for their seat, someone else is taking photos, and suddenly your dramatic “everyone knows I’m alone” storyline lasts about 45 seconds.
You also don’t need to find someone to talk to immediately. You can exist.
Watch the 17+ performances. Look around. Get something to eat. Sit somewhere. Go to the 6+ workshops. Wander through an exhibition. Scroll your phone between things if you want. And make new friends who share your same interests.
And if you don’t speak to a single person all day? That’s completely fine too. You came to experience the festival, not to complete a side quest called “make three new friends.”
You Get to Be Extremely Selfish With Your Plans
This might actually be the best part of going alone.
You don’t have to convince anyone to come with you. You don’t have to wait for someone who is “still getting ready.”
You don’t have to hear “I’m not really into that” every time you suggest something.
And you most definitely don’t have to be 40 minutes late on everything, waiting for your friends.
You can look at the program and say, “Yeah, I want to see that.”
Want to spend the afternoon at a workshop instead of a concert? Sure.
Want to arrive for one performance and leave afterward? Also fine.
Want to completely change your plans halfway through because something else looks more interesting? Nobody is going to complain.
You’d be surprised how many things we miss because we’re waiting for someone else to be available, interested, or equally excited about the same thing.
Sometimes the group chat is the biggest obstacle between you and the thing you actually want to do.
It also doesn’t have to be your whole identity. You can still feel out of place!
Going to an event alone doesn’t mean you have to make a statement about independence or suddenly become one of those people who goes everywhere alone and says, “I actually prefer it this way.”
You can be nervous. You can feel awkward. You can arrive and spend five minutes wondering what you’re supposed to do with yourself.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go.
Permit yourself to be one of the awkward art kids standing around, trying to figure out what’s next.
The festival has enough going on that you can build your day around what you actually want to see without having to coordinate every decision with someone else.
And if you happen to talk to someone along the way, great. If you don’t, that’s great too.
Either way, you got out of the house and saw something you were curious about.
And if you see us, come say hi!
El-Shai will be at She Arts Festival throughout the event as well, so if you’re coming alone and spot us, come hang out.
Seriously. You don’t need to arrive with a group, and you definitely don’t need to pretend you have one.
So if there’s something on the She Arts program (which you can check out on Ticketsmarche and on our feed) you’ve been wanting to see, maybe stop waiting for someone else to agree to come.
Get the ticket. Show up. Be awkward for five minutes.
You’ll be fine.
