Head In The Clouds, Feet On The Ground
Illustration by Meghan Zhang
A mere 40-minute drive from Queen’s University lies No. 9 Gardens, the outdoor educational facility of No.9 Contemporary Art & the Environment, a Toronto-based charity with a 20-year legacy. No.9 harnesses innovation, imagination, and rejuvenation to build sustainable communities, uniting visionary voices to inspire a cultural shift toward sustainability. The Gardens serve as a hands-on teaching space for youth, sharing practices that foster sustainable living and community resilience. It was here that the co-founders of Cloud 9 found their inspiration, transforming the Gardens into a three-day electronic music festival that reimagines what a festival can be. With meals catered by local vendors and ingredients sourced directly from the Gardens, Cloud 9 is more than a music festival; it’s a venue for growth, reformation, and wonderment.
Rupert Davies, one of four co-founders of Cloud 9, describes wonderment as “building art that creates wonder inside of its audience.” It is this pursuit of wonder that I believe to be the driving force behind the festival and its appeal. The feeling is not just in the music, but in the land itself, in the installations, in the food, and in the conversations sparked along the way. In a world heavy with climate anxiety, particularly among younger generations, it can be difficult to look ahead with optimism. Cloud 9 offers an alternative: a celebration of possibility. Its mission, Rupert explains, is about “providing younger generations with the passion and skills to build sustainable communities.” No. 9’s educational space is a gift, and through Cloud 9, that gift is shared with a new generation. Here, youth are given a place for introspection, reflection, and creativity, and are encouraged to ask themselves the question: “What do we want our future to look like?”
Although music is at the heart of Cloud 9, the festival thrives as a multidisciplinary arts experience. Installations, workshops, and wellness practices extend the creative dialogue, strengthening the connection between our bodies, our communities, and the earth. MUSE has partnered with Cloud 9 in previous years, and the mission has never changed. Both of our organizations work to uplift the arts in Kingston, showcasing the importance of creativity and the many ways art serves our society.
Alongside co-founders Hanna Davies, Reily Morrison, and Emily Pope, who have each played an equally vital role in shaping Cloud 9, Rupert—whom I interviewed for this year’s editorial—has guided the festival’s musical direction from the very beginning, cultivating the sound that defines its identity.
Each year, Rupert curates the lineup with care, striving to balance international names with emerging voices in order to craft an experience that is at once intimate and expansive. For 2025, festival-goers can look forward to textured house and downtempo explorations from Brooklyn-based BAILE; the pulsing live energy and Belgian rave influences of Otis; genre-bending performances from Venus in Foil; and the hypnotic grooves and subtle psychedelia of Hiroki. And that’s only half of Saturday’s offerings. From day to night, the eco-art stage becomes a canvas for sonic storytelling, carrying listeners through waves of intensity, release, and quiet transcendence.
Beyond the music, the festival nourishes in other ways. Meals, cooked with love by No.9 Gardens Staff, are a communal highlight, with an expanded 2025 menu featuring focaccia pizza with house-made sausage, lemon iced tea, Ontario bacon and eggs from No. 9’s own chicken coop, locally baked bread, and a refreshing watermelon–feta–basil salad. Between shared meals and shared sounds, guests can also explore eco-sustainability workshops, unwind in a wood-fired hot tub, or embrace the invigorating cold-plunge pool. These amenities are designed to inspire attendees, helping them discover their own purpose and fostering a space for creative, innovative thinking. A feature Davies highlighted that stood out to me most was the large, open concept bear statue. He described this monument as “a venue for meditation”, to allow guests to sit on the platform, look up and see the bear enveloping you. I imagined it as a guided meditation of sorts. Just another contributor to the festival’s cultivation of wonderment.
Cloud 9 leaves a lasting imprint on Kingston and the minds of all who attend it. In addition to supporting environmental knowledge, the experience encourages personal discovery and uplifts the creative spirit. More than a festival, it is a living experiment in community and imagination, a reminder that celebrating art and sustainability together can illuminate the path toward a better future.
Cloud 9 2025 will take place the weekend of September 5-7.
You can buy your tickets to attend Cloud 9 here.
Follow @cloud9.festival to see all the wonderment from the festival weekend!