FORM festival returns to Arcosanti in 2026

After a five-year hiatus, one of America’s most remarkable and smallest festivals with a power-packed lineup returned to Arizona in 2024. Though FORM took 2025 off, the festival announced today that it will return in 2026 to experimental development Arcosanti, halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

It will be some time before a lineup is announced for the festival — which takes place October 9-11 — but last year saw the likes of musicians and DJs like Beck, Thundercat, Jamie xx, Four Tet, Skrillex, La Lom, James Blake, Barry Can’t Swim and St. Vincent playing to a mere 2,500 people.

Tickets go on pre-sale starting Friday morning. Last year’s tickets sold out almost immediately after pre-sale began — you can sign up now.

Tucked away off the Interstate 17 and within eyesight of a roadside Arby’s sign, Arcosanti is not quite an hour drive from Phoenix, but somehow worlds away. Designed by famed Italian urban planner Paolo Soleri and built in the 1970s, it is an architectural feat unlike anything else in America — its brutalist structures suffused with desert cacti and flora echo ancient Mesoamerican society, but also call to mind a Soviet space-age daydream. Residents have lived at the site for decades as part of an artist’s commune program. It’s this singular space — along with the star-studded lineup — that makes the festival uniquely special and intimate.

The festival’s website describes a number of changes to next year’s festival. Car camping is included in the ticket, and the festival is preparing a “new and improved campground.” In addition, all drinks — including cocktails, beer, wine, coffee, tea and juice — will be complimentary for attendees. These features could likely hike ticket prices.

Camping was the most difficult aspect for most attendees of last year’s festival. Cars could only be parked at the top of Arcosanti’s structure, while tents had to be pitched in the Valley below. This required either walking down the mountain with equipment and bags or taking a shuttle; the line to ride was often long. One pro in the situation was the plentiful showers set up for campers.

The obvious disclaimer on an October event at Arcosanti? The heat is blistering — plenty of attendees (especially those California snowflakes) had a difficult time dealing with the unforgiving high desert temperatures that last through much of the fall.

The 2024 event was the 10th anniversary of the festival, though it was the first one since 2019 after the festival halted in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic and didn’t reorganize until last year.

After a much smaller festival thrown by arts organizers from the Valley was moved from Arcosanti at the last minute earlier in the year, and FORM was quietly not scheduled for this fall, the festival’s future was uncertain. 

There had also been tumult at Arcosanti, which is managed by Cosanti Foundation — a nonprofit with about $5 million in assets as of 2023, according to tax filings. Residents who live at Arcosanti pay little in rent but have to work for Cosanti Originals (a for-profit business under the nonprofit’s umbrella), casting iron bells to be sold or working for the foundation in some other capacity.

David Turnbull — the former CEO of the Cosanti Foundation and manager of Arcosanti who was reportedly well-liked by residents — was terminated on March 18, two sources with inside knowledge of the foundation told New Times. While workers at Arcosanti attempted to unionize or complained publicly about changes implemented by the board, several were fired or laid off from their positions and left without a stream of income to pay for rent. In addition, one space typically reserved for artist-residents to display and sell their work was taken away by the site’s management. For this and various other reasons, at least five residents recently left the community.