J. Cole's Dreamville Festival Reports Local Economic Impact Of $145.9M In 2023

2023 Dreamville Music Festival — *J. Cole performs during the 2023 Dreamville Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 2, 2023, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage)*

Dreamville Festival, a two-day music event curated by rapper J. Cole and the team at the record label he co-founded, is a major contributor to the local economy with its 2023 edition creating an impact of $145.9 million for Raleigh, North Carolina. Festival organizers released an economic impact report days before the 2024 edition, which features SZA, 50 Cent, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj and many more.

“Our team couldn’t be more proud to watch Dreamville Festival grow into what it has become today, although none of this success would be possible without the incredible support of our community,” Adam Roy, Dreamville cofounder and festival president, said in a statement. “Thank you to Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, and, of course, our Dreamville fans worldwide.”

According to the report prepared by Angelous Economics with contributions from Live Nation, the two-day event held at Dorothea Pix Park provided the equivalent of over 1,300 full-time jobs, and last year’s festival set an attendance record with more than 100,000 fans from not only the U.S. but also 23 other countries across four continents.

“Dreamville Festival brings visitors from all over the world, and they create a lot of excitement and energy in Raleigh,” Evan Raleigh, assistant city manager for Raleigh, said in a statement. “While we are sad when the festival concludes and the artists and the crowds leave, their celebration creates a positive and lasting impact for our City.”

Dreamville Festival 2023 Economic Impact Infographic FINAL PRINT 1

The impact figure, which includes direct, indirect and induced outputs, gathers festival operations and visitor spending to calculate the economic effects. The report states that hotels saw a boost of $20.5 million while food and beverage and transportation hauled in $18.7 million and $9 million, respectively.

Wake County hotel occupancy reached 94% on Saturday night of the festival, an uptick of 2.6% from the previous year, and occupancy for Sunday night also went up 11.7%.

“Dreamville continues to be a major driver of visitor direct economic impact to our hotels, restaurants and retailers throughout Wake County,” Loren Gold, executive vice president of Visit Raleigh, said in a statement. “There are high expectations that 2024 will continue to see 80% or more of the tickets held for the two-day festival to be from visitors from all (50) US States and (20+) international countries. A truly global event for Raleigh!”

Organizers anticipate a similar turnout for the 2024 edition taking place this weekend. This year’s Dreamville Festival will host two dozen musical acts, 75 food vendors, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and local artists. A limited number of general admission tickets are still available and can be purchased at DreamvilleFest.com.