Rock the Ocean's Tortuga Music Festival is an annual music festival held at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The festival is usually scheduled for early April in Fort Lauderdale. Founded by A.J. Niland and Chris Stacey, the annual spring festival aimed to raise awareness and support for ocean conservation. A portion of the ticket proceeds goes to charity, and as of 2019 over $1,200,000 has been raised for ocean conservation.[1]
Each year, the festival features an area known as Conservation Village. The area holds interactive booths that contain games, exhibitions and displays with the focus of raising awareness of issues impacting the world's oceans and supporting marine research and conservation. The festival also aims to raise money to protect sea turtles that nest annually along South Florida's Atlantic seaboard.[3] Past Conservation Village partners have included: Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center, Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program, The Nature Conservancy, University of Miami Marine Conservation Program and many others. At the Conservation Village, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation has also worked to raise ocean awareness with marine life artist and conversationalist, Guy Harvey. More than 30 organizations have been issued over 1 Million in funds by the Rock the Ocean Foundation.[4]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the Tortuga Festival, originally scheduled for April 17, 18 and 19, 2020 was rescheduled to November 12, 13 and 14, 2021.[5]
