Concept
Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.
Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.
The Balelec Festival is the largest musical event organized by students in Europe. It is usually the first open-air music festival happening in Switzerland each year during Spring. It is organised by volunteers on the campus of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne near lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland around the beginning of May. Originally the ball of the school's electronics faculty, the festival is known to happen on a rainy day. It has been held at EPFL since 1981. Each year on a Friday night the school welcomes 15'000 people (since 2003) and 30 live concerts. Concerns about excessive consumption of alcohol at the festival are denied by the organizers. In 2015 and again in 2016, the festival once again attracted a sold out crowd of about 15,000 spectators. The budget for the 2016 festival was 650,000 swiss francs. Balélec ("bal"-"élec") was originally the yearly-held ball of the electrical and electronic engineering students at EPFL. It was first organized by professors of the school of engineering, and was progressively adopted by students, who transformed it into a festival. The Balelec Festival is planned and managed by a student club recognized by EPFL and listed as a non-profit organization. A part of the funds to mount the festival comes from sponsorships and the other part comes from the tickets sold for the event. The student association has an overall budget of 800'000 Swiss francs. All the money earned during the event is used to fund the next edition. The orgalization is composed of a main committee of 50 volunteers, mostly EPFL and UNIL students, who are divided into four teams: Animation, logistics, promotion and internal resources. In addition, more than 300 volunteers and professional staff help with the setup on campus during the setup week and after the festival. On site, there are seven musical indoor and outdoor stages and about 30 live concerts each the year. The main live stages of the festival are outdoors. These 2 stages are called the Grande Scene (the main stage) and the Scene Azimuts.