How we organise Salento Block Battle: behind the scenes

An event made by volunteers

Salento Block Battle is the freestyle contest that OnStage has organised in Botrugno since 2023: the second edition took place on 16 August 2024, the third in 2025, the fourth on 12 August 2026.

Behind each edition there is no agency: there is the association's crew, made of volunteers. Understanding how Block Battle is organised means understanding how that crew grew.

Learning on small events

Block Battle was born after the generational change of the pandemic years, when new young people joined OnStage from Botrugno, Minervino and the surrounding towns, already active in local hip hop events.

In autumn 2021 the new group did not restart from a festival. It restarted from Urban Connection, reggae and hip hop DJ nights every Friday in collaboration with local venues: small, low-cost events designed to help the newest members grow. Then came Restart, on 18 June 2022, and only after that, in 2023, the first Salento Block Battle.

The same rule still applies: first you learn to make a night work, then a contest.

A written method

At the beginning of 2026 the association put its way of working in writing: the Crew Manual was born, introducing the Scrum method and project management tools to give the volunteers' work more structure.

For events in particular we wrote Sipario: five gates where everyone stops and decides whether to go ahead, seven lanes of work, two debriefs. We describe it in full, including what we still don't know, in [How we organize events](/blog/come-organizziamo-gli-eventi-metodo-sipario).

New in 2026: the ordering app

The fourth edition, on 12 August 2026, was the first also managed with an app dedicated to food and drink orders: a part of the organisation the audience barely sees, but one that touches the whole evening.

Want to be behind the scenes?

Block Battle needs people for organisation, communication, technical work and welcoming the public. If you want to help, [become a member](/diventa-socio). If you freestyle and want to compete, keep an eye on the [events](/eventi) page.