National Women's Music Festival
The first National Women’s Music Festival[1] was held on the campus of the University of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana [2]in 1974. The festival was a response to the underrepresentation of women in the music industry, in addition to being an effort to create an alternative culture. The first concert was to be a six-day event with various activities such as concerts, open mic sessions, art shows, etc. However, the event ran into multiple issues when a Chicago event promoter was hired by the organizers, and promised that performers such as Yoko Ono and Roberta Flack would perform at the festival, with CBS broadcasting the event.
News of the headlining acts were widely advertised and as the festival day approached, the Chicago promoter disappeared along with all copies of the contracts, forcing the festival organizers to scramble to find additional performers and reorganize the festival schedule. They managed to find new performers[3] for the event such as Cassie Culver, Athan Holland, Barbara Dane, Pamela Polland, Vicki Randall, and many more female artists. In addition to the scam of the Chicago promoter, threats of tornado warnings and thunderstorms contributed to a diminished attendance, with some events needing to be cancelled.
Despite these drawbacks, the festival became an annual event for the following six years until 1982, when the festival became a non-for-profit organization, called Women in the Arts/National Women’s Music Festival Incorporated, and relocated to the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. Festivals were also held at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana; Kent State University in Kent, Ohio; Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio; and Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois before officially finding a home in Madison, Wisconsin in 2008.
Each year that followed drew performers, speakers, and attendees from across the country. The local YMCA hosted forums with local women leaders as well as workshops focusing on the experience of Black women and the LGBT community. The festival has expanded to showcase a variety of events such as dances and film festivals geared towards women to promote female presence in music, art and culture.
References[edit]
- ↑ "WIA | National Women's Music Festival". Retrieved 2021-09-25.
- ↑ Trammell, Anna (2016-03-31). "The National Women's Music Festival". Student Life and Culture Archives. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
- ↑ "Queer Music Heritage| performers". Retrieved 2021-10-08.
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