"For three summers, Sarah McLachlan's brainchild, Lilith Fair, did the so-called impossible: established itself as a safe space for women and queer concert-goers, and became the top-grossing festival of the nineties. Now, it's a supernova, the stuff of musical lore-hallowed by its headliners and attendees, and even more so by those who were too unlucky or too young to go. Filmmaker Ally Pankiw counts herself in the latter category."
"Its origin unspools with the help of more than 600 hours of never-before-seen archival footage and photographs and several touching sit-downs not only with its stars, like The Indigo Girls, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, and Paula Cole, but also with the people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it happen, including McLachlan herself."
"In her words, the festival became its own "gorgeous ecosystem." Backstage, there was no hierarchy. Babies were breastfed and passed around with glee, nightly jam sessions broke out on buses and in dressing rooms, and production crews were properly paid and given healthcare-a rarity for freelancers even now. In the audience, too, was a camaraderie that remains an anomaly at most corpora"
Sarah McLachlan launched Lilith Fair, which ran for three summers and became the top-grossing festival of the 1990s. The festival established a safe space for women and queer concert-goers and fostered community among attendees and performers. Backstage practices emphasized egalitarian care: no hierarchy, breastfeeding and shared childcare, impromptu jam sessions, and paid production crews with healthcare. The festival featured prominent headliners and countless collaborators across industry experience levels. The event's origins and cultural impact are documented through hundreds of hours of archival footage, photographs, and interviews with performers and behind-the-scenes workers. Lilith Fair endures as a celebrated musical and cultural touchstone.
#lilith-fair #women-in-music #1990s-music-festivals #inclusivity-and-queer-audiences #archival-documentary
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