Coalition of Festivals
We are a coalition of festival directors, producers, and department heads committed to integrating social equity, safety, and sustainability into our festivals – throughout our grounds, behind our stages, in our offices, and in our lives.
Create Change: Future Festival Leaders
Demystifying the Festival Industry
In support of our founding impact partners Diversify The Stage, Well Dunn Foundation, and shesaid.so, as well as Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment at LIU Brooklyn, Coalition of Festivals launched the Festival Industry Mentorships program to address two inequities in our industry:
1. Diversify festival leadership to include wider pools of talent.
2. Close the education gap by demystifying festival management.
The first edition of the mentorship program began in January 2023 with 14 future festival leaders joining 28 current festival leaders for a weekly series of #RealTalk sessions and a monthly series of 1-on-1 conversations.
Future Festival Leaders:
Aaron Raus, Anita Obasi (SheSaidSo), Brenda Ceja (Well Dunn), Chinaecherem Nwaubani (Well Dunn), Christlie Jean-Baptiste (Roc Nation @ LIU), Erin Furton, LaTisha Stephens (Diversify The Stage), Marissa Solis (Diversify The Stage), Tyler Butler (Well Dunn), Patrize Richards (Roc Nation @ LIU), Quella Gu (Diversify The Stage), Temi Joseph (Well Dunn), Vix Brand (SheSaidSo).
#RealTalks with Current Festival Leaders:
1. Festival Production & Budgeting
Kyle Casey (Gravity)
Katelyn Scott (Fox Pocket)
Jen Stiles (Founders)
2. Community Relations & Permitting
Erin Bilbo (Goldenvoice)
Jeff Cuellar (Sixthman)
Naraya Mercado (Founders)
3. Site Infrastructure, Design & Operations
Melanie Dorf (Goldenvoice)
Adam Galay (Noise Academy)
Kierrah Matthews (Goldenvoice)
4. Security, Safety & Access Control
Inez Lopez (Goldenvoice)
Sully Sullivan (Warped Tour)
Kyle Casey (Gravity)
5. Stage Production & Management
Jon Baden (AEG Presents)
Bryan Berge (Gravity)
Barcley Boyd (Gravity)
6. Talent Curation & Booking
Danny Bell (Goldenvoice)
Paul Peck (Fandiem)
Jonathan Azu (Culture Collective)
7. Talent Relations & Hospitality
Saira Anderson (Hulaween)
Talia Ortisi (Goldenvoice)
Lily Huerkamp (Coalition of Festivals)
8. Marketing & Communications
Megan Adams (Outside Lands)
Leesa Allmond (Superfly)
Kaaj Patel (Goldenvoice)
9. Sponsorships & Partnerships
Alex Machurov (Fandiem)
Prue Marek (Live Nation)
Katelyn Scott (Fox Pocket)
10. Sustainability, Impact & Wellbeing
Jocelyn Gan (A Greener Festival)
Sunny Sohrabian (LA28 Olympics)
Evan Tzeng (Altered)
Be The Change: Current Festival Leaders
Social Equity Training & Discussions
In 2021, over 20 leaders from 10 festivals joined together for a series of Social Equity Trainings led by SHIFT and paired with Closed-Door Discussions led by Coalition of Festivals.
1. Leveling up from Allyship
2. Challenging Implicit Bias & Microaggressions
3. Unpacking the Gender Binary
4. Building a Culture of Consent
The diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice training sessions and closed-door discussions examined how implicit, explicit, and structural problems show up in society, in our festivals, and in our own lives.
Shut down by the global pandemic and in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, in May 2020, Evan, Jen, Jonathan, Katelyn, Kierrah, and Kyle began discussing the unique role of festivals in society and our unique responsibilities as festival leaders.
1. Be The Change: Programs for current festival leaders.
2020 Discussion Participants:
Special Thanks:
The Follow Through Starts NOW! The Industry Unites To Launch Coalition Of Festivals (Pollstar)
Impact Partners
Music Festivals
Production Companies
Steering Committee
We are an all-volunteer grassroots organization. 100% of contributions fund the Coalition's activities for future and current festival leaders as well as the work of our impact partners.
Barcley Boyd, Business & Finance Associate, Gravity Productions
