By Danica Ward
Staff Writer
Popstar Olivia Rodrigo recently presented the first annual Daisy Chain Fields music festival in Irvine, California.
Around 45,000 people gathered at Irvine’s Great Park for the all-women lineup on Aug. 29. Acting almost as a mix of Lilith Fair and Live Aid, the festival ended up raising $20 million for 10 different non-profit organizations.
Rodrigo mobilized her young audience by presenting a new music festival where all revenue would go back towards the well-being of women and girls. The bill advertised artists such as Chappell Roan, Doechii, Die Spitz, Bikini Kill, The Breeders and more. All artists performed for free.
In the “philanthropy village,” festivalgoers could learn more about nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the National Women’s Law Center. While booths had pins for interested attendees to take, there was also an interactive art installation by the feminist, anonymous artists, the Guerilla Girls.
With the ongoing threat in the United States of taking away reproductive care and autonomy, Daisy Chain Fields aimed to provide attendees with the information and resources to combat these changes. An article by AP News states, “[t]hat focus comes as President Donald Trump attempts to overhaul family planning grants that reproductive health clinics use to provide birth control and treat sexually transmitted infections. His administration paused $27.5 million last year for such organizations, including some Planned Parenthood affiliates, before officials agreed to restore the money.”
Rodrigo focuses on the optimism and hope the festival would bring in the current age of “regression of women’s rights,” and said that the name Daisy Chain “served as a reminder of how individual parts can come together to create something strong and unbreakable.” With the combination of both artists and activists, Rodrigo aims to get more young people involved in nonprofit organizations.
At the beginning of Rodrigo’s headlining set and the end of the night, the 3-time Grammy winner brought out businesswoman and philanthropist Melinda French Gates. While praising Rodrigo’s way of “showing a new generation how much their voices matter,” Gates pledged to match the festival’s $10 million in revenue through her Pivotal Ventures mission. The philanthropy focuses on “a group of organizations working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world,” as it stated on its website.
In addition to the surprise $10 million donation, Rodrigo also brought out multiple pioneering female artists for duets. Partnering with Sarah McLaughlin, creator of Lilith Fair, for a rendition with “Angel,” Stevie Nicks for a duet to “Landslide” and Alanis Morissette for “Ironic,” Rodrigo connected multiple generations of feminist artists into one jam-packed day.
On the Daisy Chain Fields website, Rodrigo defines the festival’s mission statement as being “founded on the belief that joy, community, and creativity can inspire meaningful change,” and “affirms that music and collective experience can serve as enduring drivers of progress and social change.” She writes that “through partnerships and on-site resources, the festival seeks to ensure that girls and young people have access to information and support they may not otherwise know how to find, and real-life interactions with women and girls who are bright lights in our world.”
Finally, she adds, “Daisies are wild and beautiful. As a chain, they are strong and unbreakable.”
