Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
GenreWomen's music
DatesAugust
Location(s)Hart Township, Michigan
Years active1976–2015
Websitehttps://www.michfest.com (MWMF Archive)
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The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest,[1] was a lesbian feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The Land" by Michfest organizers and attendees.[2][3] The event was built, staffed, run, and attended exclusively by women, with girls, young boys and toddlers permitted.[4][5][2]

From 1991, the festival excluded trans women, adopting a "womyn-born womyn" policy,[6] which drew increasing criticism. The festival was picketed by Camp Trans starting in the 1990s for its exclusionary policy. LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Michigan boycotted the event in 2014.[7] Michfest drew criticism from the Human Rights Campaign,[8] GLAAD,[9] the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National LGBTQ Task Force, among others. The festival held its final event in August 2015.[10][11]

  1. ^ Edwalds, Loraine; Stocker, Midge, eds. (1995). The Woman-Centered Economy: Ideals, Reality, and the Space in Between (1st ed.). Chicago: Third Side Press. ISBN 978-1879427167.
  2. ^ a b "General Festival Information". Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. 2001. Archived from the original on 1 August 2001. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  3. ^ Fish Without A Bicycle (23 April 2014). "Love from the Land - A love letter from the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival". Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Odahl-Ruan, Charlynn; McConnell, Elizabeth; Shattell, Mona; Kozlowski, Christine (June 15, 2015). "Empowering Women through Alternative Settings: Michigan Womyn's Music Festival". Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice. 6 (1). doi:10.7728/0601201503. ISSN 2163-8667. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  5. ^ Cox, Susan (August 5, 2016). "Women grieve the loss of Michfest online, look forward to new gatherings". Feminist Current. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  6. ^ Vogel, Lisa (April 11, 2013). "Letter to the Community". Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. Archived from the original on March 30, 2015.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference boycott was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference HRC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference GLAAD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Lisa Vogel (April 21, 2015). "Dear Sisters, Amazon, Festival family". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  11. ^ Brownworth, Victoria A. (April 23, 2015). "Michigan Womyn's Music Festival to End after 40 Years". Curve. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2019.