Student Project Celebrates Women in Music through Lilith Fair Tribute at the College of Business

MISSOULA – This spring, University of Montana College of Business students in Business Management (BMGT) 403: Advanced Topics in Sports and Entertainment Management, showcased their final projects: events that they planned from start to finish, exploring the full process of conceptualizing, developing, and producing live experiences.

This course, which is open to Entertainment, Events, and Sports Management majors and Entertainment Management Certificate students, is taught by College of Business adjunct professor Sarah Peruzzi. The course emphasizes applying classroom knowledge to real-world situations, giving students the opportunity to take an event from initial concept through post-execution.

One of these events took take place on Sunday, May 3, right outside the College of Business in the Gallagher Business Building Bandshell: a Lilith Fair Tribute Concert honoring an iconic 90s music festival and showcasing local artists.

The original Lilith Fair music festival was created by Sarah McLaughlin in 1997 and ran until 1999. The festival featured exclusively female artists, challenging a male-dominated industry while raising funds for local charities and promoting equality in the music industry.

For Chae Clearwood, an MFA Directing candidate, the course project provided an opportunity to combine the entertainment management skills she’s developed in BMGT 403 with her passions for music and women’s leadership.

“I was impressed by the reasons this festival was enacted in the first place but also how beautiful, creative, and free the women and people were at each concert,” Clearwood said. “Allowing for and cultivating a safe environment for people to experience music was key.”

Each of these elements is something Clearwood hopes to integrate into her own approach to both leadership and performance art. She also hoped to spread awareness of this moment in music and women’s history.

Working within a short timeline, Clearwood and fellow organizer Grace Simonich collaborated to make this dream a reality. Alongside their classmates in BMGT 403, they produced and executed an event development plan, worked as a team to coordinate execution and used social media to promote the event. The class covered every aspect of the process, including marketing, networking, relationship building and event management.

Clearwood performed in the show alongside fellow solo artists Chloe Tschetter, Lotus Porte-Moyel, Iris Baxter, Mihret Washington, and Lucy Taylor. A band comprising Landon Gainan (Drums, Associate Music Director), Scar Miyashita-Jaime (Bass), Aidan Schara (Guitar), and Clearwood (piano) also performed.

Artists shared original work as well as covers paying homage to artists who were a part of the groundbreaking festival, including Jewel, Fiona Apple, and Tracy Chapman. They will also perform songs by artists connected to women’s empowerment, including Stevie Nicks and Alanis Morissette.

Two tapestries hand painted by Ronnie Avansino and Brenna Holgate were raffled off during the event, with all proceeds donated to the local YWCA.

Reflecting on the experience, Clearwood emphasized the importance of collaboration throughout the process.

“My biggest takeaway is how important it is to have a trusted team, vision, and drive for an event of this magnitude,” she said.

Clearwood hopes the event will inspire others to create and give back, as the original Lilith Fair continues to do.

“Watching what Sarah McLaughlin did in Building A Mystery and the original Lilith Fair inspired me as a female artist,” she said. “I hope I can continue to pass this inspiration and encouragement around through this project.”

Clearwood doesn’t see this performance as the end of the road, but as the start of something new here in Missoula.

“I would love to continue this as a Montana based festival that encourages female singer songwriters to get their music heard and collaborate with other artists on their music and ideals of women in leadership and performance,” she said. “We are starting at this beautiful location outside the College of Business but in the future, I would love to see this event expand and offer more opportunities for more people.”