The Veronicas And Jessica Cruz And More Women Musicians To Take The Stage At Back Lot Bash This Weekend
by Heather Cassell
Pride Weekend kicks off today, but not everyone is in New York celebrating Stonewall 50 at the combined NYC Pride/WorldPride celebration.
The Midwest is throwing down for its largest queer women party in Chicago.
Back Lot Bash is also one of the longest-running midscale weekend long lesbian festivals showcasing a variety of queer women artists and entertainers on its stages.
“We are excited every year,” to host the women’s music festival said Back Lot Bash co-founder and co-event producer Christina Wiesmore.
The award-winning festival also celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex families with its Family Fest event.
The seventh annual family event that is open and free to everyone features entertainment by Laura Doherty, Super Stolie, and Lindsay & Alisa along with a petting zoo and arts and crafts on Saturday.
“One of the events that we absolutely adore is our family day event,” said Christina.
Christina, a 44-year-old lesbian, and her fellow co-founder and co-event producer Amie Klujian, a 50-year-old lesbian, saw many queer couples with kids in the community.
The two women wanted to create a safe and fun space for them to celebrate Pride too.
“So many couples all around having kids, so we started a huge family fest that caters to all the LGBTQ family and their kids,” she said.
It was a unique move. A move that was just as unique as launching the event in 2004.
Girls That Roam sat down with Back Lot Bash’s Christina last year when the event celebrated its 15th anniversary. We wanted to find out what inspired Amie and Christina to start throwing the event, what keeps these women going producing the festival year after year, and how they keep it fresh.
The Lineup
The Veronicas (Photo: Courtesy The Veronicas)
The Veronicas and Jackie Cruz headline this weekend’s festival Saturday and Sunday night with an incredible musical lineup with Devmo, DJ Zel, Ultrabeat, Fiat Lux, Mel Sense, Catfight, Dorian Electra, Psalm One, DJ All The Way Kay, and Gemini Jones.
Reality TV starts star Rose Garcia (The “Real L World”) and Kat Florek (Bad Girls Club) are the celebrity hosts for the weekend.
Giving Women The Stage
Back Lot Bash Co-Founder and Co-Event Producer Christina Wiesmore, foreground, speaking at the Human Rights Campaign, with business partner Amie Klujian. (Photo: Human Rights Campaign)
Sixteen years ago, Chicago was boy town. A festival for women simply didn’t exist, despite many talented women performers and artists, many whom best friends Amie and Christina knew, said Christina who is an event production and independent consultant.
“We felt that there was a lack of space and inclusive space for women in the LGBT [community],” she said. “It was all these boy parties.”
“We just felt that there was absolutely nothing out there to shine for LGBTQ women who are performers, who are entertainers,” she explained.
“Let’s be honest about this, there’s not many festivals out there that put the spotlight on female performers,” said Christina pointing out that many male headlined festivals nod in women performers way by adding them to the promotional material.
The reality is that a majority of festivals, like Lollapalooza, are really male-dominated. The biggest festival, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, shut its spotlights off after 45 years in 2015. Festival organizers cited years of protests against the festivals anti-transgender inclusivity policy and dwindling attendance.
The other biggest women’s music festival, the Lilith Fair, spearheaded by Canadian singer and songwriter Sarah McLachlan was a smashing success with its stellar lineup of women musicians. The festival ran for only two years, 1997 to 1999. Sarah attempted to revive the festival in 2010, but flatlined.
The next biggest women’s entertainment festival is The Dinah in Palm Springs. Dubbed lesbian spring break, the event attracts more than 15,000 women to the California desert. Now entering its 29th year in 2020, the weeklong festival includes women DJs spinning dance anthems around the pool and dance floor with hot go-gos day and night at blockbuster parties. The DJs are just a warm-up leading up to performances by emerging women artists, some who are megastars today, like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, to name a couple who performed before they hit it big, to headliners like Meghan Trainor. The festival also has hosted a women’s film festival and other events promoting women and transgender artists.
There are other women’s music festivals, like the National Women’s Music Festival and the California Women’s Music Festival and others, but only two boldly claim they are by-and-for queer women: The Dinah and Back Lot Bash.
Like The Dinah, Back Lot Bash promotes a diverse variety of women performers.
“We really wanted to spotlight female performance, artists, and singers and entertainers of all genres and basically come together because there was nothing there in Chicago,” said Christina. “We’ve added to that throughout the years.”
The women also wanted to “foster a sense of connection with the women in the LGBTQ community,” she added.
Hitting A Nerve
Back Lot Bash in Chicago (Photo: Courtesy of Back Lot Bash)
They hit a nerve.
“It just exploded,” said Christina.
The event started with 200 women that came out to the party in 2004 to today where it attracts up to 6,000 women throughout the weekend.
The women attribute their success to the “love and passion” they have for Chicago’s lesbian community and their commitment to promoting queer women musicians.
“The acceptance and love for the LGBTQ community,” said Christina noting that Amie and she work full-time as well as produce the festival and events throughout the year.
Amie is a realtor and executive vice president of SwakeGroup at Dream Town Realty.
They also couldn’t throw the event without the devoted 50 friends and volunteers and the team at Organize Chaos who have helped make the event run smoothly every year, Christina said.
“That’s one of the biggest things. We are very blessed,” she said saying that the festival probably wouldn’t have made it past its third year without the community’s support.
“We love doing this and coming together and making this all happen.”
Inspired
The community also inspires them from producing the family day to the wildly successful mixer Whiskey, Wine and Women they’ve hosted for the past three years.
“We always adapt and listen to the community and what they want,” Christina said pointing out that they can’t do the cookie cutter women’s party year after year.
The women put a lot of thought into community suggestions and producing events that fit into the Back Lot Bash brand that will be long lasting, she said.
A part of listening to the community includes giving back to the community. A portion of the festival and events proceeds are donated to support local community organizations, she said. They also highlight the work being done at the organizations.
“We feel it’s really important to give back to the community and we definitely put a spotlight in work with an organization every year,” she said.
To keep the momentum going the women host events throughout the year along with producing Girls Night Out for PrideFest.
More than 1 million people attend the Midwest Pride festival annually.
“We try to make Chicago one of the best cities in the world to experience Pride Weekend,” she said with pride ringing in her voice.
“Our community is just so vibrant. It’s just such a great atmosphere the entire Pride Weekend.”
Book your next vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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