Live Nation has established the Women Nation Fund, an early-stage investment fund focused on female-led live music businesses. It will provide access to the company’s resources and capital for underrepresented female entrepreneurs in the concert promotions, events, and festival spaces.
The announcement was made by Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino, who said: “As the leader in live entertainment, we want to meaningfully address this issue, change the dynamic and widen the playing field. The Women Nation Fund is a first step towards empowering new entrepreneurs and creating more opportunity for women in this sector of the live music business.”
“Women are underrepresented across the entertainment ecosystem, but we see this particularly in the music industry,” said Dr. Stacy Smith, the Founder and Director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California. “One crucial way to kick-start the effort towards gender parity is to fund female entrepreneurs. I applaud Live Nation for their leadership and for committing its resources in a way that can affect real change.”
The fund will be open to female-led festivals, events, and promotion companies both in the U.S. and abroad. Entrant businesses must be female-founded and oriented around concert promotion, festivals or live venue management and businesses selected for participation by Live Nation will be given access to resources such as strategic advisory, industry contacts, and mentorship across lines of business and functional areas.
The Women Nation evaluating team is comprised of Live Nation female executives with diverse domain expertise including Anna Sjolund (Co-Managing Director/Head Promoter, Live Nation Sweden), Amy Corbin (Promoter, C3), Virginia Davis (Founder, G Major Management), Amy Howe (COO, Ticketmaster), Lesley Olenik (VP, Touring), Maura Gibson (President, Front Gate Tickets), Kelly Chappel (VP, Touring) and Carrie Davis (Chief Communications Officer).