Empowering Spirits Foundation (ESF) and Monarch Productions present the first annual Free to Be – Freedom Festival, a one-day event featuring marquee musical talent, local bands and artists, nationally known DJs coupled with educational components and empowerment ideals. Event producers anticipate that the finalized talent line will draw between 75,000 and 80,000 attendees to Los Angeles State Historic Park, the event site.
The Freedom Festival is designed with the purpose of inspiring individuals of all backgrounds to come together and embrace the differences that make us unique. The event producers want to inspire all who attend to create positive change toward greater equality and to inspire others to do the same.
You are invited to come as you are... Free To Be gay, free to be straight, free to be fierce, free to be pierced. Embracing the gift of being free to be creative, conservative and unconventional. Free to be proud of the unique existence that you occupy. Free to be you!
You are invited to come as you are... Free To Be gay, free to be straight, free to be fierce, free to be pierced. Embracing the gift of being free to be creative, conservative and unconventional. Free to be proud of the unique existence that you occupy. Free to be you!
“One of the most important messages we want to relay is that Freedom Festival is about more than putting on a one-day music and arts festival,” said ESF Communications Director Margie M. Palmer. “Too often society pre-defines who we as individuals are supposed to be. It defines how we should look, how we should dress, and how we should behave. Through the Free to Be movement we want to encourage people to be who they are, not what they’re told, and to embrace what it is about them that makes them different, and therefore unique. We want to inspire people to make themselves at home in their own bodies, and to be comfortable in their lives.”
Monarch Productions founder Lisette Molina said that the event is about more than creating a one-day festival. “This is about creating a movement,” Molina said. “A movement about celebrating who we are and being OK with it without worrying about the expectations of society. We hope to inspire our audience to create a shift in society. We want it to spread like wildfire. We want to empower people to be happy to be who they are and to disregard judgment,” she said.
Proceeds from Freedom Festival 2011 will benefit Empowering Spirits Foundation, a national nonprofit civil rights organization 501(c)(3).
As of this date, scheduled artists include:
Semi Precious Weapons
Kerli • Dave Aude • DJ Kimberly S • Tony Moran
Danielle Lopresti and the Masses • Colette Carr • DJ Escape • Courtney Act • Chad Michaels • Runhoney
DJ Icon • DJ John Joseph • Jared Ashley • Calpernia Addams
Check the event website for updates.
Free To Be – Freedom Festival
Saturday 9 July Noon – 10pm.
Los Angeles State Historic Park
1245 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles 90012 [MAP]
Tickets
$40 — 23 Apr – 20 May
$52 — 21 May – 17 June
$68 — 18 June – 9 July
Go Metro!
Or find a route using Metro's simple TRIP PLANNER.
Alternate Parking
Consider parking at a Metro Rail parking lot and taking Metro Rail to the venue.
Long term parking at Union Station (800 N. Alameda St, LA 90012) is $10/day.
Parking at the MTA Building (801 N Vignes St, LA 90012), which is on the east side of of Union Station is $6/day. Enter via the ramp between the Patsaouras Bus Plaza entrance/exit ramps on Vignes (at intersection with Ramirez St).
The cost of a one-way ticket on Metro Rail and buses is $1.50. Union Station is one stop from the venue via the GOLD Line.
About the Empowering Spirits Foundation, Inc.
The Empowering Spirits Foundation, Inc. (ESF), a national 501(c)(3) non-profit, is a non-partisan civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality through community service activities. Since its inception ESF has been taking the struggle for LGBT equality into the next era by fostering non-confrontational dialogue with individuals and institutions that may have not previously supported LGBT populations. Instead of attempting to change laws ESF strives to change the hearts and minds of those who are generally ignored by existing LGBT organizations.
The Empowering Spirits Foundation, Inc. (ESF), a national 501(c)(3) non-profit, is a non-partisan civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality through community service activities. Since its inception ESF has been taking the struggle for LGBT equality into the next era by fostering non-confrontational dialogue with individuals and institutions that may have not previously supported LGBT populations. Instead of attempting to change laws ESF strives to change the hearts and minds of those who are generally ignored by existing LGBT organizations.
