Now in its fifth year, Antigone Rising’s BeachFest offers a day full of music and fun for the whole family. The free, one-day event features two stages of music and celebrates the work of the band’s non-profit Girls Rising. Through outreach workshops, the organization inspires young girls and LGBT youth to pursue non-traditional career paths and reminds them that it’s okay to play, think and be different. This year’s festival is June 30, 2018, in Sea Cliff, NY, and is centered upon a special Girls Rising outreach workshop moderated by Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips).
BeachFest will be held at the Sea Cliff Beach Pavilion, hosted by comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer, whose groundbreaking career has included performances on Late Show with David Letterman and her own HBO Special. The day features two music stages, the KIDZ BOP Youth Stage and Main Stage showcasing national acts, as well as an all-star Girls Rising panel. Performers this year include Antigone Rising, Sinclair, the Sweet Lizzy Project, Joanie Leeds and more to be announced. The panel discussion will be an engaging, thoughtful and entertaining presentation moderated by Carnie Wilson and will include 4X USA Olympic Hockey Gold Medalist Angela Ruggiero, WNBA New York Liberty All-Star Sue Wicks, NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman and more outstanding women representing science, technology, and other industries.
“Our goal is to provide a complete fun-filled experience for all families while reinforcing our message of equality, inclusion, and empowerment,” said Nini Camps, co-president of Girls Rising.
BeachFest offers entertainment for the whole family, including food and beer concessions, arts and crafts vendors and paddleboard exhibitions. The KIDZ BOP Youth Stage spotlights up-and-coming young talent from local students.
“We love the opportunity to give back to our own community with a day-long free festival of music and vendors, not only because we feel the work we are doing with Girls Rising is so important, but because so many people in our community have supported us in all we do,” said Kristen Ellis-Henderson, co-president of Girls Rising.
On Friday night, Antigone Rising will hold The Girls Rising Game Changer Awards, sponsored by Bedell Wine Cellar. The band will present Carnie Wilson with the first ever Girls Rising Game ChangerAward, named after the band’s song of the same name. Written with GRAMMY-winning songwriter Lori McKenna, the song was inspired by Morgan Sisk, a young teenage girl who posed for her senior superlative photo while holding the TIME Magazine DOMA issue featuring Kristen and wife Sarah Kate on the cover. When the school refused to let her, Morgan stood up for what she believed in and was ultimately allowed to pose with the magazine. The awards will be held at Glenwood Landing Firehouse in Roslyn, NY. The event will give friends and fans the opportunity to get up close with all the artists.
“We admire and respect Carnie for her work to advocate and promote a positive self-image for girls and women,” Ellis-Henderson said. “She continues to reinvent herself, from GRAMMY-nominated songwriting and Emmy nominated performances, to her latest turn as an entrepreneur of her own dessert line, Love Bites by Carnie.”
Throughout the year, Girls Rising partners with school districts and youth centers to create empowering and innovative programming that inspires young girls through live performances, presentations, and workshops. BeachFest also serves to raise funds and awareness for continued efforts. In years past, performers have included Garrison Starr, Patrice Pike (Rockstar Supernova) and, of course, Antigone Rising.
Girls Rising is a 501 (c)3 non-profit that began in 2012 as a curriculum Antigone Rising used while touring throughout the Middle East with the US State Department. After realizing the lack of worthy female role models in the US, the band decided to continue outreach in their community and now tours nationally and internationally with the program, providing kids the opportunity to see women excel in a male-dominated profession and offering strong female and LGBT role models to emulate.