May 07, 2010

Publication title: Samaritanmag.com, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Karen Bliss

Don’t Pounce On Lilith Fair; It’s All Good

When the Choose Your Charity angle of Sarah McLachlan’s resurrected Lilith Fair Tour was announced late March, some bloggers were ready to pounce. A few had discovered pro-life organizations in the list of non-profits, which could potentially receive funds from this all-female music festival.

Via the Lilith Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lilithfairtour), the public was able to vote on the pre-selected local women’s charities in their cities until May 3. The top five charities from each city moved on to second round of voting on May 4, which ends at 11:59 p.m. (pacific standard time) on May 31.

Of course, the job of vetting all the charities is enormous, even for one charity, let alone hundreds. Over the year, there have always been stories uncovered through media or criminal investigation about misappropriated funds or other scams. Then, there are simply personal beliefs (ie. anti-abortion, missionaries) that could be a deciding factor in supporting a charity.

“That’s exactly why we’re doing this,” McLachlan tells Samaritanmag. “All of a sudden people jumped on us and attacked us. ‘Well, hold on guys, this is exactly why we’re asking for your feedback. You don’t have to rip our heads off. Thank you for informing us. That won’t be happening.’”

Once informed of policies and practices that go against Lilith or McLachlan’s beliefs, the charity was removed from the list, says the singer.

“We’re giving everybody the opportunity to speak up, to put in their two bits and say, ‘Hey, we’ve done some research and this is what this is telling me,’ then relaying that information to us. It’s really doing so much work for us, it’s great.”

The North American tour begins in Calgary, Alberta, June 27 and ends August 16 in Dallas, Texas. The Lilith founders—McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond—will hand pick the local charity winners from the top three voted charities in each city. The 2010 Lilith Tour will donate $1 from every ticket sold in a particular city to that charity.

The original Lilith Fair raised over $10 million dollars for various women’s charities over its three year run, according to the press release issued by Network Music Group.

Among the dozens of artists confirmed on Lilith Tour 2010 are A Fine Frenzy, The Bangles, Beth Orton, Colbie Caillat, Chantal Kreviazuk, Erykah Badu, Emmylou Harris,Indigo Girls, The Gossip, Jill Scott, Ke$ha, The Go-Gos, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Sugarland, and, of course, headliner McLachlan.