Rising above: This all-female music festival is about empowering women on Labor Day weekend

Andrea Magee loves to celebrate women.

When Magee decided she wanted to make a festival dedicated to women and female performers, she never expected the festival to become so popular. She had gone to an all-female festival in Mexico called “Girls Just Wanna Weekend” and decided she wanted to recreate the magic in New Mexico.

“I got to witness this bond between artists and the community and seeing the deep sense of celebration for each other and thought this needs to happen in other areas,” she said. “Everything came together very organically in a short time frame.”

Now, the She Rises festival is celebrating its second year of promoting female empowerment throughout New Mexico during Labor Day weekend on Friday, Aug. 30 and Saturday, Aug. 31 at Kit Carson Park, 211 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, in Taos. The festival has been extended by a day to allow more performers and more guests to visit.

“We realized that the community we created were aching for something like this, somewhere they belong,” Magee said. “We want to build a new community but we want to make sure Indigenous people are at our core since we are in Taos.”

The event focuses on supporting local female performers and creating a space celebrating womanhood and is intended to be an intimate getaway destination for women.

This year, the festival will feature two stages. One will be dedicated to performances and the other will feature a women leadership panel called “Redefining Leadership: The Female Perspective.” Magee said that while music is the main focus of the festival, she wants to continue building upon the panel and adding other elements of empowerment in the future.

Magee said this year is bigger and better with more performers from all around the world.

“We want to give more female artists a chance to jump on the festival circuit and expand their audience,” she said. “We have a very eclectic mix of genres and want to showcase women from all walks of life. All these guests and performers are here bonding over celebratory music.”

Standout performers for the festival include: five-time platinum artist Deana Carter, Grammy nominated Gina Chavez, Billboard artist Patrice Pike and six-time Grammy nominated artist Yola.

The festival has partnered with Music Helps, a nonprofit that offers outreach programs centered around music. All proceeds from the festival will go toward Music Helps and Magee is hoping to reach her goal of raising $20,000.

Admission to the festival is free for young women age 17 and younger, as Magee wanted to provide them with the opportunity to experience the girl power for themselves without experiencing financial burden. Magee also encourages men to come to the festival to celebrate the women in their lives and connect with them at a closer level. Guests are also welcome to volunteer four hours of their time in exchange for one general admission ticket.

“We’re a small but mighty team looking to build this festival up,” Magee said. “It takes a lot of energy and commitment to make an event like this happen but when it has a deep meaning, it’s worth it.”

Magee said response to the festival has been great and has made all the work worthwhile.

“The response last year was pretty powerful,” she said. “I got a lot of calls from people reaching out to say that it was life changing for them. It’s pretty special to see how we are bringing genuine joy to people’s lives.”

In the future, Magee hopes to turn the festival into a destination festival.

“We want to build something truly authentic with important principles at their core,” Magee said. “This event has deep value and we want to make it something people feel connected to in a personal way.”