About
The Women’s Music Movement built a lesbian feminist musical culture that empowered and employed countless women throughout the 1970s and 80s. Marginalized lesbians and feminists created their own record labels, music festivals, and music they could see themselves in. They learned how to play, record, and promote music without the guidance of men and overcame countless obstacles in a society that rejected them. Making Our Own Kind of Music: The History and Legacy of the Women’s Music Movement presents the story of this movement primarily through materials from the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives’ extensive collection of lesbian and feminist history. The exhibit's scope includes the Movement’s beginnings, its unique attributes, festival culture, points of division within the movements, and its profound cultural impact.
We here at the Mazer hope that you have enjoyed this exhibition on the Women’s Music Movement. As the Women’s Music Movement is too extensive and nuanced to discuss in a single exhibit, we are excited to announce that this will be an ongoing exhibition. Future years will see new pages that will cover more topics, and we encourage community members to contribute their thoughts, ideas, and recommendations to this Google Form (please use this link so we can keep everyone’s ideas organized and accessible). Next year we will be focusing on Comedy and Comedians and on Publications and Catalogs. Thank you for helping keep Women’s Music alive!
We have been collecting protecting and preserving lesbian and feminist history for 40 years. If you appreciate work like this and would like to see more of it, make a donation today.
The narrative and archival presentation was researched and curated by Julia Tanenbaum, Lisa Kahn, and Angela Brinskele.
We would like to thank Marcia Schwemer and Laurie B. Tanenbaum for their help curating the exhibit and providing context, Maria Smith for proofing and editing, Betsy York, Linda Dederman, and the many musicians who allowed us to share their work, Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Deidre McCalla, Nedra Johnson, Ruth Barrett, Lucie Blue Tremblay, Ferron, Jamie Anderson, Robin Flower, Teresa Trull, June Millington, Laura Love, Dianne Davidson, and Judy Fjell. Thank you to photographers Irene Young, Susan Wilson, and Diana Davies.
This exhibit is supported by a grant from the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division as part of the City's One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival (May 22 - June 30). More info at www.weho.org/pride or @wehoarts.
