The Summer of Festivals
- oliviarapier03
- Oct 5, 2025
- 2 min read
Liv Rapier
Oct. 1, 2025
This summer, I had the opportunity to work with two publications in covering music festivals, growing in my writing and enjoying lots of live music.
This year, I attended Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival with MTSU's school of journalism & strategic media.
In a class of journalism students, we met four days a week for 3 weeks during May and June, all to attend the festival and report from the grounds.
In these weeks, we practiced reporting skills, pre-writing, interviewing and writing with a word limit.
We wrote features, news and produced social media content.
At the grounds, we were assigned acts to cover daily, writing blurbs for a recap at the end of the last set.
We were also assigned an artist or two to cover for the Nashville Scene, writing blurbs which were published at the end of day one.
Due to the festival being cut short, we unfortunately did not get to report all three days. However, the experience kicked off a summer of live reporting and a newfound love of music.
After Bonnaroo, I was given the opportunity to continue working with the Nashville Scene as a freelance writer.
At the Nashville Pride Concert in June, I reported on the concert's artists like Kim Petras and Estelle.
In September, I helped the Nashville Scene cover Wednesday night of Americana Fest at the Exit/In.
Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
Covering Pilgrimage was another shared effort between the Nashville Scene and Sidelines. For Sidelines, I joined the features section editor to report daily recaps.
For the magazine, I wrote blurbs for two acts each day, accompanied by three other writers.
This summer has showed me a new side of journalism. Before the Bonnaroo summer class, I only had interest in news reporting, but I applied for the class anyway. Since then, I have made connections and explored a new career goal.
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