Educational Payback: AWAREFEST Aims To Resolve The Student Loan Crisis With Jill Scott, John Legend & Earth, Wind & Fire

In March 26, the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) in partnership with Live Nation Urban will host AWAREFEST to raise funds for HBCUs. Jill Scott, John Legend, Earth, Wind & Fire, Metro Boomin, GloRilla, Tems and more will all take the stage at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena with the goal of providing relief for student loan debt.

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Live Nation Urban joined on eight months ago, its first time partnering with AWAREFEST. SFI founder, billionaire Robert F. Smith, invited the organization, with Live Nation Urban wanting to pursue “something with meaning,” as Live Nation Urban founder Shawn Gee likes to say. Smith founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000, the Austin-based private equity and venture capital firm being considered the fourth-largest enterprise software company in the world since 2019, following Microsoft, Oracle and SAP

“Causes are a big part of what we’re about,” says Live Nation Urban Chief Operating Officer, Richard Gay. “When [SFI] came to us and we saw this opportunity, it was a no-brainer. This is something that’s important, and that everybody’s going to care about. People are turning out in a big way to address this. It’s something that’s big and loud, and that the culture is going to feel. It’s important and it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun.”

There are five HBCU programs just within Atlanta’s city limits, including the Morehouse School of Medicine, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and the Interdenominational Theological Center. Within easy driving distance of Atlanta sit 21 more HBCUs, including Tuskegee University, Pain College, Benedict College, and more.
As Gay and the rest of the Live Nation Urban team continue preparations for this year’s event, they’re tapping students for job opportunities.

“They’re helping with marketing the event, with operations and some of the things we’re trying to book and pull together because we want to use this as an opportunity to give people some experience and be able to say, ‘Hey, I helped put on AWAREFEST and here’s what my role was,’” Gay says. “It’s important we have students not just attend, not just promote, not just market, but show them how we build a show.”

The funding raised goes toward helping students resolve their student loan balances and interest rates. As Gay explains, it democratizes giving.

“Individuals can only do so much,” he says. “When this type of vehicle gets repaid, it doesn’t go to a bank. It goes directly to making more of these funds available. It goes to other loans and grants for students. Then, all of a sudden, that one person can fund four more people, and then those four can fund 20 people.”

In addition to the festival itself, Live Nation Urban and SFI will host summits for students in the days leading up to the event. The Impact Summit will be free to the community, while students will have opportunities to receive discounted tickets to the show itself.

The current student loan crisis sees $1.8 billion in student debt across 43.6 million borrowers. AWAREFEST’s website includes statistics of the current crisis, sharing that the average Black student holds $52,000 in loans. From 2000 to 2021, college costs increased by 200 percent.

“We love that this isn’t just a show,” Gay says. “There are lots of shows and we do lots of shows. But, everyone that we’ve spoken to – whether it’s talent that’s going to be on stage, or whether it’s somebody that’s going to sit on a panel – the importance of this issue and the importance of what this movement can do… Wow, it can be something that changes lives. And that’s the kind of thing we love to do as Live Nation Urban, and what SI exists for.

“Being part of something that important, it really matters. We work hard for everything we do, but I have a big chunk of our team that’s gone to HBCUs,” he says. “They fight about it on many calls, about which was one was the best. There’s plenty of that, and it really matters, and it’s the kind of cause that people can get around. We hope this is the start of something that builds on the future, and that we helped SFI make the impact they’re trying to make. I’m sure they will make it at the end of this. I’m sure that, when it’s all written and told and done, the story of SFI will be a pretty important one for everyone involved.”