Community Impact

Big Festival.
Bigger Impact.

Launched by founder Perry Farrell in 1991 as a touring festival, Lollapalooza remains an innovator in festival culture over 30 years later.

Lollapalooza was the first festival to bring together artists from a wide range of musical genres on one bill, it was also the first to travel, the first to expand to multiple days, the first to introduce a second stage, the first to blend art and activism, the first to offset its carbon emissions, the first to put electronic music artists on the main stage, the first to create family friendly programming, the first to make its home in an urban city center and the first to expand internationally.  Lollapalooza has grown into an annual world-class festival in Chicago (2005), as well as culturally rich countries including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France and India.

Lollapalooza is one of the premier music destinations for music fans in the United States and abroad. The Chicago edition features more than 170 bands on 8 stages during four full days of music. 

Lollapalooza observed its 30th anniversary in 2021, celebrating its enduring success as a powerhouse global festival brand.

Programs

Lollapalooza’s contribution to the City of Chicago leads all festivals in the region. While the festival takes place over a four-day weekend in the summer, organizers strive to deliver meaningful engagement programs and create positive impacts in the city year-round. Other donations include: Black Culture Week, Adler Planetarium, NAMI Chicago, and the Police Memorial Fund

Chicago Public Schools

$3.9 million donated to Chicago Public Schools arts education programs since 2021

Multi-year commitments supporting arts access across CPS schools have expanded arts education access at 100+ schools and reached 65,000+ students
Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund provides grants to CPS schools for in-school arts programs, dedicated arts spaces, and professional development for arts teachers
Lollapalooza Presents: All-City Performing Arts provides instruments, rehearsal space, and arts instruction to CPS students after-school

Job Fair

Free festival job fair for Chicagoans

Features dozens of Lolla departments and vendors to showcase festival opportunities
Highlights industry pathways through workshops, panel discussions, and keynotes
Free and open to the public but catered toward City Colleges of Chicago students
Committed to expanding opportunities for Chicago’s young people of color - 80% of attendees are Black and Brown

After School Arts Programs‍

Fund after-school graphic design and mural programs - feature art at Lolla

Fund after-school art programs and stipends for Chicago youth and showcase youth work at Lollapalooza
Mural projects include the Kidzapalooza Arch, Perry’s Container, and stacked art installations
Graphic design projects include Lolla entrance scrims, poster walls, and table toppers
Partners: After School Matters, Community Goods, and Yollocalli

Grant park

$500,000 donation toward Grant Park Tennis and Pickleball Court Project

Fully funded Chicago Park District’s initiative to build new pickleball courts and refurbish existing tennis courts in the south end of Grant Park
Supported the redevelopment of 6 existing tennis courts and the development of 32 dedicated pickleball courts

Backstage Programs

Host festival education programs backstage during Lollapalooza

Immersion Day gives 300 Chicago teens an interactive backstage tour of Lollapalooza, featuring hands-on activities and festival pitch contest
Lollapalooza University offers college courses on festival production culminating in onsite industry panels for students at Kennedy-King College and DePaul University
Provide backstage press tour and media opportunities for Kennedy King College video production course

Tip fest

Funded the stage for Chicago Park District’s Teens in the Park Fest

TIP Fest is the largest platform for Chicago youth to showcase their art
Annual donation to fund stage since 2023 - consult on production, shared tips with organizers
Top 3 TIP Fest winners will perform at Lollapalooza

Sustainability

Lollapalooza, an Illinois Sustainability Award recipient, is committed to sustainable festival practices in the field, behind the scenes and through the preservation of the ever-beautiful Grant Park.

This commitment is integrated into every area of the park, from recycling and composting to eco-friendly service items at Chow Town, and Hydration Stations that provide patrons free, filtered water, diverting millions of plastic bottles from the landfill. Additionally, Lollapalooza uses biodiesel for all generators and equipment and funds renewable energy projects through carbon offset purchases.

22k lbs

Diverted from Landfills

In addition, Lolla is working to redirect construction materials away from Chicago's landfills that would be otherwise discarded. These materials will be collected and made available to the local community to promote positive change, and a better quality of life for our neighbors. In 2025 alone, close to 5 tons of material was recovered and reused through this program.

1st

to use a Hybrid battery system for main stage

In 2024, Lollapalooza made history as the first major U.S. festival to use a hybrid battery system for the main stage, including all audio, lighting, video and stage production, minimizing the run time of biodiesel generators providing significant fuel and emissions savings while furthering the commitment to its ever-expanding sustainability efforts.

LOLLAPALOOZA, GREEN NATION & REVERB

Lollapalooza is once again setting the standard for climate action in live music.

In partnership with Live Nation’s sustainability initiative Green Nation, and leading music sustainability nonprofit REVERB, the T-Mobile sponsored main stage is being hybridized — powered by a combined battery-bio diesel system that reduces on-site fossil fuel use, lowers carbon emissions, improves air quality, and creates a quieter and healthier experience for artists, fans and crew.

In 2025, Lollapalooza, Green Nation and REVERB are teaming up once again to power the T-Mobile Stage with a fully hybrid battery system, setting a powerful example for festivals across the country. Lollapalooza is proud to be a national leader in sustainable festival innovation that reduces reliance on carbon emissions and overall fossil fuel use.

1st

solar-powered headline set

In 2023, Lollapalooza piloted the first solar-powered headline set at a major U.S. festival in partnership with Billie Eilish and REVERB. In 2024, the Main Stage, sponsored by T-Mobile, was entirely powered by a hybrid battery system, including all audio, lighting, video and stage production.

Philanthropic Partnerships

Re:Wild

World-renowned global music festival Lollapalooza has elevated its commitment to the environment through a new partnership with leading global organization, Re:wild. Across the world, Lollapalooza festivals will support Re:wild and its local partners in a variety of ways, including sharing environmental education through festival messaging channels, providing space on festival grounds for Re:wild partners to speak directly with music fans, and through direct financial support of Re:wild projects.

With education as a primary means of positive change, fans can learn more about how to rewild their daily lives and communities via

https://lolla.rewild.org

This must be the place

Lollapalooza strives to continually update and evolve our safety and security protocols, which includes education and preventative measures to keep people safe. With this in mind, we are partnering with This Must Be the Place, an overdose prevention nonprofit, who will educate music fans about the dangers of Fentanyl and supply them with the life-saving opioid reversal medicine, Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan. We encourage fans to stop by their booth at the festival and learn more. 

In 2025 alone, This Must Be the Place distributed more than 45,000 Naloxone kits across 22 festivals produced by C3 Presents

ECONOMIC IMPACT TO THE CITY OF CHICAGO

Lollapalooza 2025 generated more than $480 million for Chicago’s economy.

In addition to a direct rent payment of $10.28 million to the Chicago Park District, Lollapalooza is estimated to have generated $7.26 million in amusement tax revenue. Since event organizers began tracking economic impact in 2010, Lollapalooza has generated more than $3.6 billion for the Chicago economy.