Festivals making real change for Black Lives Matter
A number of festival brands have vowed to do better, following the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA.
More light has been shone on the racism crisis – resulting in peaceful protests and online awareness. Black Out Tuesday took place on June 2, where some social media users stopped posting personal content for the day. Instead – they uploaded a black square, and reading materials to help educate themselves and their followers on the problem.
But some people have said that it’s not enough for brands to just post a blank image with the hashtag #BlackOutTuesday – and that real contributions need to be made. It’s a movement, not a trend.
We’ve listed some of the festivals who are making changes:
Parklife/The Warehouse Project
Parklife and The Warehouse Project stated in an Instagram post that they would be making donations to bail funds for protestors, Black Lives Matter, and Rainbow Noir. The latter is a Manchester-based charity, who ‘provide a voice for LGBTQI+ people of colour in the area.
“Moving forward we will look to integrate these charities and others within The Parklife Foundation, supporting annually from the festival to help continue their essential work.”
As well as giving financial help – the festival also said it would use its platform for awareness.
“We understand that more than anything we all need to commit to a culture of long term positive change, including internally in our organisation, to increase diversity, better educate ourselves and ensure equality is a constant and primary presence in every aspect of our day to day business. These are our first steps.”
Glastonbury Festival
As well as taking part in #BlackOutTuesday, the festival closed their offices for the day. Many other companies have done similar to show their support.
The statement urged people to join them to “disconnect from work and reconnect with our community.”
Junction 2
Junction 2 acknowledged that house and techno comes from Black and Hispanic culture, and is what their business is built on. They also recognised their power and responsibility to “invoke change.”
Part of their Instagram post read: “We would like to do better. Whatever kind of ally we thought we were we realise it is not enough. We will be spending this time reflecting and learning on how we can enact change from within our own systems as well as externally.”
Their virtual festival, J2v, was originally meant to take place on June 6. But, it has been postponed until July 11 to “stop, think and do better” and allow people to join uniting communities.
They have announced that Black Lives Matter will be added as one of their beneficiary charities. 100% of profits made from the online event will be split between Black Lives Matter, The Outside Project, Trussell Trust Foodbanks, The Care Workers Charity and Refuge.
The festival also said that they have reviewed and updated their line-up: “The diversity of our original line-up was not reflective of our passion to always welcome everyone onto our dance floors and into our DJ booths.”
Boiler Room
Boiler Room has been very vocal on the issue – posting donation links and resources in a series of Instagram posts.
Their ‘Streaming from Isolation’ livestream series is raising money for Black Lives Matter affiliated causes – including NAACP Legal Defence. They have also encouraged their “non-black audience to educate themselves, speak up and take action.”
“We’ve made a donation to split equally across 38 community bail out funds to help support protestors right now across cities in the US.”
Boomtown Festival
Boomtown has partnered up with Beyond the Hashtag – which is a “space to virtually protest” and “a collective network of ideas, events, solidarity, creative outlets and educational resources.”
They’ve encouraged their audience to protest – either physically or virtually. For the latter, using #BeyondTheHashtag. The festival has also shared links to articles on the issue.
Part of one of their statements read: “But this is not limited to one day or a social media campaign... We pledge to better ourselves as allies in this fight, a fight that is all of ours to win. We pledge to do everything in our power and with our platform to dig out racism and prejudice from the roots, and raise awareness to the ongoing injustices that pollute this world.”
According to an Instagram poll, 85% of people said they would stop attending a festival if the company didn’t raise awareness and make real changes for Black Lives Matter.
To read their full statements, visit their Instagram accounts. To help the movement and educate yourself further, visit: www.blacklivesmatters.carrd.co for resources.
Written By: Megan Milstead