Detroit music festival dials back price differential for whites and people of color after backlash – By Theresa Braine (New York Daily News) / July 7 2018
A youth music festival in Detroit retracted its policy of charging white music lovers more money than people of color after a biracial hip-hop artist pulled out, and Eventbrite threatened to remove the event from its site.
At first people of color were charged $20 for full price to attend the upcoming Aug. 3 AfroFuture Fest, and non-POC were expected to pay $40. The site’s event page explained it was an effort to equalize the economic terrain and give people of color, especially those from surrounding communities, the same access to the event that someone of presumably more privileged means would enjoy.
“Our ticket structure was built to ensure that the most marginalized communities (people of color) are provided with an equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community (black Detroit),” the organizers said on the festival’s Eventbrite page. “Affording joy and pleasure is unfortunately still a privilege in our society for POC and we believe everyone should have access to receiving such.”
There is precedent for such an approach. With talk of reparations for slavery in Congress, and awareness of institutional racism and its effects growing, numerous efforts are under way to mitigate the inequities that are built into the system.
“We’ve seen too many times orgasmic events happening in Detroit and other POC-populated cities, and what consistently happens is people outside of the community benefiting most from affordable ticket prices because of their proximity to wealth,” the Eventbrite page said. “This cycle disproportionately displaces black and brown people from enjoying entertainment in their own communities.”
But it did not sit well with many, starting with the rapper Tiny Jag, who is biracial and pulled out of the performance lineup when she learned of the pricing structure.
“A lot of the songs that I perform are from my first project called Polly – that is my grandmother’s name,” Tiny Jag, whose given name is Jillian Graham, told the Detroit Metro Times. “How do you want me to come to a performance and perform these songs off a mixtape that is titled after this white woman that you would have charged double to get in here? Like, it’s just outrageous from so many different angles.”
In addition, the ticketing site Eventbrite, where the event was registered, threatened to yank its page if the festival organizers did not make the prices the same.
“Our mission is to bring the world together through live experiences,” Eventbrite told The Independent. “We strive to provide a platform that enables people to gather for their chosen purpose, and that reflects diverse viewpoints, so long as they don’t violate our terms.”
This means that charging different prices “based on their protected characteristics such as race or ethnicity” is a no-go, Eventbrite said.
“We have notified the creator of the event about this violation and requested that they alter their event accordingly,” Eventbrite told The Independent. “We have offered them the opportunity to do this on their own accord; should they not wish to comply we will unpublish the event completely from our site.”
At last glance, the festival was offering tickets at $20 across the board, with a suggested donation area for non-people of color.
Graham told Detroit Metro Times that she is onboard with measures to restore equity among people of color, but felt this was not the way to do it.
“It’s non-progressive, and it’s not solution-focused in my eyes,” she told the newspaper. “It seems almost like it has spite, and unfortunately with spite comes hate, and that’s just not obviously going to be a good direction for us to go if we’re looking for positive change.”
