Recently I had the opportunity to interview Substance’s co-founder, Erick Boustead, in the lead up to a collaborative Substance and RAN event in the Twin Cities. Hear what he has to say about working for change through art, developing self-sufficient models of activism, and the upcoming RAN/Substance art contest!
Substance is a nonprofit booking and promotions group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, devoted to merging music, art, and nonpartisan progressive activism.
Beginnings
Erick got into activism through music. He got his first drum set in 5th grade and began playing in bands by the end of grade school. Erick’s first love was punk rock, which is “inherently about community building and political activism”. Through bands such as Propagandhi and Good Riddance, Erick got connected to activism. In college, Erick organized concerts and events for student activist groups. Through a meeting to organize activism on campus, he met the other most active student event organizers, with whom he had been competing for concert venues and resources. They decided to pool efforts and form Substance, which would co-organize events in partnership with student groups. This idea grew into what Substance is today.
The Substance Approach
Just as Erick discovered from a young age that punk rock is inherently political, Erick told me that Substance believes that “all art is political in itself”. He explained that if you say your art is not political, that’s also political because you’re making a statement by labeling it as not political. It might go without saying that different artists and musicians have their own politics and audiences. Substance strives to attain performances and pieces by diverse artists for their events in order to bring diverse people and causes together. Music and art bring interest from people who may not already be involved in working for progressive change, and artists who come together to call for change can have a powerful impact on the strength of movement building. Substance organizers “seek to encourage unity amongst progressive activists while reaching out to broader audiences, promoting political and independent artists, and integrating music to propel the movement for change.”
Manifestation, Photo by Jonathan Hoffner
I think it is important to note that when Substance brings together art and activism, they are not simply bringing tables into a concert. They are trying to integrate an event fully in terms of artists and the cause. Erick says, “Our aim for events is to create a unique environment where participants are fully present for an artist’s message and have an array of opportunities to get involved.” For example, Manifestation was an event they held in March 2009 at First Avenue, the historic train depot turned music venue in Minneapolis. There was a gloomy feeling about the economy at that time. The idea was to try to create a manifestation of the feeling of the time, to make the event dark and uncomfortable as an expression of the present instead of an escape from the present.
Substance brought in community activism groups from across the spectrum and decorated their exhibits with lights to show their causes as part of the way to move forward in our current environment. Artists created paintings around the venue that were auctioned off at the end of the night as a creative fundraiser. Manifestation was also the launch of Substance’s “Transparent Events”, a service that reduces the negative environmental and social impacts of large events. This is how they put together a show– it is meant to bring strangers together to realize they have common grounds and bring people into full awareness of reality so change can happen. Art is the means for change.
Live Art Auction at Manifestation, Photo by Jonathan Hoffner
Ripple Effect: Substance’s Event outside the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on September 2, 2008
Substance decided they wanted to do something for the Republican National Convention many months in advance of the convention. It would be their first event on a national scale. They wanted to do something that would build the activist community. It could be an open space for people to come to get informed on topics and involved in activism through trainings, workshops, and other resources. They started applying for venue permits and had a difficult time because the process for space allotment was not very transparent. Instead, they found an organization that had a permit for the Capitol lawn and met with them several times until they figured out they could work together to share the day, cooperatively promoting each other’s organizations.
Once they had secured the space for the show, they began booking bands and speakers. They decided to give Ripple Effect everything they had and see what happened. Entertainment included Dead Prez, Anti-Flag, Michael Franti, and WookieFoot w/Matisyahu, with speakers including Winona LaDuke and workshops offered by the Sustainable Living Road Show. This came together through an organic process that Erick described as “the most intense and scary 8 months of my life”. They were trying to raise $100,000 from scratch and work with national organizations and artists.
Ripple Effect, Photo by Jonathan Hoffner
As the time of the event got near, Rage Against the Machine called Substance because they had heard they had the Capitol lawn on that day. Having been shut out from all other public events in the area, RATM and Substance arranged for the band to play a special set to finish the day. When the band arrived, Capitol police set up a barricade between the members of RATM and the stage. The state argued they could not play because they were not on the permit. Approximately 20 minutes before the permit’s time allotment was up, the State cut power to the stage. As specific reference to any artists or programming was not included in the permit, this was arguably a breach of permit by the State and an impedance of free speech based on content. Seeing that power would not return to the stage, the members of the band ended up walking into the crowd and giving an a capella performance by bull horn, after which they led the crowd into the streets of Saint Paul, merging with an economic rights march. For more on Ripple Effect and the appearance of Rage Against the Machine at that event, click here.
RATM at Ripple Effect, Photo by Jonathan Hoffner
Sustainable Organizational Model
Next, Substance had to figure out how it would be organized now that it was growing. They noticed how tied down so many of the non-profits were that they worked with. Many non-profits were scared of losing their funding because they did not think their funders or board members would like an event like Ripple Effect. Erick read The Revolution Will Not be Funded, which he highly recommends and which affirmed what he had seen. Many times he had seen brilliant, eager youth getting politically active and then becoming overwhelmed with bureaucracy, formal processes, and professionalization. It is a fine line between working as much as necessary within the system, and creating more transparent and equitable ways and means of living. Starting out with a clear vision and being mindful while navigating the development process so as not to become influenced by restrictive funding and boards that might try to water down an organization’s mission is critical. Small compromises at every step might mean the mission has been shifted little by little. Substance was trying to figure out how to build a sustainable and self-determinative model for music and activism in line with the insights of The Revolution Will Not be Funded.
It has been difficult to create a sustainable organization that is not run institutionally and does not depend on restrictive funding. Substance has been in debt since Ripple Effect, which is a hard reality, but they continue to develop creative fundraising ideas and find socially and environmentally responsible sponsors. Substance has been working to build business partnerships with food and art cooperatives in order to provide different ways for artists to promote their arts without having to get big name sponsors like General Mills, where the artists are overshadowed by multinational corporations, which sometimes contradict the art itself. Erick definitely believes this model of organizing is possible and wanted me to pass on the message that what young people are trying to do is not impossible– we can create the organizations and movement we want and need.
RAN and Substance Partnership!
Substance is excited to host their first ever art contest, and RAN couldn’t be more pleased to have its General Mills campaign the featured subject! Substance is branching out to a new medium of art to connect it to activism. General Mills sponsors and funds a lot of art in the Twin Cities, so this partnership strives to provide ways for artists to become self-sufficient. While the contest is occurring in tandem with ongoing efforts of the agribusiness campaign, the purpose of this model is to provide artists with full creative and political freedom in their work. The art contest targets General Mills, and they will have a hard time ignoring artists once they realize what is going on. In addition, this art will help RAN spread the word about the problem with palm oil!
One final announcement: check out Substance’s upcoming event on April 10 as part of the “Vices to Verses” hip hop conference at the University of Minnesota. Dead Prez will headline the concert.
Maia grew up in Minnesota on an acre of land near the Gateway Trail. She studied archaeology and music at the University of Michigan and considers herself a Midwesterner through and through. In the summers of 2007 and 2008, Maia performed thesis research in Belize. Her experiences studying anthropology at home and in Central America helped shape her understanding of the volatile relationships between human societies and the environment in the past and today. This work inspired her search for solutions to climate change and environmental degradation that would also answer the social justice problems we face today. She has been a member of the National Council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition and helped to host statewide conferences and retreats through the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition.
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RYSE is the youth branch of RAN, Rainforest Action Network, which works to protect the Earth and support human rights through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.
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Listen to this awesome Minnesota radio show on RAN & Substance’s collaboration here:
http://www.localiciousradio.com/
Hillary’s interview starts ~ 22 minutes in and Nolan from Substance talks on 27 minutes in.
Why don’t you have a single conservative author on BV to counter the current 100% of authors who are leftist socialists? Don’t you believe in fair journalism?