MORE Campaign: Working toward an Anti-Racist Jam Band Community
Mobilizing on Racial Equity (MORE) is part of PHRE's mission to dismantle White supremacy within the live music scene and beyond through education, intersectionality, and accountability. Driven by a grassroots community of music lovers, bands and music industry professionals, the MORE campaign seeks to make all aspects of the jam band scene more inclusive, welcoming, and anti-racist.
Every live music community has three core elements: the bands that bring us together; the venues where we gather; and the fans that show up for the music and each other.
Through the MORE Campaign, PHRE will work with leaders in each part of our community to use their unique role and voice to 1) make their part of the scene as inclusive as possible; 2) have a positive spillover effect in other parts of the community; and 3) make the jam band community a force for good in the larger world.
For example:
A band can 1) hold a racial equity training for their management and crew; 2) ask the venues they play to do the same; and 3) partner with grassroots racial equity groups in their home city and favorite tour stops.
A venue can 1) require intersectional equity training for all its staff; 2) offer a similar training to bands / crews that come through; and 3) use its clout in its home community to fight for antiracist policies on the local level, like shifting funds from militarized policing to more equitable alternatives.
A fan can 1) table with PHRE at Phish and other shows to educate fellow fans about racial equity in the scene and beyond; 2) join the MORE Campaign to ask their favorite band to get involved; and 3) help PHRE raise funds for a local grassroots racial equity organization in their hometown.
These are just examples–there’s a ton to do in each category and in each part of our community. And the best part is that it’s all connected: as a community, fans can influence bands to stand up for racial equity, and bands can influence venues to implement antiracist policies and procedures - which has a direct impact on the safety and well-being of fans (and bands) of color. In addition, venues have influence as business leaders and can be mobilized as powerful allies for community-led organizations working to advance antiracist policies on a local level.
The starting point for MORE is the Jam Band Community Racial Equity Commitment Statement. Signed by over 400 fans and musicians already, the statement represents a growing movement of leaders who want to see our community become more antiracist and mobilize as a force for racial equity in our broader world.
Join the campaign by signing today!
Lizard Liberation Theater
The Lizard Liberation Theater is a casual, bi-monthly documentary club celebrating musicians of color. No homework necessary, simply tune in at the appropriate time for a film highlighting the place where music and race intersect.
Feel free to lurk, or participate in an informal discussion, where we can address any thoughts or questions together as a group. If you can’t make the screening itself, the film will usually be available for easy and free streaming ahead of time. Presented by PHRE and Lizard Liberation Library, open to all music fans who want to explore race through BIPOC stories.
At our last meeting, we watched The Godmother of Rock & Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe (2011)
Lizard Liberation virtual meeting
Lizard Liberation Library
The “Lizard Liberation Library” is PHRE’s anti-racist book club, made up of fans who are interested in reading, discussing, and unpacking various writings about race in America. Each “season,” we take a book, article, or set of articles and split them up over the course of a few months, reading at a manageable pace with guiding questions from group moderators.
If you’ve been wanting to start reading anti-racist books and you’re looking for a challenging but supportive and caring group with which to read, please join us! No matter where you are on your journey with anti-racism, we want you to join us in the discussion.
We meet virtually every two to three weeks, and each session’s reading load is designed to be manageable even with our busy lives. Our group moderators take turns designing questions to help us work through tricky ideas or problematic passages, and all attendees agree to abide by a common set of ground rules.
Past books have included Angela Davis’s Are Prisons Obsolete? and Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law. Come unlearn all the facts that you’ve learned with the Lizard Liberation Library!
Other Events
Bouncing Around the Zoom
Bouncing Around the Zoom (BATZ) is a live virtual dance class where you can feel the feeling you forgot! Including original choreography to Phish songs, lessons to dances the band has performed over the years, and opportunities to freestyle dance, BATZ is a way to share in the groove with fans from around the world. No dance skills or expertise required; all you need is comfortable exercise clothes, water nearby, and a space to boogie and turn your audio up loud.
Our first BATZ was a blast, with over 60 participants joining in the fun. Tickets are sliding-scale donations ($15-$150 recommended); all proceeds support PHRE’s antiracism training and outreach with fans and venues.
Enjoy learning original choreography and Phish dances with fans from around the world! The first BATZ class was promoted on Phish’s Sirius Radio station and had 60 participants. Ticket sales for the classes support PHRE’s antiracism training and outreach with fans and venues.
Sign up to be notified of future classes!
Black Roots of Phish Music Series
“That set was so funky, it was almost as good as James Brown on his worst night!” When Trey Anastasio made this joke to his bandmates at the Great Went, he acknowledged something essential about Phish and their music: despite being played by four white guys from Vermont, Phish’s music is deeply rooted in, and in conversation with, the music of the African diaspora and especially Black music in America. This is true not only of Phish’s music, but all popular music in America, dating back to its roots in blackface performance of the early nineteenth century. The story of how American music progressed from blackface minstrelsy to songs like “The Moma Dance” or “Julius” is long and complex, and as with most aspects of American culture, marked by instances of racism, appropriation, assimilation, and reckoning along the way.
Black Roots of Phish is a video series presented by PHRE that examines the historical Black origins and aesthetics of Phish’s music and scene, as well as issues of race that may be hidden within Phish’s music. Written by Dr. Jake Cohen, a musicologist with expertise in American music, and produced by Matt Campbell, the videos explore how Blackness is embedded in the music of Phish, sometimes overtly and sometimes so deeply that its very Blackness has been erased. From covers of Black artists to originals based on Black musical styles, from individual case studies to central themes in Phish’s everlasting spoof, the Black Roots of Phish series addresses one of PHRE’s central missions: to facilitate education and thoughtful engagement, first and foremost within the Phish community, about race and its intersection with other issues.
Sign up to get access to the videos as they’re released!
Phish tour tabling, meet ups and lot trainings
As part of our mission to facilitate thoughtful engagement around race and its intersection with other issues in the scene, PHRE organizes opportunities for fans to get involved while on tour. At select venues, PHRE volunteers hold antiracist intervention trainings before the show and run a table inside the venue for fans to learn more about our mission. For some shows, we also host member meetups to provide an opportunity for fans to get to know each other and have some fun!
Sign up below to stay up to date with PHRE’s 2021 tour schedule. You can also watch our virtual table from Dinner and a Movie here.
General interest meetings
If you’re ready to help us build an antiracist live music scene, join one of our General Interest Meetings to learn how you can get more involved. You’ll meet an amazing group of fellow fans and hear from our Committee Leadership team about everything they’re working on. There might even be a special guest from time to time!
Sign up below to get an invitation to join our next meeting and find ways to use your unique skills and talents to help mobilize our collective power for good!
Ready to share in the groove but not sure where to start? Reach out!
