Projects tagged "Music & Sound"

Beyonce's Lemonade
Practitioner:
Beyonce
Date:
Feb 1 2016
In a single hour, Beyoncé's Lemonade re-wrote the textbook definition of what a visual album should look like. The genre-bending music it introduced will define the struggles a generation was enduring in 2016, specifically for black women. The project transcends every definition pop has ever had; blending R&B, contemporary rock, country, reggae, soul and hip-hop in its 12 tracks, occasionally fusing several of these into a single song.
The Tragic Story Behind Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"
Practitioner:
Billie Holiday
Date:
Apr 15 1937
In March 1939, a 23-year-old Billie Holiday walked up to the mic at West 4th's Cafe Society in New York City to sing her final song of the night. Per her request, the waiters stopped serving and the room went completely black, save for a spotlight on her face.
Actionplay To Present A New Musical THE SURFACE
Practitioner:
Actionplay
Date:
May 14 2022
Actionplay, a theatre company dedicated to providing autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled teens and young adults equal access to the theatre-making process, is pleased to announce their next production, the new musical comedy The Surface (or, That One Time Atlantis Washed Up On the Beach).
Band Invoices US Government for Using their Music at Guantanamo
Practitioner:
Skinny Puppy
Date:
Feb 1 2014
Veteran Industrial band Skinny Puppy have objected to their disturbingly dark music being played to discombobulate inmates at Guantanamo, and plan to “charge” the government for doing so. They are not the first band to express such objections.
Sit-Down Strike for Rhythm
Practitioner:
Rhythm Ambassadors
Date:
Oct 5 2017
At the New Orleans Swing Dance Festival the all African-American dance troupe The Rhythm Ambassadors were presented along side an African-American iteration of the Preservation Hall All-Star band with African-American vocalist Taryn Newborne to deliver the message that the African-American Lindy Hoppers were going to be protest until their rhythm is better presented...i.e.
Open Plan: Andrea Fraser at the Whitney
Practitioner:
Andrea Fraser
Date:
Mar 17 2016
The average crow takes less than two hours to travel from Sing Sing maximum-security prison to the Whitney Museum of American Art, institutions separated by just 32 miles of land along New York’s Hudson river. Yet few humans journey between them – museums and prison are at opposite ends of our society’s self-imaginings, and their populations tend not to intersect.
This is America
Practitioner:
Donald Glover/ Childish Gambino
Date:
May 6 2018
(NEWS 8) — A day after pulling double-duty as both the host and musical guest on "Saturday Night Live," actor-writer-comedian-musician Donald Glover was garnering attention on Sunday for another reason. Social media blew up this weekend with reactions to Glover's new music video for "This is America," released under the name of his musical alter ego, Childish Gambino.
Dance for George
Practitioner:
Sheen Jamaal, Alison Bedell
Date:
Jun 7 2020
When dancer Sheen Jamaal saw a video of protestors doing the Cupid Shuffle in New Jersey, inspiration struck to do something similar in New York. He immediately called his friend and collaborator Allison “Buttons” Bedell, and the seed for the Dance For George protest was planted.
Labs Creates Sustainable Music Studios in Unlikely Places
Practitioner:
Beat Making Lab
Date:
Mar 13 2013
It started as an experiment: what happens when you equip a vibrant youth community with the resources to express themselves through hip hop and electronic music? Last summer I traveled to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo to find out and the results were more beautiful than I could have imagined.
For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield
Practitioner:
Buffalo Springfield
Date:
Dec 5 1966
Released as a single on 23 December 1966, Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth became the short-lived but talent-packed band’s biggest hit, reaching No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1967.
what is missing?
Practitioner:
Maya Lin
Date:
Jan 1 2009
“What Is Missing?” is a multi-sited memorial created by Maya Lin to raise awareness through science-based artworks about the present sixth mass extinction of species, connect this loss of species to habitat degradation and loss, and emphasize that by protecting and restoring habitat, we can both reduce carbon emissions and protect species.
Raise Your Umbrellas: How Denise Ho went from Cantopop queen to pro-democracy activist
Practitioner:
Denise Ho
Date:
Jan 1 2014
In Hong Kong in 2014 the song Raise Your Umbrella by Denise Ho and Anthong Wong became an anthem for the pro-democracy movement known as the Umbrella Revolution. The song was written after police fired tear gas into the crowds when protestors filled the streets.
The Color of Reality
Practitioner:
Alexa Meade Jon Boogz
Date:
Sep 6 2016
Transfixed by racial, political, and socioeconomic tensions saturating the news, movement artists Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, enveloped by the art of Alexa Meade, switch off the TV and release their emotion into a stirring dance that is both a lament and a spirited call to action.
Black History: Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”
Practitioner:
Billie Holiday
Date:
Feb 5 1939
Many may not realize, but legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, her 1939 song about lynching, “Strange Fruit,” made her a target of the FBI.
The Crossroads Project
Practitioner:
Robert Davies, Fry St. Quartet
Date:
Apr 3 2012
This month’s blast of arctic air may have roused climate-change skeptics. But the composer Laura Kaminsky and the painter Rebecca Allan were unfazed. Holed up in their apartment in Riverdale in the Bronx on one of the coldest days in decades, these longtime artist-activists were doing what came naturally: fighting the planet’s warming.
45 Tweets
Practitioner:
Wonkles
Date:
Apr 25 2017
I have been composing and singing a selection of our President's tweets. I have two goals for this ongoing project. One is to laugh which helps all of us deal with the high anxiety of our times. The second is to shine new light on the absurd, troubled and baffling mind of our 45th President. There’s something utterly satisfying when I hear his words sung in an earnest lilting voice. I hope it compels you to think and listen in a whole new way.
Pete Seeger: Where Have All the Protest Songs Gone?
Practitioner:
Pete Seeger
Date:
Apr 1 2012
Now 92 years old, the legendary folk singer recalls his pioneering days touring college campuses and discusses his favorite songs.
Rise, Resist & Unite...V-Day & The Vagina Monolouges
Practitioner:
V-Day Sedona/ Organizations Across the Globe
Date:
Feb 17 2018
Back after a five year hiatus, V-Day Sedona joins with hundreds of other productions across the globe in celebrating V-Day’s 20th anniversary with an act of artistic activism. For its 20th anniversary, V-Day is calling on activists around the world to Rise, Resist and Unite.
After their slogan was outlawed, pro-Palestinian activists turned to a karaoke classic
Practitioner:
Pro Palestinian Activists
Date:
Apr 26 2026
Brisbane, Australia — The flash mob descended on Brisbane’s city square, wearing double denim and blond wigs in the style of a legendary Australian singer as they danced with wild abandon to one of his 1980s hits.
Brat Summer: From Charli XCX's *Brat* to a Cultural Movement and the Perfect Sneaker Aesthetic
Practitioner:
Charli XCX
Date:
Jun 7 2024
The Brat Summer movement can be directly traced back to the release of Charli XCX's album "Brat" in 2024. Known for her boundary-pushing pop sound and fierce persona, Charli XCX used "Brat" as a platform to explore themes of defiance, self-empowerment and the rejection of societal expectations.
Why Prince is a Powerful Example of Artistic Activism
Practitioner:
Prince
Date:
Apr 21 2016
From calling out poverty in his lyrics to his support of coding, the legendary artist pushed the world to care about more than music.
Arca
Practitioner:
Alejandro Ghersi
Date:
Apr 7 2017
Alejandro Ghersi, the Venezuelan-born artist behind Arca, is part of a relatively recent and growing diaspora, and at a time when the political situation back home is at a fever pitch, it feels difficult not to see the ways this album relates to the anguish of that experience.
Y'en A Marre
Practitioner:
Y'en A Marre
Date:
Jan 16 2011
"Y’en a Marre (“We're Fed Up") first emerged in 2011 as a grassroots campaign against injustice and inequality in Senegal. Spearheaded by the hip hop group Keur Gui Crew in response to local power outages, the nascent protest movement went on to mobilize against the controversial bid by Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade to remain in office for a third term.
Send it On Disney Channel Project
Practitioner:
Disney
Date:
Aug 11 2009
"Send It On" is a song recorded by American recording artists Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez from charity project Disney's Friends for Change. The track's producers Adam Anders and Peer Åström co-wrote it with Nikki Hassman. The song was released on August 11, 2009 by Walt Disney and Hollywood Records as a charity single in order to benefit international environmental associations.
1-800-273-8255
Practitioner:
Alessia Cara, Khalid
Date:
Apr 27 2017
Rapper Logic's song "1-800-273-8255" may have helped prevent a significant number of suicides around the time of its release, according to a study published Monday.

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