Pygmalion returns for free online music festival
Black Pumas perform a set at the Rose Bowl Tavern on Sept. 26. as a part of the Pygmalion Music Festival. This year, participants will have access to live streams on Zoom, YouTube and Facebook from Sept. 24 to 26 and all events are free or “pay what you can.”
August 31, 2020
The Pygmalion music festival will be going virtual this year due to constraints of COVID-19, organizers announced Thursday.
Instead of live concerts, talks and performances, participants will have access to live streams on Zoom, YouTube and Facebook from Sept. 24 to 26.
All events are free or “pay what you can.” Proceeds will go to different nonprofits, including the National Independent Venue Association and the United Fund, which provides scholarships for Black students.
“There are no tickets on sale to anything. Programming is free and available to everyone,” the Pygmalion team wrote in a statement. “Instead, Pygmalion is raising money for worthy organizations that can help people in need right now.”
The team noted the recent shooting of Jacob Blake and killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
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“We don’t put this program out into the world in vain; we see the crises in our country, and around the world and hope this event can provide some joy, even if just for a few hours or a few moments,” they wrote.
Pygmalion organizers also added several activities and interactions attendees can go to in the virtual space and see live performances, according to a Pygmalion press release.
Some of the featured activities include a virtual escape room, a “Human Library,” a charity poker tournament and several others.
Appearances will include Ilana Glazer of “Broad City,” the cast of “Napoleon Dynamite,” comedian Ari Shapiro, YouTuber Simone Giertz, author Bernardine Evaristo and Nate Mendel of the Foo Fighters, along with nearly 50 others.
Last year’s performances and appearances included Antoni Porowski of “Queer Eye,” bands Beach Bunny and Japanese Breakfast and comedian Eric Andre.
“We’re not totally sure how well this will operate, if we are being honest,” the statement read later on. “To have something so aged, so defined, suddenly deconstructed for you, in front of you, is a step short of traumatizing. It’s diminishing, that is for sure. But it’s also challenging, and that’s nothing we’ve ever been afraid of embracing. It is the challenge of this work that keeps us both engaged and honest, to ourselves, and to the artists we present and to their audience.”
