It’s Not Just About the Music — Justin Vernon’s Philanthropy
How the musician strives to improve our world
Besides their livelihood, artists, authors and intellectuals often tend to profile themselves in other ways. Politics is a recurring concept and it feels redundant to list examples. If you’ve find your way to this publication, I’m sure you have some knowledge about the phenomenon. I take a guess when I say that the first episodes that comes to mind are probably giants like John Lennon and Bob Dylan, who fiercely opposed themselves against US involvement in Vietnam and in general committed to lessen the degree of violence in our world. This kind of holistic perspective with altruistic actions is often how we reminiscing prominent individuals to shape our world.
But there are also cases of publicly loved beings who can be found on the other side of the spectrum. Take Clint Eastwood for instance, who expressed wishes to see Trump occupy the oval office over Clinton. And sure, we all think of Mr. Eastwood as a hard skinned cowboy. But how is it possible, if you consider yourself a decent, moral person, to continue to think highly of Clint with the knowledge that he approved and endorsed, even if not in direct connection, a political actor who built his whole campaign on tragedies like sexism, racism and misogyny? It’s a cognitive mismatch, which ruin our perception of them.
This is even more relevant today when every statement, involvement and expressed opinion bears the potential to be broadcasted around the world in a matter of seconds. In the same manner, the prevailing opportunities for this to occur also increase the level of transparency, and give us unprecedented opportunities to judge what kind of people it is that we actually look up to.
In this article, I try to shed light on a man, who with his actions outside the creation of my favorite music ever, contributes to a better world with both large scale projects and general attitudes that he sometimes, thankfully, decides to express.
Justin Vernon is best known in connection to the band, or pseudonym, Bon Iver. After his life more or less broke down completely while residing in North Carolina, he retreated to his father’s cabin in the deep woods of Wisconsin where he wrote the probably most praised debut indie album of all time. The life of the young mid-twenty something took a dramatic turn, which led to collaborations with many artists, such as Kayne West.
What’s so inspiring about Justin is that he still creates out of the same ideology that shaped that first, immensely sad album, even though he entered spaces which glimmer of wealth and success rather than depression and sickness. Because of it, is tempting to state that the following examples can be traced back to that ideology, characterized by an urge to make people, along with himself, feel better and eradicate the inherent evil and injustice of our world.
Justin is not an exception of artists who turn to politics in an attempt to achieve change. During the primaries, Bernie Sanders received support from Vernon. Senator Sanders held a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Vernon took the stage to introduce him. Justin was greeted loudly. It’s his hometown, and the nervousness clearly accompanied his humble persona. This quote is from the occasion.
“For some of the candidates, I feel the personal and political nature of this opportunity has eclipsed their obligation to the people, and some have lost sight to the idea that every person is created equal.”
I do not seek to try and make a political point here. But it’s possible to delegate certain values and world views to Justin out of this quote and the decision to endorse Sanders with the politics he pursues. It’s a more including, tolerant and less individual kind of rhetoric which many americans consider being pure communism. Whether this is something good or not I’ll leave to you. But it allows us to paint our own picture of Justin.
The campaign 2 A Million has clear ties to this political stance. During Bon Iver’s upcoming tour, the band is going to partner up with local nonprofit organizations in order to support victims of and raise awareness about gender inequality, domestic violence and sexual abuse. At every show, special merchandise for the cause will be up for for sale and information about these issues will be provided. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time seeing Kid Rock, active Trump supporter and general douchebag, to put in the same amount of effort and time to a similar caring cause.
Out of his political direction, I’m sure you can figure out Vernon’s views on centralized power and pure money driven machineries. And because of the fact that he’s operating within one of the most lucrative and attention seeking business of all, Justin seems to have had a hard time to cope with his success and align the standard of the industry with his own values and beliefs. He has bashed Apple via twitter when they entered the music streaming market, he regretted shooting a commercial for a whiskey brand due to its cooperate nature, and openly expressed the trouble and concerns he holds for the Grammys, even though he won “Best New Artist” in 2012.
The incentive for his opposing for these examples is a disdain towards the dark side of money, with it far too often being the only thing that constitutes a final goal. But Justin doesn’t step back and cynically just damn how the world has been shaped and the malevolent nature of show business. One reaction that can be perceived as an accumulation of Justin beliefs put in to action is his festival, Eaux Claires.
The festival takes place in the wild of Wisconsin, outside of Eau Claire. By looking at the project and hearing Justin reflect on it, it’s probably no fault in stating that it’s the mothership of Justin’s ceaseless battle with the standards of an industry he do not admire. If you look at the lineups from the festivals inception in 2015, you won’t recognize the typical festival headliners, with Bon Iver and The National making up the two exceptions, the latter band’s Aaron Dessner is co-curating the festival.
It’s put mildly to say that Justin despises the big festivals, with a perception of them posing the most evident symptom of how the music and show business industry is being run today. The line ups looks the same, it’s aways niched towards certain cultures, demographics and genres and the subsequent success or failure is based on numbers, measurements and bottom lines. With Eaux Claires, Vernon certainly does his share to reverse these tendencies.
Acts are being picked for the sake of music and this principal is not weakened by a general public opinion. More shares of the budget is put into the actual overall experience than getting the big names printed on the posters. Artists and visitors are also being encouraged to stray from their regular schemes while approaching a show, play sets they aren’t used to and jam with other artists. The 2016 edition also included literature events and other artistic outlets. The ultimate goal, besides being an alternative to an otherwise homogenous industry, is to make everyone feel comfortable and achieve a overload of diversity and perspectives.
These initiatives and peeks into Justin’s mindset is what I consider to be the most fascinating aspects of Justin besides his incredible music. What’s so persuasive to me with regards to philanthropy is that Vernon remains steady on the ground and is not being dragged up into the clouds by his success saga. And maybe that humbleness is rooted in a success emerged out of art created for personal sake, to pull through dark times. What’s more is that the philanthropy isn’t restricted to his actions. It’s rather about notions like persona, values and a strive to find meaning and truth in a world where it nowadays can be difficult to locate. Indirect, by being such a recognized musician as he is, this leads to fortunate consequences, even though he’s oblivious to this aspect of his well doing.
I truly believe that a person like Justin, with his endeavors and thoughts on our contemporary world, is a sound strain. When everything’s moving faster and new technologies more or less makes everything increasingly shallow, the kind of depth that Justin and his projects possess is a counter weight that we need. For me, Justin tell us that sometimes, it’s important to take a step back and spare a moment for contemplation. Maybe we’re caught up in this circulation and Justin feels dismay about it, and wants to provide the chance to gaze out towards other horizons. Because whether it’s about art or charity, the concept of finding meaning and truth is at the core of every true artist’s existence. For Justin, this stretches over all parts of his life.
On the 24th of January I’m getting on a plane bound for Frankfurt to catch Bon Iver’s night in the city. Touring is not an exception of Justin’s philosophy and scepticism. The size of the venues the band visits is not in any way proportional to their popularity, all dates sold out in a matter of minutes. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I’ve never been this excited for a show before, ever.
