Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of months, you know that we are in a fairly difficult political climate. While I might recommend a bath, a glass of wine and the muting of certain phrases on Twitter in order to deal with the next four years (or hopefully less) of Trump’s presidency, the New Brunswick music scene has found their own way to cope — mixing their desire for social justice and their love for music.
It’s a simple formula: with a minimum donation, basement show attendees can enjoy local music while helping a cause they align with. In the last couple of months, there has been a clear rise in benefit shows, where basement concert organizers would donate proceeds to a cause of their choice. The most popular cause is Planned Parenthood, the wrongly stigmatized health center that has an estimated 650 locations across the United States. In the state of New Jersey, Planned Parenthood currently receives no federal funding. Some basement shows may only adhere to donating to that cause alone, or as some other have done, cover the wide range of establishments and diverse individuals that have been affected under Trump’s presidency.
Last December, a benefit show entitled “Friends w/ Benefits” donated the $441 in proceeds they made at their event to both Planned Parenthood and the Trans Lifeline. Organized by Rutgers third year student Kelvin Ayora, Ayora felt the urgent need to give back to a community that gave so much to him. “It’s cool because it shows that the people of New Brunswick, the people that go to shows here and the people that host the shows here, actually give a shit about not just themselves,” says Ayora about the success of benefit shows.
His work as a sexual health advocate with HOPE here on campus and his connection to those who will be affected by the new administration were also two integral parts of his decision to make Friends w/ Benefits happen. “As a queer student, the rates of trans suicide have been skyrocketing recently and I just find that incredibly disheartening. I don’t identify as trans but I have friends who are gender non-conforming and it’s like, ‘what can I do to support them?’,” says Ayora of his decision to donate the entirety of the event’s proceeds.
The show bill featured a diverse cast of artists, from a vision Ayora felt was important to promote inclusivity in the basement show scene. It’s no secret that the DIY music scene can be rather exclusive to the cisgendered white heterosexual males that tend to attend and play at them. Ayora recognized this trend from his time spent in the scene and made the active effort to make the show as a safe, diverse, and inclusive space for all, with artists who identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming, alongside women-fronted bands and musicians of color.
Ultimately, Ayora just wanted to utilize his social networks and love of music in the best way he knew how. “I just wanted to contribute to the trend of us as a community giving back to the rest of the community, because at the end of the day, for someone who wouldn’t know any better, going to a show is just a bunch of loud, young people getting drunk and screaming. And you know what, an aspect of it is that, but it’s also cathartic.”
