- Courtney Fortin, Marketing
While working hard to plan this year’s highly anticipated SpringFest, MUSIC Matters members have been reminiscing on last year’s successful festival. Last April, University of Michigan students and the surrounding Ann Arbor community joined together for a fun-filled day, complete with art installations, a fashion show, food trucks, performances by local artists, and so much more. Over 60 student organizations united on the Diag and N. University Ave. to highlight the diverse passions and interests within the Michigan community. Whether they received a henna tattoo and learned about Sikhism from the Sikh Student Association or splattered paint at SpringFest’s Chill Zone with mental wellness clubs, festival-goers were able to learn about all of the wonderful community outreach endeavours within campus organizations. In addition to all of these great clubs, local boutiques like Bivouac, Motivation, and York Project brought in merchandise to further display all the Ann Arbor community has to offer.
SpringFest not only provided a platform for student organizations and local Ann Arbor businesses to showcase their products and initiatives, but it was also an incredible opportunity for MUSIC Matters to raise money for and spread awareness of our social ventures. Last year was the fifth year of putting on the campus-uniting festival, but it was the first year that MUSIC Matters introduced a grant program to assist other social action groups on campus. In 2017, MUSIC Matters launched our CoMMunity Partnership with Books for a Benefit, a nonprofit student organization dedicated to promoting literacy to students in southeast Michigan. Through funding and volunteering, MUSIC Matters ultimately helped BFB construct a library for the Flint community. In addition, festival-goers were encouraged to write their favorite books on bookshelves that would later be donated to BFB as well. Overall, through SpringFest, MUSIC Matters was able to create an unforgettable day that would benefit the Ann Arbor community for years to come.
The festival was capped off at night with an electrifying performance from Louis the Child and Lost Kings. While in past years MUSIC Matters has brought in various artists, such as 2Chainz, J Cole, Lil Yachty, and Migos, last year’s performance was especially unique because it was the first time that our organization brought in an electronic dance headliner. Louis the Child, who have previously headlined Coachella and Bonnaroo, enthralled the crowd at Hill Auditorium, and proceeds from the concert, as well as our fundraising efforts, further aided MUSIC Matters in supporting the missions of our CoMMunity Partners. Whether they knew it or not, everyone who attended either the day or night portion helped contribute to sparking social change in the community.
MUSIC Matters is excited to make the 2019 SpringFest bigger and better. This year, our partners are Heal-Move-Shift and Michigan Movement, and can’t wait to surpass last year’s fundraising amount by organizing an even more incredible SpringFest experience for the Ann Arbor community. We have already begun preparations for the event, and cannot wait to see all of our hard work come to fruition on April 16th.