AfroFuture Fest in Michigan changes ticket pricing after backlash over 'non-POC' fee
DETROIT, Michigan – A Detroit music festival is changing its ticket-pricing system after organizers say they were harassed by white supremacists and racist comments.
When AfroFuture Fest, an August afro-centric music and art festival, opened ticket sales, organizers were charging "early bird" people of color $10 and “non-POC” $20, with other tickets as high as $40 on Eventbrite.
This weekend, after the event was widely publicized and debated across social media, the national attention prompted organizers to change the pricing to $20 for all attendees.
Organizers originally posted the event with an explanation: The prices were based on the idea of equitable access to festivals, which they said are often cost-prohibitive and do not benefit the black communities that host them.
“Events often designed for marginalized Black and Brown communities can be easily co-opted by those with cultural, monetary, and class privileges,” organizer Numi Ori wrote on Facebook. “Our goal is to ensure that the youth of our communities can participate in the building of a just society; one that promotes EQUITY over EQUALITY.[sic]”
While organizers said they intended to make the festival more accessible, the doubled price for white festivalgoers sparked pushback from performers as well.
Tiny Jag, a rapper who is biracial, was slated to perform at the festival, but pulled out of the lineup in a Twitter announcement, writing the pricing system “does not reflect the views of myself or the Tiny Jag team.”
Social media accounts like The Shade Room reposted the festival pricing, prompting thousands of replies. Some called the system racist, while others pointed out white privilege as a factor in the ticket scale. One commenter wrote: “Like 1950s racism in 2020. No bueno,” receiving thousands of likes.
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The event’s hosting site, Eventbrite, threatened to take the festival’s page down if organizers did not change the pricing, which Eventbrite told CNN violated its policies.
"In this case, we have notified the creator of the event about this violation and requested that they alter their event accordingly," their statement read.
Eventbrite did not immediately respond to request for comment.
In a Monday post, Ori wrote that she and fellow organizer Franchesca Lamarre were changing the pricing system because of racist harassment.
“There is no other reason why. This was for the sake of safety,” she wrote.
“I don’t feel not one ounce of sadness or regret about Franchesca Lamarre and I’s choice for creating this ticket structure,” Ori wrote in a July 5 Facebook post. “...Don’t comment on here about what we could have done differently with the structure. We did what we did and equity matters.”
Artists slated to perform at AfroFuture Fest include Curtis Roach, Pri$m and White Buffs on the Astral Plane.
Follow Kayla Cockrel and Emma Keith on Twitter: @KaylaCockrel and @emma_ckeith.