A&O Productions’ benefit concert supported the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights at Evanston SPACE on Thursday night. Pop rock group LAUNDRY DAY and student band Static Transmission were the musical acts of the event.
The benefit drew a full house, with both groups performing to a sold-out crowd. While tickets were free, QR codes throughout the venue gave students the opportunity to donate to the organization, with $5 being the amount recommended by A&O.
Weinberg first-year Julia Knispel, a member of the A&O Street Team, said she was passionate about advocacy for the immigrant community in Illinois.
“It’s definitely a really important cause now more than ever, helping people that come to our country and helping them adjust to life,” Knispel said. “It’s really amazing and gratifying to be able to help them in some way on the difficult journey they’ve already had.”
ICIRR aims to promote the rights of immigrants and refugees to “full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social and political life of our diverse society.”
Established in 1986, the organization’s efforts include helping more than 100,000 immigrants prepare and apply for citizenship and creating the Office of New Americans within the Governor’s office.
Static Transmission opened the event, performing a mix of original grungaze songs, including “Duel of Arms” and “Stitches,” to the cheers of the crowd. The band concluded its set with a call to action to donate to the ICIRR.
“A lot of our members are children of immigrants; this is very timely,” Static Transmission guitarist and Communication junior Nailah Archer said. “As a child of immigrants, I feel honored to be asked to do this specific show.”
Following Static Transmission’s set, New York-based pop-rock band LAUNDRY DAY took the stage. Lead singer Jude Ciulla-Lipkin got the crowd to raise their hands in the air and dedicated the band’s second song of the night to Northwestern.
The band ended their set with a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.,” with students joining in an energetic sing-along.
“LAUNDRY DAY is definitely a little bit more underground, typically for benefit it’s a bit of a smaller artist,” said A&O Productions member and Weinberg sophomore Hattie Saal. “It seems like people are excited.”
Medill senior Mary Randolph, former Daily staffer and member of the A&O Executive Team, remarked on how the event marked the culmination of longstanding efforts to bring the band to campus.
The process of selecting bands is extensive, with single members of each branch of A&O reaching out to different music agencies and balancing contracts, and preference not always being taken into account. Booking LAUNDRY DAY for the event felt like a victory for members who had been vouching for the band over time.
“LAUNDRY DAY we’ve been wanting to bring to Northwestern for at least two or three years,” Randolph said. “It’s been in talks since at least my sophomore year, and it always just hasn’t worked out in terms of they have either been too expensive for the budget we were working with or we didn’t have the right production means to bring them here.”
Randolph said securing LAUNDRY DAY as this year’s benefit artist was a mutually beneficial arrangement, as they expressed enthusiasm at supporting the cause.
While they are based in New York, the group was especially interested in partnering with A&O due to their involvement with local non-profit organizations, according to Randolph.
“They seemed excited. It seems like they sort of took a walk around campus and made some TikToks,” Saal said. “I think this is very much their age group and their vibe of people. And then when we told them it was also a benefit for the Illinois Coalition, they seemed really excited to promote that.”
Every aspect of the event, from the calls to action during performances to the QR codes on A&O member’s shirts, highlighted the core message of the event: donating to the ICIRR.
The benefit is most recent in a series of events combining pop culture and charity held by A&O, showcasing the organization’s appeal to the student population.
“I think that also adds another dimension to the show,” Saal said. “The event is supposed to be a really fun and engaging entertainment opportunity for students, but it is an opportunity for us to give back and use art for the better.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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