Around 25 students students gathered in the Student Union Craft Center to donate their time and talents to the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protesters in North Dakota on Thursday night. They made buttons, patches and jewelry to be sold at the “DIY Stands with Standing Rock” benefit show at Amherst venue The Flip tonight, with all proceeds going directly to the Sacred Stone Camp.
“I’m always excited about the possibility of engaging the local music and arts scene and building a movement that is bigger than just politics,” said Brock Parent, a student activist within the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, who organized the art build, “I think it’s awesome getting local artists involved with Standing Rock solidarity and just standing up to all the sh*t that’s been happening lately.”
All buttons, patches, posters and t-shirts made at the Craft Center will be for sale at the merchandise table at The Flip for tonight’s show. Wyatt Fedora, a senior philosophy major, organized the show, which will feature local artists Farmhouse, eRATT, Shifty Loops, Pine Drop, Mama’s Marmalade, Humble Digs, WYDYDE and Dopeghost.
“I thought it would be a great idea to bring people together under one roof to listen to local music as a means of forming community,” said Fedora, who lives at The Flip. “I was inspired to bring awareness to the protection of water and land at Standing Rock. I oppose the oppression of the Sioux people and wanted not only to bring awareness, but to make a contribution to the water protectors in light of the increase in police brutality and the impending winter season.”
This is the second anti-DAPL art build hosted by the Craft Center. The first was in collaboration with the Native American Student Association on Nov. 3 , which helped the Student Farmer’s Market raise $3,700 for the protesters at Standing Rock. “DIY Stands With Standing Rock” was organized autonomously with the support of Divest UMass.
Parent, a junior anthropology and social thought and political economy major, hopes to turn this collective of students into a new movement focused on community and creativity.
“We feel the need for more of just an autonomous collective of students who are getting together and find new ways to relate to each other and to organize on campus,” said Parent.
The Flip show will start at 7:30 p.m. and donations to the Sacred Stone Camp can be made at the door or any time through Venmo at DIY-STANDS-WITH-STANDINGROCK.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @srobertson__.
