SeegerFest Event Photos
From July 17th-21st, 2014, thousands of people came together at locations around New York City and NY state to take part in Seeger Fest (http://www.seegerfest.org), a celebration of the lives, work, activism and music of original RFC Advisory Board members, Pete and Toshi Seeger. The RFC was proud to be one of this remarkable and historic event’s sponsors, and members of our staff and board of directors were thrilled to attend many of the festival’s programs – photos of which are shared here.
Pete and Toshi’s grandson Kitama Cahill-Jackson created Seeger Fest as “a way for those who knew and admired Pete and Toshi to remember them, and for those who hadn't heard of them, to get inspired by their compassion for the human race.” Gina Belafonte (daughter of RFC Advisory Board member Harry Belafonte) was a co-producer. The festival included movie screenings, a memorial service, a photo exhibit, boat rides, a square dance, and several star-studded concerts – all free and open to the public and mostly outdoors, as Kitama knew his grandparents would have wanted.
It was particularly fitting for the RFC to sponsor this event because of the work we do and the context in which we do it. RFC grants often enable our beneficiaries to participate in the arts, which can be a tremendous solace to children and youth experiencing trauma. Furthermore, our motto is “Carry it Forward,” by which we mean that through our work, we strive to nurture and transmit progressive values from one generation to the next. We use that phrase because Ethel and Julius Rosenberg – in the last letter they wrote from death row to their sons Robert and Michael – said that they took comfort in the knowledge that others would carry on after them. Kitama, Gina, and the more than 200 Seeger Fest performers who ranged in age from nine to almost 90, and in many cases included two or even three generations of families, are doing just that.
The folk, hip hop, punk and indie rock artists who participated in the festival believe that the idea of social consciousness in music must be heard louder than ever before. They are carrying on the fight for social, economic, and environmental justice on many fronts. It was a great honor for the RFC to support this event that celebrated not just two truly inspiring individuals, but also the power of the arts as a tool for change – or to borrow the slogan on Pete’s banjo, “to surround hate and force it to surrender.”
