Arcade Fire talks about philanthropy at UT

Our Austin correspondent Lily Angelle attended a special lecture last night entitled “Hope, Haiti & Service,” where members of the band Arcade Fire spoke to University of Texas students about advocacy and volunteerism and urged them to get involved with relief efforts in earthquake-stricken Haiti.

Members of Arcade Fire perform at the University of Texas.

Arcade Fire members Win and Will Butler, Régine Chassagne and Marika Anthony-Shaw talked about the group’s work with Partners in Health since 2007 to provide health care for people in Haiti. Win Butler said the band has donated more than $500,000 over the past four years and $1 from every concert ticket goes to the charity.

However, Win Butler cautioned that philanthropy is not just writing a check and sending it off – one also needs to make sure the money is going to the proper efforts.

“If the question of ‘is this useful’ isn’t coming up, then you’re doing something wrong,” he said. “If I donate a bunch of money and people end up going out and painting some schools when there’s massive unemployment, I’d be concerned.”

Some attendees grew impatient with the talk and walked out before the lecture was over. So partly to “put it in the faces” of those people, as Win said, the musicians produced a couple acoustic guitars and performed two songs from their 2004 debut album Funeral: “Haiti” and “Wake Up.”

Video by johnrsull29

‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon set for Friday

Shakira will shake it for Haiti

Big name artists will turn up Friday for “Hope For Haiti Now” a televised fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief.  Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting will perform from New York;  from Los Angeles it’s Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow;  and Coldplay joins Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna in London.

The two-hour program will be simulcast on all major networks, HBO and music-themed cable channels and online at video sites including YouTube and Hulu. It will benefit on-the-ground-in-Haiti charities like Oxfam, Partners in Health, the Red Cross and Jean’s Yele Haiti organization (which may or may not be guilty of reported fund mismanagement). All the songs will also be available the next day on iTunes.