If there’s one person disappointed with Moogfest’s lineup for next year, it’s definitely Caroline Polachek.
As reported previously via Pitchfork, the former Chairlift vocalist took to Twitter yesterday to voice her displeasure regarding the festival’s phase one announcement, which includes performances by artists such as SOPHIE, Fawks, Jamila Woods, and Gavin Rayna Russom of LCD Soundsystem.
In her tweet, she states the following:
Furious to be (without approval) on an all-female & non-gender-binary announcement list for @Moogfest. Gender is not a genre. I don’t need a sympathy pedestal, esp from a male curator. Take my name off this list and put me in the pit with the boys. pic.twitter.com/6XWcWgldZC
— Caroline Polachek (@carolineplz) December 6, 2017
Moogfest representatives were quick to respond to her statement with an open-letter apology:
“Dear Caroline,
We apologize for reframing you in a way that takes focus off of your artistry and talent and we regret that you will no longer be taking part in Moogfest 2018.
Today’s lineup announcement was inspired by and coincided with Always On, a celebration of voices that are traditionally underrepresented. Our intention is to showcase an initial lineup that further amplifies those voices while supporting others in a way that challenges the manner in which festival lineups are typically presented.
We believe that using our platform to center women, non-binary and transgender people is an important tool to combat the erasure and invisibility that can occur when these identities are kept on the periphery. Please know that no musician was booked for Moogfest for any reason other than their own unique artistry, and today’s announcement is just phase one of our 2018 lineup. As always, the full Moogfest artist roster will be a diverse lineup of talented performers across a wide spectrum of gender, culture and politics.
Thank you for your honest expression. Thank you for your willingness to hold us to a higher standard. Thank you for starting this conversation.
PS. Moogfest is not curated by a man, it’s curated by a diverse group of people that work together as a team. There is not a single person, nor a single man that’s in charge of curating this event.
Love, Team Moogfest”
Polachek has since elaborated on her initial tweet today in a typed statement.
“I have no issue with all fem-gnc lineups, but that’s not what Moogfest is,” she wrote, “This is a gender-mixed festival where certain artists have been marched to the front the line and paraded together because they’re female/gnc. This speaks not to the artists or their music, but to the politics of the festival and self-congratulatory PR.”
Check out her full response below:
— Caroline Polachek (@carolineplz) December 7, 2017
Moogfest will take place from in Durham, N.C. from May 17-20. This phase one announcement was followed up by “Always On,” a 50-hour Livestream with back to back performances from female, transgender, and non-binary electronic artists and beatmakers. To view the stream and find out more information about Moogfest, check out their website here.
