Members of Northwestern's One Voice student group believe music brings people together, and they hope to raise students' awareness of human trafficking around the world with a free April 20 concert featuring Canadian indie rock band Stars.
"We thought Stars would be great because they have a lot of support in the college market," said Francesca Chia, One Voice co-director and fundraising chairwoman.
A&O Productions has not yet finalized the two-part agreement with Stars, said Judith Cooper, assistant director of the Center for Student Involvement. However, an agent for High Road Touring, which is in charge of Stars' U.S. tour, confirmed the concert date Thursday night.
With the breakthrough single "Ageless Beauty" on their 2005 album "Set Yourself on Fire," the five-person band is well-known in the rock world. Three Stars members are also part of the Canadian group Broken Social Scene.
Modeled off of the Live 8 and Live Earth concerts that raised awareness of poverty in Africa and global warming, respectively, the Stars concert will be the final event in a series that aims to educate students about human trafficking and how it is not only a problem in underprivileged countries, said Chia, a Weinberg sophomore.
"Our main campaign started in January where we held educational events, fundraisers, firesides," she said. "This concert signifies the end of it and pulls everyone together."
One Voice raised all funds for the concert without any outside help, so it was difficult to get big names to perform, Chia said. Once the members of Stars heard that the concert was for a cause, they accommodated the group's budget, Chia said.
A&O Productions, who suggested the band to One Voice, is co-sponsoring the event. NUnite, NU Alumni Association, Student Activities Funding Board and Asian-American Student Affairs are also sponsors.
This year, One Voice has two beneficiaries: Project Polaris and the Prevent Human Trafficking Institute. A representative from Project Polaris, a nonprofit organization, will speak about human trafficking during the concert, Chia said.
Although the Voice for Asia concert had three different Asian performers last year, this year's concert aims to draw more students, said Christine Wang, One Voice co-director and programming chairwoman.
"This year we wanted to be more inclusive," the Weinberg sophomore said. "(It) should be a dramatically different concert."
c-lestch@northwestern.edu
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