The Hill Auditorium is the University of Michigan’s largest and most well recognized performance venue on campus. With seating up to around 4,000 individuals coupled with its century long existence dating back to its founding in 1913, the Hill Auditorium has hosted a wide variety of talented, intelligent, and innovative individuals in a diverse array of fields from Hillary Clinton to the Grateful Dead to Robert Frost. However, typically the Hill Auditorium showcases orchestra and theatrical performances, and has rarely ever hosted a show featuring an EDM artist. Despite this, on April 4th, 2018, Louis the Child, a Chicago based DJ duo, will be debuting as the concert headliner along with special guests of EDM duo Lost Kings and University of Michigan’s own DJ Miller Guth. Not only is this news exciting for the U of M and Ann Arbor local community, but the artists’ appearance will revolutionize the Hill Auditorium stage, paving way for more EDM musicians to come in the future.
This appearance would not have been possible without the MUSIC (Michigan Undergrads Serving in the Community) Matters, a student non-profit run organization that organizes local music events to unite the Michigan community and help fund philanthropic efforts “aimed to empower, unite, and advance Michigan youth toward higher education.”
Since its founding six years ago, MUSIC Matters has established its annual event, Springfest, as the first and most prominent “social impact lifestyle festival” on college campuses throughout the US. The event was initially founded to with the goal of bringing the University of Michigan and local Ann Arbor community together by providing a “central platform to showcase the best of local community, culture, and innovation.”
However, both the organization and the event itself has grown immensely in these short few years. MUSIC Matters has hosted a range of current, well-liked artists including J. Cole, Ben Folds, 2 Chainz, Common, Migos, and Lil Yachty. Not only that but, fittingly named a lifestyle event, they have also hosted engaging art installations, food trucks, fashion shows, start-up events, stages of student talent, former TEDx speakers, social activism showcases, and pop-up shops, all while remaining completely zero waste and environmentally friendly. These factors have caused them to garner major support throughout the community. As a result, they have been able to donate $10,000 to C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, $50,000 to create the first “student-for-student” scholarship model in the country, have launched a low income summer camp for underprivileged Detroit high school students hosted at the University of Michigan, and have just recently launched a CoMMunity Partnership, an annual philanthropic partnership which aims to maximize the impact of MUSIC Matters beyond the Ann Arbor area.
All of these amazing accomplishments will only be furthered and enhanced with the kickoff of world recognized DJ group Louis the Child. Since their small scale debut in 2013, the duo began on their rise after gained popularity of a remix of a song by Chance the Rapper, successfully helping them sign opening acts for well known EDM artists such as Madeon and the Chainsmokers. Their career took off with the release of their own singles, most notably “Weekend” and “Fire” and their first headlining tour in 2015, which paved the way for performances at major music festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Ultra Music Festival. They now receive millions of monthly Spotify listeners and have received six landings on the Billboard US Dance chart, one of which got public recognition from Taylor Swift.
Not only will the duos sheer talent attract a large crowd but because “electronic music has never touched the stage in Hill Auditorium at such a large scale…bringing Louis the Child gives the Michigan campus a new and unique opportunity to see one of the hottest names in electronic music with top-notch production,” says Talent and Concert Chair, Sam Reisman. And, hopefully because of the novelty of the performer, it will help MUSIC Matters garner even more support than in past years.
If you don’t want to miss this incredible event, buy your ticket on umichmusicmatters.com/tickets or via phone at (734) 763-8587. Prices start at $9.99 for students with valid UM IDs and $14.99 for the general public. Additionally, a portion of concert proceeds will be used to fund and further develop MUSIC Matters’ new partnership “The CoMMunity Partnership.” This year, in an effort to expand beyond the local community, MUSIC Matters partnered with “Books for a Benefit” to fund and create academic learning environments for underprivileged Michigan youth.
Images courtesy of: Music Matters