Caroline Polachek Pulls Out of Moogfest 2018 Over Lineup Announcement

Caroline Polachek (formerly of Chairlift) has pulled out of Moogfest 2018 following their lineup announcement earlier today. After showing up on bill under her CEP moniker, she announced that she would not take part in the festival, “furious” that she had been placed on a lineup specifically labeled as featuring “female, transgender, and non-binary” artists. “Furious to be (without approval) on an all-female & non-gender-binary announcement list for @Moogfest,” Polachek wrote in a tweet. “Gender is not a genre.” She continued, “I don't need a sympathy pedestal, esp from a male curator.” Moogfest have since responded to Polachek with an apology; find their full statement below.

Update (12/07 2:45 p.m.): Polachek has issued an additional statement clarifying her position and reasoning for withdrawing from the festival, clarifying that she was never privy to the festival’s plans to roll out a lineup of exclusively “female, transgender, and non-binary.” “This speaks not to the artists or their music, but to the politics of the festival and self-congratulatory PR. To do this without permission from the artists on display is exploitative and unprofessional,” it reads. Find the full thing below.

The first round of artists announced for Moogfest include Jenny Hval, Jamila Woods, LCD Soundsystem’s Gavin Rayna Russom, SOPHIE, Fatima Al Qadiri, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Japanese ambient musician Midori Takada will perform her debut U.S. set, while privacy rights activist Chelsea Manning is set to give a keynote presentation on “The Future of Creativity.” Moogfest will take place in Durham, N.C. from May 17-20. The announcement arrives with a continuous 50-hour global livestream called “Always On,” featuring sets from female, transgender, and non-binary artists including Madame Ghandi, DJ Haram, and others. Watch the stream below.

Revisit “Moogfest: The Ultimate Music Festival for Nerds” on the Pitch.

Here’s Moogfest’s response to Polachek:

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