<ve hosted a crowded concert Jan. 12 commemorating the one-year anniversary of the deadly January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
The concert, organized and sponsored by Haiti Relief Carleton, featured nearly three hours of performances by bands and a capella groups. Its main goals were to recognize the anniversary and raise awareness of the problems still confronting Haiti, according to Henry Neuwirth ’13, an organizer of the concert.
The concert featured performances by a capella groups The Accidentals, The Knights, The Knightingales and Exit 69. Student band After the Flood, duo Owen Demke ’12 and Erin Anderson ‘12 and guitarist Jonathan Walsh ’12 of Groove Factory rounded out the set list.
Fundraising was a secondary objective of the concert. Overall the concert raised $341.23, said concert organizer Max Bearak ’12.
The money raised will be donated to the SOPUDEP School in Haiti, Bearak said. SOPUDEP is located outside the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince and caters to poor children, its website says.
Started less then a week after the earthquake, Haiti Relief Carleton was founded as a means for Carleton students to help Haiti rebuild. Since its founding, the group has concentrated on raising awareness of Haiti’s challenges, sponsoring guest speakers and film screenings and raising funds for Haiti.
The idea for the event came about “entirely because of the one-year anniversary,” Bearak said.
The concert itself was planned very quickly and involved the collaboration of the ACT Center (which supplied catered hot beverages from Goodbye Blue Monday Coffee House) and the Cave as well as the bands, Bearak said.
“We really did everything in a week, which is pretty incredible,” Neuwirth said. “The fact that these bands prepared materials in around four days was amazing.”
Haiti Relief Carleton’s future plans include collaboration with Carleton’s production of the Vagina Monologues, since this year’s “spotlight” chosen by the V-Day movement is the women of Haiti. The group also plans to participate in Haiti Human Rights Week next month, an event created by Northfield’s Haiti Justice Alliance, which will feature lunches and visiting speakers as well as a fundraising dinner.