Diversity Since Day 1: Movement Music Festival’s Organic Inclusiveness
What do techno, funk, and hip-hop all have in common? Deep roots in diversity and Detroit. What have been the pillars of Movement Music Festival starting 20+ years ago? See the sentence before this. If it weren’t for black, Latin, Asian, and queer pioneers most of your favorite genres and festivals wouldn’t exist. With festival culture in full swing, we’re finally starting to see all walks of life on stage and in the crowd at musical gatherings across the country. Movement, showcased as one of the “50 Must-See Music Festivals” by Rolling Stone, is one of the big reasons this initiative exists and parent-organizer Paxahau has organically been making this happen since Day 1.
Over the 3-day Memorial Weekend celebration, which sees 30k+ attendees daily, we asked the artists, fawned over the fans, and put on for the photographers as, without any of them, none of this would be possible nor what it is today.
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Looking up at the lights you could catch artists from the likes of Carl Craig, Louie Vega, Three 6 Mafia, Kash Doll, Basement Jaxx, DJ Minx, Skrillex, DJ Nobu, Green Velvet, Kaskade, Seth Troxler, Ela Minus, and Underworld. Knowing what we know of them – if we had to guess what the artists were thinking about Movement being about everyone and for everyone – it’d go a little something like this:
Ash Lauryn said, “Hmm, lemme think about it for a hot minute – yeah, everything dope about Movement”.
The look on Shigeto’s face after seeing the crowd during their set says it all!
It’s the Detroit sashay from Kash Doll and that’s all you need to know ’bout the vibe that night.
When Kyle Hall’s beat goes as hard as the crowd does, Byron the Aquarius feels it.
DJ Holographic showing us how the techno goddesses sprinkled a little bit of everyone into the Movement universe.
Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia thought the people and performers at Movement were, “killer”!
DJ Heidi had to put their shades on because the fans were shining so brightly!
TSHA feelin’ the energy flowing through their set and the people at Movement.
Skrillex got so exhausted from trying to point out every walk of life in the crowd, the next thing you heard from the stage was, “CALL 911 NOW!”
Ela Minus found the people of Movement Music Festival so enchanting, they sent us into another dimension!
DJ Nobu, the silent selector, bought as much worldwide music to his set, as there were humans from across the globe at his set under the earth.
Beige doing a little shimmy when seeing ALL the colors from behind the 1s and 2s.
Robert Hood knows that his ‘hood of Detroit is the perfectly diverse setting for a perfectly diverse festival.
AK winding back to drop a beat on that Heinz47 looking crowd!
Green Velvet on stage making every cover of velvet in the audience boogie late into the night on the Detroit River.
Basement Jaxx’s head was all over the place in order to take in all the sights while dishing out all the sounds.
Friends Magda and Mike Servito are great representation of all the types of friends you’ll find and make at Movement!
Huey Mnemonic giving Movement that *chefs kiss* of approval!
What up doe? Jit master, Sheefy McFly, answered, “Ain’t not crud ’bout the studs, queens, and in-betweens at this joint!”.
Whodat on ‘phones lining up the mix for all the theys, thems, hims, hers, zes, zirs, zaddies, daddies, mamis, whats, and other whose!
Moodyman with all the kisses for all types of humans everywhere at Movement!
Audai with an inaudible wink and gun of approval for everything and everyone at the festival.
Zeelooperz went abzolutely zany for all the alienz and earthlingz in the audience.
Sinistarr smiling at how sinisterly inclusive Movement has always been.
Cybrotron respects that even otherworldly robots are welcome at the festival.
Underworld crooning over how out of this world his experience being beamed up by the energy of everybody and every body.
UNIIQU3 singing praises and twisting knobs to the utter uniqueness she was witnessing during the Jersey Club Queen’s set in Detroit’s city forest.
Giorgia Angiuli keeping it reciprocally colorful letting a smooth Italian-accented “Ooooo” while admiring all the faces looking back at her.
Sam Divine… you know what, you make a “divine” pun about the diversity and inclusivity of Movement, but make sure it’s dry British humor style (notably, Sam’s beats didn’t leave a dry eye in the crowd – all happy tears and smiles).
Shaun J. Wright with the lip bite because they’re feelin’ the layers of love emanating from the booties shaking below – all kinds of booties!
Ok, Kash Doll did have something to say, “We number one with it!”
Niks with that little London love for all the 2-steppers she’s making move across the pond from home.
Let’s be as real as Movement has since its inception, because equally if it weren’t for the fans, as much as it is for the performers, the festival wouldn’t exist year after year getting bigger and better. When you two-step into Detroit’s famous Hart Plaza you see every type of human, creature, orientation, body type, group, and even the occasional extraterrestrial. At this festival, you can be whoever the fuck you are and feel safe and welcome doing so. We’ll let the photos do the walking, talking, dancing, and vogueing:
Not only has the artist and attendee diversification been an immediate implementation within the Movement community but the Earthlings who make it all possible for y’all to see and hear the beauty of what Pitchfork named, one of the “30 Best Music Festivals of 2023”, come from so many backgrounds and comprise the most highly-represented group of photographers videographers, and production crew. We decided that they had to be seen:
From the beginning and, hopefully, until the end of time, Movement will showcase and bring together unparalleled inclusiveness (safety, affordability, accessibility, options, and tastes) all under the stars and flashing lights with open arms and gates. We look forward to hosting and seeing ALL of you next year at what The New York Times considers a part of their “50 Essential Summer Festivals”!
For more photos, enjoy folders of fun, and feel free to support your (e.g. me) photographers and writers if you see (enjoy TWICE as many photos as you see in this article) or read something you like so we can continue to do this year-round every year.
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