Moogfest Announces Protest Stage In Response To Muslim Ban

Moogfest has announced that the 2017 edition of the Durham, NC festival will include a Protest Stage in response to "discriminatory politics in our beloved home of North Carolina and across the U.S.," the festival said in a statement.

The festival was motivated to establish the new area by President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, as well as HB2, "a law that enables discrimination across gender, sexual orientation, and class." Moogfest condemned HB2 when it passed the North Carolina state legislature last year.

Protest will be one of the themes of Moogfest 2017. The stage itself will be "a dedicated space for resistance... [it] will also be brought to life through workshops, installations, conversations, and masterclasses." Artists performing on the stage will be announced soon. Wolf Eyes, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of S U R V I V E, and the Haxan Cloak are all already confirmed to play the festival.

The statement acknowledges the contributions of the Women's March on Washington and the various protests around the world, and concludes: "The fight against inequality echoes our own mission to design radical instruments for change and reflects the legacy of Bob Moog, the inspiration behind Moogfest who believed that true innovation comes through collaboration, not exclusion. Moogfest is transformed, by the urgency of our times, and we invite you to keep marching with us into the future. "

Read Moogfest's full statement here. Moogfest will run from May 18-21.