#bravehood: To be continued.
On 31.05.2023 #bravehood has ended.
Or rather not.
Because to quote a lyric by The Smashing Pumpkins:
"The Beginning is the End is the Beginning"
This all started as a grassroots campaign. It all began with an initiative by Christian Stiegler and Ramona Kandinger, the founders of #bravehood and Directors of GUIDING LIGHT, who both wanted to do something pure and meaningful. They firmly believed that if they just tried reaching out to artists with utmost respect and gratitude, they would open their hearts.
As the campaign grew bigger, so did our humanitarian responsibility. We are not the ones who merely light candles to make us feel good. We are the ones who want to start a fire and really make a difference. We are fully passionate about everything we are doing.
#bravehood began directly and indirectly with R.E.M. - a band that always had their heart at the right place and stood up for social causes. And then more and more followed. We were so touched that many artists have even offered us some of their biggest commercial successes and fan favorites, although we did not exclusively ask for them. All we wanted was simply to have these artists involved, and they gave us so much more: their passion, energy, and commitment. There is a story for each of them, and everyone is as beautiful as the other. We also wanted to honor the late Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries with her lyrics after being in touch with her family. We sincerely hope that this way we could pay this inspirational human being our last respects.
Ultimately, the line-up of artists grew quite impressively for such a small bunch of people carrying the whole load of the campaign (in alphabetical order):
Alanis Morissette, Amanda Palmer, Coldplay, Courtney Love, Dido, Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries, Garbage, Glen Hansard, Kylie Minogue, Markéta Irglová, Natalie Merchant, Nick Cave, Paul Simon, Portishead, R.E.M., The Cure, The Rolling Stones, The Swell Season, Wilco and Wir sind Helden.
The longer the campaign was running, the more messages of courage, hope and love we have received from fans via e-mail, social media and other channels that made us confident that #bravehood meant something bigger than we have initially expected. It has been initiated to help the most vulnerable, but it also gave our supporters courage and hope for their own lives - for the bigger, global challenges such as mental health issues or climate change we all have to face, but also for those painful moments we all have to endure as they are part of our lives: sickness, loss, death. We felt the world needed more of the essence of #bravehood in the turbulent times we all live in.
We took that as a sign that it were not simply uplifting lyrics on merch that connected people. It has been art in general, including music, design, visual arts, poetry, literature, film, technology, but most importantly, the feeling of belonging. They all have led to a sense of vulnerability and humanness in all of us. As great art does: It exists on its own and opens up different and often very personal meanings for each and everyone of us.
We are so proud that we were able to gather a group of people who not only believe in that, but actually live it - just to name a few: from the utmost respect and love R.E.M. and Nick Cave give to their devoted fans, to the love for their supporters given by Garbage, Coldplay, Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Amanda Palmer, and Judith Holofernes of Wir sind Helden, all standing up for social issues such as human rights, equality of vulnerable and marginalized people in our society, animal protection, and environmental and climate challenges in various ways. In addition to all the support of fans, amazing artists such as Ella Falls, Martin Rotheneder and Lotte Kestner wrote and covered songs of this campaign without hesitation and added an extra layer of meaning to it.
This is something special which we feel the need to carry on for future initiatives that help social causes under the umbrella of #bravehood. This initiative will be devoted to one singular cause: To give people strength and courage for difficult times in their lives through the power of art, no matter which obstacles they have to face.
#bravehood will return.
Relaunched, redesigned, bigger, stronger, and with various art forms from music, literature, visual arts to film within its heart and soul to make this world a better place. It will be unique (and certainly challenging) but always worth the fight.
If you wish to help and become part of our team and this movement, reach out to us on @supportbravehood or write us at contact@supportbravehood.org
Give us a bit of time to reflect, to breathe, but follow us on social media to stay up to date. We will announce our return when the time is right.
If you wish to know more about GUIDING LIGHT, please join our community and head to to www.guidinglight.eu
Until then, stay safe, and walk unafraid ❤️
