PANEL - Music Votes Coalition: How You Can Impact Voting & Non-Partisan Causes

Featured Speakers:

Joseph Pate - Media and Communications Director

for Hip Hop Caucus                                                       

Joseph Pate is an experienced communications strategist with a background in media relations, digital communications and public affairs. Joseph has developed creative and effective PR campaigns for nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies, entertainers, elected officials, restaurants, higher education institutions and startup companies. Prior to joining Hip Hop Caucus, Joseph served as the Press Manager at The Bail Project, where he managed daily press activities and collaborated on campaigns with artists including Lil Nas X, Wallows, and Maverick City Music. Joseph is a graduate of Georgetown University’s master’s program in Public Relations and Corporate Communication, and completed his undergraduate education at the University of Pittsburgh where he received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a certificate in International Business. Joseph is adjunct professor of ‘Entertainment Communications’ at Georgetown University.

Amirah Noaman - Executive Director of Pizza to the Polls

During the 2020 election year, Amirah joined Pizza to the Polls as its program manager and was able to merge her previous work in nonprofits, entertainment, politics, and events to quickly help scale the organization’s new food truck program bringing it to 29 cities across the U.S. during early voting periods. Now as Pizza to the Polls executive director, Amirah enjoys getting to say “pizza” 100 times a day, keeping her work fun & lighthearted, while simultaneously being laser-focused on helping tackle the serious challenges that face our democracy. Amirah lives in Los Angeles, CA with her Instagram-beloved pup, @ponydanza (no relation).

Donald Cohen - Founder and President of Fan Alliance

Donald Cohen is a long-time organizer of community and worker organizations dedicated to social and economic justice. He is the Founder and Executive Director of In the Public Interest, a national research and policy center that studies the impacts of privatization on public goods. He is the Founder and President of the Fan Alliance. He is a co-founder of the Rainey Day Fund that provides support to BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled artists, and others who add to the rich fabric of roots music. He is on the Music Council of the Artists Rights Alliance. His opinion pieces and articles have appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The New York Daily News, The New Republic, The American Prospect, The Nation and other online and print outlets.

Mark Kates - Founder of Fenway Recordings

Mark Kates has been a central figure in the genre of alternative music since before it even had a name. His work has included A&R, promotion, marketing, label head and owner, and now is primarily an artist manager. Kates grew up in the Boston area where Mission of Burma's music inspired him to work for their label Ace of Hearts. From there he moved to Big Time Records in Los Angeles and artists like Love and Rockets, Alex Chilton and the Hoodoo Gurus. His work there led to Geffen/DGC Records where he spent 10+ years and created the alternative promotion department eventually segueing to A&R and playing a significant role in the development of the alternative radio format. He signed Beck, Jawbreaker, Elastica, Alabama 3 and others. He brought Sonic Youth to Geffen and a&r’d albums by them as well as Nirvana, Hole, Teenage Fanclub, Siouxsie and the Banshees, White Zombie and many more. He executive produced the soundtracks for "Beavis and Butt-head Do America" and "Suburbia." Kates left Geffen in 1998 to run Grand Royal Records for the Beastie Boys and work with them and their roster including Sean Lennon and Luscious Jackson. In 2001 he returned to Boston and established Fenway Recordings, a music management company.

White is also an Amazon #1 best-selling author of How to Build a Sustainable Music Career & Collect All Revenue Streams and hosts the #1 Music Business podcast globally of the same name. She’s a 2020 Billboard Woman of the Year, has been on the covers of both Pollstar Magazine and Billboard and has proudly served on the boards of Well-Dunn, Future of Music, CASH Music, SXSW, The David Lynch Foundation Live while additionally serving on The Recording Academy’s Education Committee and Pandora’s Artist Advisory Council.

As a veteran of the entertainment industry with an innate love of politics, Amirah Noaman lives and breathes both as the Executive Director of Pizza to the Polls - a nonpartisan, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit initiative with the mission of delivering snacks to people at voter registration drives, polling stations with long lines, and other civic events. Amirah’s involvement with public service began early in life while living in the Tri State area and various African countries via her family’s engagement in local politics, education, and international development causes. Amirah began her professional career in the music industry managing global artists including M.I.A., TV on the Radio, and Nas, and producing large-scale events for major brands including but not limited to adidas, Michelob Ultra, and Microsoft. Simultaneously, she ran a non profit in Los Angeles focused on creating free programming at recreation centers and served as an elected official, supporting her local community and acting as a conduit between businesses and stakeholders.

Moderator: Emily White - CEO of #iVoted Concerts

Emily White is the Founder and CEO of #iVoted Concerts and a Founding Partner at Collective Entertainment in New York City. #iVoted produces data-driven concerts on election nights and during early voting periods that the public enters with a selfie from outside their polling place. White is a Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute with the mission of strengthening global democracy. Through this work White and SNF Agora Institute have analyzed the data on the top trending artists in key locations, whose electoral margins are often decided by the size of a concert venue, to determine which artists increase civic impact the most by comparing fan demographic data with local voter files. #iVoted and SNF Agora are currently developing a tool that shows where any artist increases civic impact the most.

Coincidentally Mission of Burma decided to reunite that year and he again works with them as well as MGMT, The Cribs, Josh Klinghoffer, and Doves as a manager. He executive produced the podcast Curious Creatures with Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst and Budgie from Siouxsie and the Banshees. As DJ Carbo Kates was resident at Los Angeles electronica club Atmosphere at The Viper Room for 2 years as well as on the legendary pirate station KBLT and since 2004 has hosted and curated live series The Fenway Recordings Sessions. Since 2017 he has hosted a monthly radio show on Boston’s Indie617. As a DJ he has appeared alongside Paul Oakenfold, David Bowie, Tricky, Richie Hawtin, DJ Rap, Grooverider, The Jungle Brothers, and many, many others. The Fenway Recordings Sessions have brought more than 500 shows to Boston including fun., Diplo, Echo and the Bunnymen, Two Door Cinema Club, Alt-J, Built To Spill and Jorja Smith to name just a few. Kates is a founder of The Shout Syndicate Fund created at the request of former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to the for-profit arts community to address a funding gap for after school arts programs. He also served on the Leadership Council of Boston Creates, the mayor’s comprehensive arts plan, and has spoken at leading academic institutions from Harvard Law School to UCLA.