Halsey launches Black Creators Fund to help black artists amplify their 'art, voice and perspective'
Halsey is adding to her support for the Black Lives Matter movement by launching a special fund to help black creators. The Black Creators Fund, launched on June 11, is providing financial support, resources and a platform to black creators, the biracial pop star explained in a statement posted to Instagram. “Looking for black creators who want to enrich the world with their work,” she said, adding, “use #BLACKCREATORSFUND & tag your favorite black creators in the comments.”
The special fund will help amplify black artists’ voice and perspectives, according to a statement. Entirely funded by Halsey's team, the Black Creators Fund is an ongoing initiative. The launch statement reads, “If you’re an artist, poet, graphic designer, writer, filmmaker, music producer, journalist, makeup artist, or creator of any kind, we want to see your work and want to help achieve your goals.”
Halsey, whose mother is Irish, Italian and Hungarian and whose dad is African American, has been active in the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. The singer-songwriter shared her experiences at the protests on social media. "We were peaceful hands up not moving not breaching the line,” she wrote in a post. “They opened fire of rubber bullets and tear gas multiple times on us. citizens who were not provoking them.” Halsey also said she was hit twice, once by pellets and once by shrapnel, adding, “We were gassed repeatedly for hours."
On June 7, Halsey, who has been vocal about her political beliefs, received much support from fans after she said she had to delete a BLM poster from her Twitter for fears of suspension. The poster featured a caricature of Donald Trump's face, with a Nazi swastika-bearing a pacifier in his mouth while shedding dollar tears.
In a separate post from earlier this month, Halsey also took aim at the police for their handling of protesters. "You think it’s not happening, it’s only the 'thugs' and the 'riots,' right? The police are keeping you safe right? You’re wrong," she wrote. "This is happening everywhere. And innocent people exercising their rights to speech and assembly are facing violence and abuse of power."