Premium Sound, along with local Charlotte artists, helped put on the event sponsoring families impacted by ICE.

As 2025 looms in the distance, along with the return of the Trump Administration in late January, artists came together last Friday, December 27, to throw a benefit for families affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, under the roof of local venue, Snug Harbor.

What would usually be a light weekend show in the Charlotte Music Scene, scheduled between Christmas and New Years Eve, ended up with a full house by the start of the second featured artist set. Put together by Carolina Migrant Network (CMN) with much help from Premium Sound, a locally owned record shop brand, the event featured Charlotte-based artists Dirty Art Club, La Brava, Sweat Transfer, and Simon SMTHNG.

In speaking with Luke Stemmerman, the owner of Premium Sound, about the organization of the event, he told RF20XX that there was little wait time before getting Yes’s from all parties involved. “Luckily, Snug Harbor had already worked with community as well doing another fundraiser, so they were on board,” Stemmerman said. “Every artist was also on board immediately, like there was no hesitation, no nothing. Everybody wanted to pitch in. It’s an easy way to do it, and we need more people like this.”

Pictured: Charlotte-based artists support Carolina Migrant Network & Premium Sound’s Benefit For Families Impacted By ICE – Dirty Art Club, La Brava, Sweat Transfer, & Simon SMTHNG. ~ Photos by: Reporting From 20XX

As 2025 looms in the distance, along with the return of the Trump Administration in late January, artists came together last Friday, December 27, to throw a benefit for families affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, under the roof of local venue, Snug Harbor.

What would usually be a light weekend show in the Charlotte Music Scene, scheduled between Christmas and New Years Eve, ended up with a full house by the start of the second featured artist set. Put together by Carolina Migrant Network (CMN) with much help from Premium Sound, a locally owned record shop brand, the event featured Charlotte-based artists Dirty Art Club, La Brava, Sweat Transfer, and Simon SMTHNG.

In speaking with Luke Stemmerman, the owner of Premium Sound, about the organization of the event, he told RF20XX that there was little wait time before getting Yes’s from all parties involved. “Luckily, Snug Harbor had already worked with community as well doing another fundraiser, so they were on board,” Stemmerman said. “Every artist was also on board immediately, like there was no hesitation, no nothing. Everybody wanted to pitch in. It’s an easy way to do it, and we need more people like this.”

The sentiment that Stemmerman expressed was echoed by each artist RF20XX was able to speak with on Friday night during the show. Liza Ortiz, who performs under the stage name La Brava, hadn’t had any plans to play anymore before her next show at Petra’s Bar on January 9, but when Luke made the call about the Snug show’s purpose, she was all in. “I felt like not just did I have to, but I wanted to do it, you know?,” Ortiz explained.

In participating in the benefit, Ortiz’s hopes drew on the bigger picture linked to CMN’s future victories: financing. “I think the hardest thing about most of these types of organization is always funding,” Ortiz said. “You know, unfortunately, everything is tied to money, and the more money you have, the bigger impact you have. And so, I’m hopeful that today will be not only well attended, but people feel called to donate even more if they have the means to because again, it’ll just allow them to do more work.”

Ryan Persaud, the composer behind Sweat Transfer, hopes to be able to continue using the ability he, as well as the other artists performing the night of, have in connecting the Charlotte community to worthy causes. “If we could help create a social net and programs for, you know, migrant families and lower income families, I think that would do a lot to help with the overall esthetic and well-being of our community, which should be at the forefront of everybody being okay.”

One of the evening’s DJ’s, Simon SMTHNG, brought causes like the benefit even closer to home in his thoughts, taking a broader yet nuanced scope to the local music community. “I think a huge thing with events like this are great; benefit concerts, charities, stuff like that. But, realistically, I definitely do think, like the artists in Charlotte, we just need to be there for each other even beyond large events like this.

“On a personal level, [we need to be] checking in with other people, checking in with other artists. [For example], full time artists, things of that nature, people who are really putting themselves out there. I think it’s a very small amount of musicians and full time artists who have healthcare coverage [and are] able to afford [care types like] mental health care. Community healthcare is really important, so, more than anything else, beyond the events, [we need to value] being good to one another. I think it’s like the main thing we all could be doing right now that would help address a lot of issues.”

Speaking with Stefania Arteaga, the face of CMN for the evening, it was immediately clear that the situations within Charlotte’s local migrant community are always at the front of her mind. “I think there’s a lot of fear that folks are feeling as we get closer to the transition into the Trump administration after January 20,” Arteaga expressed. “Folks are worried that we may relive what we did under the first Trump administration, which were unfortunately mass raids in the Charlotte area, especially around Central Avenue”

“We won’t really see ICE’s whole movement really until the change of administration. But, what is true is that a lot of the same ICE agents that were under the [previous] Trump administration are still there today. We in Charlotte have the largest ICE field office for North and South Carolina. So, we are in a place that makes us exceptionally vulnerable, because as I mentioned previously, we have folks that are still there from [2016] who truly believed a lot of what Trump said around immigrants, and then also we just happen to be closest to the largest concentration of ICE agents in the Carolinas.”

However, despite the happenings yet to come, Arteaga left feeling hopeful about the event’s turnout, given that rainy weather was also in play during the night.

“I feel a lot of joy. I feel like this is something our community needs. It’s an opportunity to spend time with each other during when we are with family members and also preparing for a difficult period in our lives come 2025. It’s beautiful to see folks that have thrown down with us and done amazing work to keep our community safe over the past eight years.

And so, I’m just really thankful for everybody who showed up, and also, honestly, really thankful for Luke for putting this together. Often we think of resistance as being in the front lines, but resistance is also joy. And I think that my soul needed this. I think a lot of our souls needed this. And it makes me feel wonderful to be able to be here tonight, and I think a lot of folks feel that as well.”

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