Last week, the United Steelworkers (USW) launched a nighttime campaign to project giant messages in support of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his vice-presidential pick, Kamala Harris.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
United Steelworkers calls on Pittsburgh to vote with projected "batlight" campaign
Last week, the United Steelworkers (USW) launched a nighttime campaign to project giant messages in support of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his vice-presidential pick, Kamala Harris.
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I think that the "batlight" is a very good idea. It is a way for the union to show who they are supporting in the upcoming 2020 election while making a statement. The "make a plan to vote" phrase is also important in their message to encourage voting. It would be possible to do a similar thing over TV advertisements but would not have nearly the same impact as the projections. It is also a good thing that the USW is making themselves known in this issue. They are a large and prominent union especially in the Pittsburgh area. Because of this they are a good group to shed a light on unions in the context of the 2020 election. Unions are a very important aspect to the working class and especially to the theatre industry. Bringing attention to the effect that politics has on unions and the workers within them is very important and finding ways to encourage voting while doing that is even better.
I love this so very much. Did I say how much I love this? I LOVE THIS. Superhero-sized statements are the only appropriate sized statements to make with everything going on. Also, I guess the United Steelworkers have nothing else going on? I think that this bat-signal was on the Cathedral of Learning a couple days ago actually. Which is again, pretty freaking awesome. I think this is an awesome way to get people to consider who they are voting for because the election is less than fifty days away and we really need to get the orange cheeto man out of office. It’s really true to think about how many promises our current president has broken for many union workers in the past four years. These people are the backbone of so many industries and for them to not be supported and uplifted for the work that they do is outrageous. I hope Biden does better. I think he’s not got to do a lot to be better, but maybe he will be great.
I’d like to see IATSE put up a batlight on several high-profile buildings across the US to highlight the continued struggles that the live entertainment industry has suffered. While restaurants and bars, and stores have all reopened, our industry remains closed. With the digital age and everyone watching shows online now, it makes it harder for live theatre to recover. Now people will be able to demand streaming of Broadway shows, especially since the success of Hamilton. But this also shows something else, that we are not alone in our fight. USW has done a great thing putting up this light and people, especially union workers here in PA, need to recognize who will and will not support them in the fight. People talk about wanting Coal jobs to return, but those have been replaced by machine. Leaders need to be held accountable for failures to deliver on promises. Hopefully this helps get the message across.
This is kind of cool. I like the name of it. I like that it is really trying to fire people up about voting and actually being involved in our “democracy”. Also, I think projections and media are cool, so good on them. More cool things: it highlights the fact that things are not back to normal for everyone. Maybe you have to wear a mask when you first sit down to eat in a restaurant, but you remove that mask and continue to eat at that restaurant as soon as your food arrives. Most grocery stores, retail shops, and many community spaces have reopened. Some TV shows and movies have begun filming with strict policies in place. Theatre and live entertainment are still essentially nonexistent, and people are still forgetting about them, particularly the government and institutions that have money to lift them up. I hope that Pittsburgh steps in line.
This is an awesome way to promote the democratic campaign as well as catch the eye of the public. It definitely attracts younger voters, as this quite hip and unique for a campaign. The super-hero size definitely makes it an attraction spot that will make citizens want to come visit the attraction like batlight and take photos, post on social media, providing free advertisement for the campaign. The USW's president mentions that this is a perfect way to (literally) shed light during the pandemic. They are literally using the democratic party as the beam of light that will guide us out of this mess. I think that it is a hilarious and amazing metaphor, whether they intended it to be one or not. It makes me wish I was in Pittsburgh so that I could go visit it. Using this not only encourages locals and viewers to vote, but the workers of the USW. It promotes a sense of pride within the company and community of Pittsburgh.
There are so many excellent elements within this article that make me optimistic for significant change to come with the November election, up and down the ballot. The United States has consistently one of the lowest voter turnout rates in developed countries, and one of the greatest changes I have noticed for this election year, is the emphasis on making a plan to vote. Obviously, this emphasis is unfortunately necessary due to a host of reasons (COVID-19, availability of poll workers, fear of what will happen to the USPS) but it is still excellent to see the focus on how important it is to vote. Additionally, I like that this article highlighted something a union is doing to support the Biden/Harris campaign, as Donald Trump fervently swore that he would help unions, but in his nearly four years in office he has done very little to support unions or union workers.
I love this idea that people have been implementing recently of using projection onto existing architecture to make a statement that is large, bright, and impossible to miss. It uses equipment that we already have available, pointing out the continued lack of work in the performing arts industry and the need for help so that the arts don’t collapse. And by projecting onto buildings and landmarks, it reduces the need to work that would be needed to build something large enough to make a statement. Projection can be mobile, and appear in multiple locations in quick succession, and promotes a message with no damage to anyone. I think it follows along with the Light it up Red demonstrations from earlier this month, of using existing infrastructure to create really cool and unmissable messages. The message to vote is of course incredibly important this year, particularly in Pennsylvania, and seeing it on the Cathedral of Learning was cool to see how close to home this really was.
The United Steelworkers are really providing a positive message on many buildings around Pittsburgh and battle ground states. Their endorsement of Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris is particularly important because of how Pennsylvania voted red in the 2016 election due to many working-class Pennsylvanians, a lot of which are some of the 850,000 members of the USW. They are spreading a positive message of engaging voters in the democratic process especially because of the horrible response we saw from the current administration regarding our response to the corona virus pandemic. The means of using the spotlight to project the message across several buildings is interesting because it is a creative use of outdoor projection and draws a crowd to take photos of the messages on buildings and disseminate the information further. This election has a lot of issues at stake and voter turnout will be essential to saving this country’s democracy.
At first I thought, is this allowed? On a public building? Then I thought, eff it, I recently drove through yee haw Pennsylvania and the amount of Trump flags and awful looking gear I saw for hours proved to me that someone on the left needs to be amplifying Joe Biden and his progressive campaign. I think that one of the biggest stand out moments in the Republican National Convention foe me was when they openly condemned and vowed to get rid of unions in the United States. It only makes sense that our unions would back the candidate that protects workers and supports democracy and representation in the workforce. Like some have said before, I also like the name of it, it feels less like what these Trump supporting uneducated hicks are doing by branding themselves as Trumpy's, the batlight is more of a call to action. I support this and i hope more people amplify Biden and more people are encouraged to vote in the election this November.
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