Back in April, Pretty Lights announced that he’d be hosting a four-day destination concert in collaboration with Silver Wrapper dubbed Island Of Light later in the year, with the event slated to go down in Fajardo, Puerto Rico from December 7th through 10th. Last month, two hurricanes—Irma and Maria—charged through the Caribbean, leaving devastation in their wake and local communities at a loss as they still struggle to get the resources they need to survive. Today, Pretty Lights has announced that Island of Light 2017 has been canceled due to the destruction caused by these catastrophic storms. Island Of Light will be issuing full refunds to all customers automatically. Furthermore, producers of the event hope to reschedule the festival in 2018, noting that they will try to create a loyalty program for those who purchased tickets this year.
Donate To Island Of Light’s Hurricane Relief GoFundMe Here
A statement on the event’s website detailed the decision, noting, “After receiving the official damage report via direct communication from the El Conquistador Resort, and assessing the aftermath to the island of Puerto Rico, the decision was made to cancel. The resort is unable to host guests on our scheduled dates, and looking to reschedule the event anytime soon would be irresponsible, given the current state of Puerto Rico.”
Showing love back to the country that were ready to welcome them in December, following the cancellation, Pretty Lights and Silver Wrapper are focused on helping Puerto Rico during its time of need, stating “this has become a tragic humanitarian crisis on the island and we want to do our part to help.” Pretty Lights and Silver Wrapper explained that they will be making donations to United for Puerto Rico and called on fans to donate a portion of their refunds to hurricane relief efforts on the island. The event has created a hurricane relief GoFundMe—you can donate to the fundraiser here. Pretty Lights has also noted that he is working to throw benefits events in Chicago and Denver to support hurricane relief in Puerto Rico in the future.
The Island of Light crew elaborated on their charity of choice: “After much research and conversations with people of the island, we have chosen to give donations to United for Puerto Rico. United for Puerto Rico is an initiative brought forth by the First lady of Puerto Rico, Mrs. Beatriz Rosselló in collaboration with the private sector, with the purpose of providing aid and support to those affected in Puerto Rico by the passage of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.”
You can read a statement about Island Of Light from Phil Salvaggio, Pretty Lights’ manager, here: Over a year of planning and a lot of work was put into this event by all partners (Silver Wrapper, Myself, Pretty Lights, Feyline, and Euphonic Conception). We’re truly devastated by the destruction that Hurricane Maria has left on the island of Puerto Rico. It would be wildly insensitive to the people of Puerto Rico for us reschedule this event for this year, or even the first few months of next year, or to move the event. No one really knows when the island will be back up and fully functioning. What needs to be done now is for people to donate and continue to pray for the people of Puerto Rico. They need our help, and they need it now.
You can also read a full statement about the event’s cancelation from Michael Berg, co-founder of Island of Light and managing partner at Silver Wrapper, below:
On so many levels, this is devastating, but none more so than for the humanitarian crisis happening on the island of Puerto Rico. Our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters are our fellow Americans, and I’m disgusted by the pathetic response and minimal effort by our terrible “Leader” in this country, both verbally and through lacking action. Silver Wrapper and Island of Light’s charitable fundraising efforts are now underway and a work in progress. We hope you can join us in doing our part to help people get the water, medication, hygiene products, and other basic human necessities needed to stay alive at https://www.gofundme.com/island-of-light-united-for-pr.
Canceling an event like this was a first for Silver Wrapper. It was very complicated to make sure we did everything within sensitive and moral confines and to ensure the refund process would be as smooth as possible for our fans. We are equally disappointed, as are the Pretty Lights, Feyline, and Euphonic Conceptions teams at large. We exhausted all possibilities to keep this from going away, but with the state of despair the island is in, it just didn’t feel right. We hope to reschedule Island of Light at a time in the future when the beautiful island of Puerto Rico is back on it’s feet, and any time sooner would be an ethical blunder at best. Thanks for your contribution to help our fellow US Citizens in a true state of disaster. Thank you also for your patience in receiving this message from us.