NEW YORK – Fans of seminal indie bands Broken Social Scene and Metric will elect a winner of the $100,000 Pepsi Refresh Challenge at SXSW this week.
During the SXSW music and film festival, which runs from March 17-21 in Austin, Texas, fans will cast votes for the best green initiatives. The band that receives the most votes will be awarded a $100,000 grant to bring its innovation to life.
“We’re empowering people of all ages to bring their new and innovative ideas to life through the Pepsi Refresh Project,” said Ralph Santana, vice president of marketing for Pepsi in North America. “Every year, SXSW becomes a hub of creativity for musicians and it’s the perfect event for music fans to support an idea and a program that is close to the artists they love.”
Broken Social Scene’s Pepsi Refresh idea is to support Street Kids International’s Street Works initiative, which seeks to empower street kids by developing safe and productive ways to earn a living. More information on the organization can be found at http://www.streetkids.org/ or watching the band’s video about the cause http://www.spin.com/pepsirefresh.
Metric is competing on behalf of the Women’s Funding Network. Its Pepsi Refresh idea is to lessen exploitation of girls throughout the U.S. through an existing initiative called “A Future. Not A Past.” More information is available http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/.
The Pepsi Refresh Project was created to foster innovation in social good and will award more than $20 million this year to fund ideas that “refresh the world.” The program, which launched Jan. 13, has exceeded Pepsi’s expectations by twice receiving the monthly limit of 1,000 submissions in less than 24 hours.
Fans can elect a winner at voting stations onsite in Austin. Votes can also be submitted at Spin.com/PepsiRefresh or via text to ‘P-E-P-S-I’.
