Arts
I met the Reverend Billy – also known as Bill Talen – at Artsadmin’s Toynbee Studios in east London near the end of his Trump Depression Hotline Tour across England in October 2017. Based in New York since the 1990s, the Reverend Billy and his secular-political Church of Stop Shopping use public preaching and singing to protest against rampant consumerism, corporate greed, ecological injustice, and Trump. Reverend Billy and I discussed what’s important in using the arts to change the world, including local activism, collaboration, music, and love. The Trump Depression Hotline Tour is directed by Savitri D; the musical director is Nehemiah Luckett. www.revbilly.com