Still reeling in the aftermath of this year’s South by Southwest festival, Austin was abuzz Monday night as four members of Grammy-award winning indie rock band Arcade Fire visited UT campus.

This night, however, the band was not interested in performing, but in informing.

“We’re not playing South by Southwest,” front man Win Butler said. “There is no secret show.”

Win and his brother William Butler, along with band mates Régine Chassagne and Marika Anthony-Shaw, advocated for Partners in Health, an organization committed to bringing healthcare equity to Haiti, at a lecture called Arcade Fire: A Lecture on Hope, Haiti, & Service. The Distinguished Speakers and the Music and Entertainment Committees presented the lecture as a way for students to learn about the socioeconomic crisis in Haiti.

Video by Natasha Verma

Chassagne, whose eyes light up with emotion when she talked about the subject, said she has always felt a special connection with Haiti. Her family emigrated from Haiti in the 1960s to escape the dictatorship of François Duvalier, and her earliest musical memories were of her parents singing Haitian songs to her as a child, she said.

“As soon as I realized that I could be a real musician, I thought, I have to start doing something for Haiti,” she said. “My family’s from Haiti, and Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere. So it was top on my list.”

The band’s members discovered the healthcare organization Partners in Health through ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains,’ a book that chronicles Haitian doctor Paul Farmer’s quest to solve the healthcare crisis in Haiti through the founding of PIH.

“When we found Partners in Health, it was a real revelation because everything we had been thinking about, they had been thinking about for years and years,” Win Butler said.

Along with supporting PIH, the band also donates money to KANPE, an organization that works to stop the cycle of poverty in Haiti. Since 2005, the band has raised over $500,000 for relief campaigns in the country by donating $1 per ticket sold to their concerts.

The amount of money raised since that time was not only a sign of the band’s commitment to Haiti, but a reflection of the growth of the band, members said.

“More and more people where coming to shows and it kind of put a strain on the band,” said Butler. “But now, you look out at a festival and it’s forty thousand people and that’s $40,000. It’s enriched our life and our relationships together as a band.”

Band members pleaded students who were interested in service to do comprehensive research before volunteering to be assured their work will truly help the community they wish to serve.

“When we were in Haiti, we saw the perils of doing half-assed work there as well,” William Butler said. “If you do have an interest in this, there is a lot of opportunity to do things in Haiti because there is a lot of need, but really do it right and help the Haitians help themselves.”

In the end, the band shared their hopes for a future where Haiti thrives and exhibits its lively spirit and deep-rooted culture.

“I’m really excited about people learning about Haiti because it is so great,” Chassagne said. “It’s like helping a friend become the best they can be.”

“Despite everything that has happened, there is just this deep soul,” said Anthony-Shaw.

After the lecture, the band played acoustic versions of ‘Haiti’ and ‘Wake Up’ from their album, “Funeral,” while the students who attended the lecture crowded the stage and sang along.

“For all the people who left early just to rub it in their face,” said Win Butler.