Making Culture Matter with Holly
Holly MacDonald is a cultural strategist and the Head of Artists Against Hunger and Poverty at WhyHunger, where she brings together musicians, celebrities, and artists across music, film, literature, and sports to elevate grassroots initiatives, food sovereignty programs, and social justice-oriented solutions to hunger. Her work fuses creativity with strategy, transforming culture into a platform for advocacy, and she has spent over a decade navigating the intersection of pop culture and social impact, helping purpose-driven organizations translate mission into action through innovative campaigns and meaningful partnerships.
Parallel Paths
Holly’s journey began with two seemingly divergent passions: music and social change. “I don’t think when I was younger and pursuing those interests those paths would have intersected,” she said. “It really just kind of happened. An opportunity came about through someone I knew.” That opportunity came from Paul Katz, an executive at Jive Records, who connected her with a small agency merging pop culture with social impact. Holly had not been seeking a role at this intersection. “It truly just found me,” she said.
Her work in Haiti further crystallized her understanding of community and systemic change. Time spent in the music scene and in agroforestry projects gave Holly an intimate view of food systems and local culture. She describes those experiences as forming a “quilt” of influences that now guide her work. “Those different patchworks of life have formed a broader picture,” she said. “I wouldn’t have found myself at WhyHunger with a deep understanding of what food sovereignty work means or what changing food systems means if I hadn’t had that time in Haiti.”
Holly’s perspective reflects a belief that art is never isolated; it is a conduit for empathy, dialogue, and collective action.
Amplified Impact
Holly was a driving force behind the Amplified 2024 concert in New York City, a major event designed to engage the local music community while supporting WhyHunger’s mission. The concert featured The Brutes, Grace Bowers, and Sema Funk, blending live music with education and advocacy. “I wanted the event to feel like a show for musicians by musicians,” Holly said. “It was a real delight to look around and see the New York music community engaging, asking good questions, and learning about WhyHunger.”
Organizing a concert with multiple performers, audiences, and partners while keeping the mission central demanded both precision and adaptability. “Live music is challenging,” Holly said. “Roy Wood Jr came on as host and spontaneously made a donation on stage and encouraged the audience to join him. That was a delightful surprise.” Such moments demonstrate her belief that culture can translate awareness into action, making art both a catalyst and a conduit for tangible social change.
The concert also showcased how music can illuminate systemic issues. Holly reflected, “People who participate in making culture can really hold a microphone to problems in our society right now and the solutions that can solve them. Hunger, poverty, food systems, these are complex issues, but art gives people a way in.”
Her work turns abstract policy choices into human narratives, showing that understanding can inspire both empathy and commitment.
Authenticity and Responsibility
For Holly, authenticity is inseparable from impact. “When an artist or a celebrity has some kind of genuine point of connection to the cause, that really shines through,” she said. “It becomes a north star for their team to make a difference with the initiative they’re setting forth.” Drawing on Nina Simone’s conviction that artists have a duty to reflect the times, Holly notes, “That can be applicable across all areas of culture. If you’re an athlete, a writer, a model, wherever you are, you can choose to hold the responsibility of reflecting the times.”
Social media has amplified the possibilities and the stakes of cultural engagement. Holly recalls early digital campaigns, including one involving a dog account supporting a cause, as a kind of precursor to today’s sophisticated strategies.
“The immediacy and spontaneity with which things can happen now has completely changed,” she said. “Artists can take a video, post it to millions of people, and instantly reach an engaged audience. That’s incredibly powerful, but it also comes with responsibility. Reach alone is not impact. It must be coupled with authenticity and sustained engagement.”
Long-Term Vision
For Holly, meaningful change is generational. “Organizer and activist communities I’ve been part of hold close the awareness that what we’re doing now might not be felt until one or two generations from now,” she said. Her work is guided by patience and a commitment to equity. Food justice, she notes, intersects with racial equity, LGBTQ rights, indigenous sovereignty, climate resilience, women’s rights, and broader human rights. “Creating more equitable food systems touches so many areas,” she said.
Cultural organizing, Holly emphasizes, should be grounded in solidarity rather than charity. “What we want to do is not just awareness building,” she said.
“It’s about fostering real relationships and deep community connections, ensuring that artists’ efforts lead to meaningful change and not just performative gestures.”
She seeks to empower artists to leave enduring legacies through partnerships that integrate creativity, advocacy, and mission. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to support artists in creating legacies of impact and how to partner with them in ways that deepen their relationship to the community they want to serve,” she said.
Culture in Action
Holly’s work at WhyHunger demonstrates the power of culture to inspire social change. Her campaigns, events, and storytelling translate awareness into action, showing that music and art are not merely aesthetic experiences but instruments of empathy, understanding, and advocacy. By combining her expertise in entertainment with a grounding in social justice, Holly turns creative vision into tangible impact, giving both artists and audiences a stake in the work of change.
Through her leadership, WhyHunger’s initiatives highlight how culture can amplify voices on the frontlines of hunger and inequality, transforming engagement into real-world solutions.
Holly’s work exemplifies how storytelling, artistry, and strategy can converge to make systemic change both conceivable and actionable, one campaign, one collaboration, and one concert at a time.