Imagine this: Life is going great. You are an independent contractor making music for a living. Your calendar is full of gigs and you are confident that your income is on track for a successful month. Then in one quick swoop, all that confidence disappears due to something our world hasn’t seen for a hundred years.
How will I pay my rent? How will I buy groceries? How will I continue to get my Music out to the world? This barrage of questions is plaguing the community of professional musicians all over the world as we speak. So many have lost every last source of income due to the mandatory cancellations of events and venue closures due to COVID-19. Here in the Tampa Bay area Brandon C. Williams, a local Producer & Musician, and owners of The MAR St Pete, Heather and Dave Hamar, answered this call for help with an inspiring solution. Williams created a T-shirt idea with a simple message of solidarity. “Let Music Be the Cure.” This message encourages us to trust that music allows us to transcend these difficult times. After things become a little more like “normal,” supporters will have a reminder of how special live music is to all of us.
Heather and Dave joined in by creating a charity campaign through their Nonprofit, ProjectMAR Inc, for the shirt sales. When supporters purchase one of these shirts the proceeds will be used to help struggling musicians in the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota areas.
In order to get the buzz going about this campaign, this dynamic philanthropic team decided to join forces with a friend and local business owner to create a Musical Telethon event. Jarrett Haas, Co-Creator of Different Church in St. Pete, proposed the idea to get people excited about the campaign. The Telethon is called “Let Music be the Cure!” and it airs on the 1st of every month on Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheMarStPete/ at 8:00pm EDT.
In an effort to raise more funds to help more musicians, for this upcoming Telethon, which will be their fourth production, they will offer a chance to win a Free Band! That's right, a FREE 5 Piece Band of Professional Musicians! This band will come to your chosen location within the Tampa Bay Area and play for up to 2 hours. This could be a wedding proposal, a small birthday gathering, or a concert just for you. Along with this band you will get a professional planner to help make your event perfect. Something like this would cost $3,000-$4,000, but for every $10 donation, your name will be entered once into this drawing and for every shirt purchased or a $25 donation, you will be entered in THREE times! Not a bad trade for helping out one of our Community's worst hit industries from COVID.
So take a moment now to hop online and donate at www.project-mar.org and then tune in on August 1st at 8pm EDT on Facebook to enjoy some incredible performances and to hear who the winner is. It could be YOU! Join this crew who is trying to make a difference one t-shirt at a time.