Live Nation Launches $10M Fund to Support Concert Crews Affected by Coronavirus
#Music
Live Nation has established a new charitable fund to help support concert crews around the world, it was announced Tuesday (March 31). The Crew Nation fund will provide monetary relief for concert crew members impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has widely canceled concerts, festivals and other live events since it began spreading across the U.S. and Europe earlier this month.
“Crew members are the backbone of the live music industry, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting them through this temporary intermission until we can once again unite millions around the world through the power of live music,” the company said in a statement.
Crew Nation has been designed to help all the backstage staff that help bring concerts to life including: tour managers, production managers, riggers, sound engineers, backline techs, lighting directors/designers, special effects teams, carpenters and more.
Live Nation — the world’s largest concert promoter — has committed $10 million to Crew Nation, split between a $5 million donation directly to the fund and another $5 million to match contributions by artists, fans and employees dollar-for-dollar. Crew Nation is powered by Music Forward Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization, that will be administering the fund.
“Concerts wouldn’t be possible without the crew working behind the scenes to bring them to life. To help out live music crews while concerts are on pause, LiveNation has committed $10 million to the #CrewNation,” Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino said in an Instagram post Tuesday.
According to Rapino’s post his family will be personally donating $250,000.
Those who would like to donate to the cause can head here to contribute via PayPal.
Live Nation has also launched an exclusive Crew Nation merchandise line that includes shirts and sweaters with all the proceeds going straight to the Crew Nation fund. Those products are available for a limited time and can be found here.
Over the next week, Live Nation will be reaching out to crew members from tours across the globe whose income has already been affected due to the cancellation or rescheduling of a Live Nation event. Music Forward Foundation will be selecting recipients based on an objective determination of need. The company will be releasing an application for live music crews across the industry in the coming weeks.
Live Nation employees are not eligible to apply for the fund.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Michael Rapino (@michaelrapino) on
via https://www.DMT.NEWS/
Taylor Mims, Khareem Sudlow, DMTDaily
