Whippoorwill Arts

Music aLIVE helps working professional musicians within the Roots genre by providing guaranteed pay for live local performances, and enriches community through free concerts in non-traditional venues. The program brings live music into facilities that specialize in serving underserved populations, including seniors, the unhoused, and the developmentally disabled. By guaranteeing each of our musicians $200 for 1-hour concerts located conveniently in their region of residence, Music aLIVE provides the highest quality live music for the people who need and appreciate it most. The result is a community-based program that facilitates intimate and symbiotic connection between musicians and members of underserved populations living in the same community. Music aLIVE has established chapters in California (San Francisco, the San Francisco East Bay, Marin County, and Los Angeles), Colorado (Fort Collins/Greeley), Tennessee (Nashville), and Hawaii (Honolulu). Since 2021, the program has served over 300 musicians and nearly 9,000 appreciative listeners, and anticipates further expansion in the near future. Music aLIVE has established chapters in California (San Francisco, the San Francisco East Bay, Marin County, and Los Angeles), Colorado (Fort Collins/Greeley), Tennessee (Nashville), and Hawaii (Honolulu). Since 2021, the program has served over 300 musicians and nearly 9,000 appreciative listeners, and anticipates further expansion in the near future.

Curated Concert programming emerged from the findings of our landmark 2021 Roots Musician Survey "Turn Up the Mic, Tune Up the Future", where working musicians called for guaranteed pay, equity booking, and more opportunities to perform for small listening audiences. The Whippoorwill team curates the concerts in collaboration with a sponsoring organization and the organization broadcasts it to their members, audience, or volunteers. Each year Whippoorwill Arts collaborates with exciting festival organizations with shared values to present live music featuring Whippoorwill Arts Fellows and other regional and national roots musicians. Partner organizations?such as Freshgrass Foundation and Northwest Folklife?value working musicians, equity pay and booking, and building community.

Whippoorwill Arts' Fellowship program celebrates the extraordinary talent and community spirit of roots musicians by providing direct grants to conceive and create a musical project, inviting fellows to a week-long retreat with their cohort, and featuring fellows at the Whippoorwill Arts festival. Eleven fellowships have been awarded since 2018, and alum of the program are eligible to apply for additional funding on collaborative projects.