Club Passim in Cambridge, MA began distribution of the Passim Emergency Artist Relief fun today. The PEAR fund is designed to help musicians struggling with lost gigs because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Passim launched the program last week and already raised more than $55,000. Today, they sent out 44 grants for a total of more than $20,000. We would love to set an interview with Jim Wooster or Matt Smith at Passim to discuss the overwhelming response to the fund. The entire release is below. Please let me know if you have any questions.
[cid:image001.png@01D60375.A8265630]Club Passim Begins Distribution of First Round of PEAR Fund Grants
44 Grants Totaling More Than $20,000
(Cambridge, MA – March 26, 2020) Today, Club Passim in Cambridge began distributing the first round of grants from the Passim Emergency Artist Relief Fund. Forty-four grants were awarded for a total of more than $20,000. Launched on March 16, the PEAR fund was created to help musicians dealing with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, Passim has raised more than $55,000 for the fund. Passim continues to take donations and requests for aid at passim.org/PEARfund<https://www.passim.org/pearfund/>.
“The generosity supporting the PEAR fund has been overwhelming,” said Jim Wooster, Executive Director of Passim. “As we all wait and hope for an end to these troubling times it is great to see the Passim community rallying around these artists when they need us the most.”
Passim launched the “Keep Your Distance Fest” a virtual music festival to support the PEAR fund. Artists including Vance Gilbert<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnWFEMxPn0&list=PLKnWydNslXRneqx6vIU_zn8CMN15Yc7YL&index=83>, Zachariah Hickman<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iijfp1elF8s&list=PLKnWydNslXRneqx6vIU_zn8CMN15Yc7YL&index=18>, Aoife O’Donovan and Taylor Ashton<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnT_bhsfqao&list=PLKnWydNslXRneqx6vIU_zn8CMN15Yc7YL&index=52&t=0s>, and nearly 90 others have submitted videos sharing songs about staying calm, hope, and sticking together and encouraging people to give to the PEAR Fund. The complete playlist is online now at Passim’s YouTube page<https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLKnWydNslXRneqx6vIU_zn8CMN15Yc7YL&v=ZrJaNNDefB8&feature=emb_logo>.
About Passim
The mission of Passim is to provide truly exceptional and interactive live musical experiences for both performers and audiences, to nurture artists at all stages of their career, and to build a vibrant music community. Passim does so through their legendary listening venue, music school, artist grants and outreach programs. As a nonprofit since 1994, Passim carries on the heritage of our predecessors-the historic Club 47 (1958-1968) and for-profit Passim (1969-1994). We cultivate a diverse mix of musical traditions, where the emphasis is on the relationship between performers and audience and teachers and students. Located in Harvard Square, Passim serves Cambridge and the broader region by featuring local, national and international artists. Our ultimate goal is to help the performance arts flourish and thereby enrich the lives of members of our community. For a complete schedule, visit <http://www.passim.org/> www.passim.org<http://www.passim.org>.
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Adam R. Klein
CK Communications Group
adam@ckcommgroup.com<mailto:adam@ckcommgroup.com>
617-431-1174 (o)/617-504-6156 (c)