New York, NY (April 3, 2020)—The Music Forward Foundation and Live Nation have created Crew Nation, a new fund aimed to help the touring and venue crews whose livelihood has been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund will be administered by Music Forward Foundation, which is a charitable 501c3 organization. According to the fund, aid will be available to backstage staff, including tour managers, production managers, riggers, sound engineers, backline techs, lighting directors/designers, special effects teams, carpenters and others.
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Music Forward Foundation will select recipients based on a determination of need. In a statement, the organization said “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,” but added that it will soon release an application for crews across the industry.
Kicking off the fund, Live Nation will provide up to $10 million, with $5 million already committed to it, and a further $5 million matching dollar-for-dollar money donated by artists, fans and employees. Since the Music Forward Foundation is a not for profit 501c3 charitable organization, all donations are tax deductible. All proceeds go to the Crew Nation fund and will go to eligible applicants; they are also non-refundable.
Crew Nation • https://www.livenationentertainment.com/crewnation
Music Forward Foundation • www.hobmusicforward.org
