Changing the Tune

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It’s time for us to start changing the tune

At Majestic Collaborations we empower communities to address environmental and humanitarian concerns with art, culture, design, and planning. We work directly with arts organizations and agencies to develop emergency action, business continuity, and disaster response plans.

We know it’s been a hard year, from the hardship of the pandemic through the ongoing fight for justice. Yet, it is a crucial time to continue to strive to build resilience within our communities. With this in mind, we are excited to announce a new partner, Folk Alliance International, and project called, Changing the Tune: Building Resilience within the Folk Community. Thanks to the generous support of the Performing Arts Readiness project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this new project seeks to create tools and resources to help our creative community thrive.

We’re excited about the opportunity to work together with the Folk Alliance, whose global network of over 3000 member organizations opens unique opportunities to share and develop innovative strategies for response, resilience, and reciprocal aid. Music has a power to illuminate a way through times of crisis and social change, especially in the folk tradition, and we look forward to uniting our experiences and helping build a safe and resilient future for all.

 

Early phases of the project will emphasize the development of tools and best practices for performing organizations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the implementation of safety measures, recommendations for hosting inclusive virtual and alternative format events, and the development of business continuity strategies. Medium and long -term, these and other tactics will be adapted to prepare members of the Folk Alliance network for resilient response in the wake of potential future emergencies of all kinds. While current practices often make performing arts organizations economically vulnerable to the impact of disaster, creative communities are also among those best equipped with the skills and physical resources to respond in times of crisis when suitably prepared.

 

About the Partnering Organizations 

FOLK ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL was founded in 1989 to connect folk music leaders aiming to sustain the community and genre. Their mission is to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation, and promotion. FAI defines folk broadly as “the music of the people” (reflective of any community they are from), and programs a diverse array of subgenres. The organization’s expanded global network now includes more than 3,000 members, a worldwide community of cultural sector entrepreneurs and leaders that includes artists, record companies, publishers, presenters, agents, managers, arts administrators, diplomats, and more.
Learn more at folk.org
The PERFORMING ARTS READINESS (PAR) project helps performing arts organizations nationwide learn how to protect their assets, sustain operations, and be prepared for emergencies. Its work brings together knowledge of the performing arts field and expertise in emergency preparedness from both the performing arts and cultural heritage communities to conduct community outreach and engagement, sponsor grants, and develop and share informational resources to help support performing arts organizations in developing safety and preparedness plans.