Justice Comes Alive Raises $55,000 for the Plus1 For Black Lives Fund with Virtual Music Festival
By: Kaitlin Milligan Jul. 01, 2020
The live music community came together to raise funds and awareness for racial equality with the new one-day, donation-based virtual event, Justice Comes Alive. The event, which partnered with the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, directly benefited organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, as well as Black and Indigenous-led grassroots organizations combating racism. Additionally, Headcount partnered with the event to further encourage voter registration and participation.
With nearly 190,000 viewers across all platforms, Justice Comes Alive is proud to announce the event raised over $55,000 in support of racial justice. Just weeks prior, Quarantine Comes Alive raised over $170,000 which directly benefited participating artists and PLUS1's COVID-19 Relief Fund. The creators of QCA and mainstay events Brooklyn Comes Alive and Denver Comes Alive felt empowered to shift their focus to matters of racial inequality facing our nation, and thus put together Justice Comes Alive only weeks after the inaugural QCA virtual festival.
Two of the event's co-hosts, Nikki Glaspie & Robert Sput Searight each shared warm, hopeful sentiments about the experience. "I'm very honored to have been a part of an event that recognizes racial injustice and is trying to do something about it," shares Glaspie. "Raising awareness is key, and this event did exactly that." Searight is hopeful we are headed in the right direction toward real, meaningful change, sharing, "This is just the beginning. For so long, the lack of education has been a detriment to society on both sides. Now we must realize in this moment that it is a systematic structure for us to be ignorant about the history of black culture. Now we can begin to break the curse of 400 years by having open dialogue. Hopefully we are a lot closer to change."
Kunj Shah, founder of both Live For Live Music & the one-day virtual event, graciously expressed, "I'm so incredibly grateful for everyone who participated in the Justice Comes Alive experience to help us raise $55,000+ for Plus 1 Black Lives Fund. The amazing music and poignant conversations set this event apart from anything I've ever been a part of." Shah continued, "It was an honor to curate and help create something that was meaningful, educational, heavy, and uplifting all at the same time. I've learned so much from this movement that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. One day, we'll finally live in a world where TRUE JUSTICE comes alive."
Live For Live Music's push towards a racially just world does not end here. The two virtual experiences combined raised $225,000+ for extremely important organizations which have moved the founders to continue their efforts. All events moving forward will now benefit and help a larger cause. All of the company's events moving forward will now benefit and help a larger cause. "There's so much work to be done," explains Shah, "and I want Live For Live Music to be a part of the solution."
Featured Performances By:
Antibalas
Alvin Ford Jr.
BANDEMIC (feat. John Scofield, John Medeski, Billy Martin and Jesse Murphy)
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Bobby Rush
Brandon "Taz" Niederauer
Christone "KINGFISH" Ingram
D'Vibes Trio w/ Adam Deitch & Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff
Doom Flamingo
Dumpstaphunk
Eric Krasno
Everyone Orchestra
Full Moonalice
The Funky Knuckles
G. Love
Galactic
George Porter Jr.
The Ghost of Paul Revere
Ivan Neville
Jennifer Hartswick w/ Nick Cassarino & Christian McBride
Kim Dawson
Lettuce
Louis Cato
Marco Benevento
Maurice "MOBETTA" Brown
Mononeon
Moon Taxi
The Motet
MoTown Getdown
Nahko
Neal Francis
Nick Cassarino & Erin Boyd
The OG's
The Original Nth Power
Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band
Shaun Martin
The Soul Rebels
Southern Avenue
Stanley Jordan
Star Kitchen
Stout
Tank and the Bangas
TAUK
Terence Higgins & The Nola Krewe
Turkuaz
Umphrey's McGee
Speakers Included:
Ellis Hall
Eric Krasno
George Porter Jr.
Harvey Mason
Ivan Neville
Karl Denson
Oteil Burbridge
Patrice Rushen
Weedie Braimah
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