Sing For Hope Launches 'SingForHopeGrams' To Support Working Artists & Fight Isolation

Sing for Hope today announced it has launched a new initiative called "SingforHopeGrams" to bring moments of music and connection directly to people's lives while providing employment for artists from Broadway, opera, and more as the world's stages remain dark due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The premise is simple: a professional musician personally calls and performs for the designated recipient, brightening their day through music and interaction.

One hundred percent of proceeds go to help working artists and the communities Sing for Hope serves. SingforHopeGram artists include Grammy Award winners, Broadway stars, and acclaimed classical artists from the world's leading stages. SingforHopeGrams can be tailored to special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, graduation celebrations, or Mother's Day (order by this Friday, May 8th, for a Mother's Day weekend SingforHopeGram). They can also be sent anytime as a "thinking of you" to a loved one.

"On a day shrouded by the pandemic, the gift of this glorious singing breaks through social isolation like sun breaking through clouds, like love!" said SingforHopeGram customer and Princeton University professor Elaine Pagels.

SingforHopeGrams are not limited by age or geography. One 96-year-old recipient in Abilene, Texas, said, "receiving this SingforHopeGram touched me deeply and made me tear up, in a good way...I felt so loved. The singer even knew where Abilene was!"

Sharliyn Owens of Wilkesboro, North Carolina, purchased a SingforHopeGram for her son's birthday. "I called my son right after he received it and his knees were still shaking," said Wilkesboro. "He recognized the caller as someone he had just seen on Broadway a few months ago!"

Sing for Hope's year-round programming in hospitals, schools, and public spaces - all settings profoundly affected by COVID-19 - relies on a roster of artists of all disciplines. Many of those artists now find themselves out of work due to COVID, with Americans for the Arts reporting that 95% of artists have lost income due to COVID, and 62% now find themselves completely unemployed. Sing for Hope is adapting rapidly to continue to serve its partner healthcare facilities and nursing homes through online arts programming, while providing employment opportunities and support for artists.

Artists in and outside of Sing for Hope's network can find additional support on Sing for Hope's resource portal for artists and freelancers who suddenly find themselves out of work. Order your SingforHopeGram at www.singforhope.org/singforhopegrams or donate to bring SingforHopeGrams to isolated nursing home residents, veterans, and frontline healthcare workers at www.singforhope.org/donate. Your generosity has a twofold impact during this time, bringing comfort to our most isolated, vulnerable neighbors and employing artists while the world's stages are dark.

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