[grc] 10 Years Artists for Media Diversity

[Barbara K]

Dear GRC,

As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the founding of Artists for Media Diversity, February 8, 2008, we are taking a look back to the 2008 Grassroots Radio Conference in Portland, OR, hosted by KBOO, where we attended an impromptu workshop focusing on the necessity of creating funding for community radio journalists.

Because A4MD was founded for the purpose of fostering freedom of speech in the public airwaves, this workshop was influential in the early development of our organization.  We asked the question: could music revenue fund community radio journalism?

Our first major success as an organization came in 2013 when the digital album "Artists for Vieques" played a pivotal role in the foundation of WVQR - Radio Vieques. We had heard about the waning attempts to build this station in time to meet the FCC imposed deadline for initial broadcast ability, that the people spearheading the station's development were on the verge of giving up hope of having a powerful voice for environmental justice, community journalism and culture. We proposed a digital album project, requested music donations from recording artists, raised a small amount of funds and a large amount of awareness, which generated a larger amount of funds in donations to Radio Vieques from members of the Puerto Rican community. Since then, WVQR had been broadcasting daily until Hurricane Maria took it's toll.

One year ago, we had reluctantly decided to close the organization. Ironically, the lack of funding was the major factor in making our decision.

Then along came the presidential inauguration of 2017 which segued into a threat to cut all funding to the CPB.

So we developed one final project, we named it "The Nature of Truth" and proposed it to Media Alliance who agreed to become our fiscal sponsor.

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, we decided to pick up where we left off and re-release "Artists for Vieques" with additional artists from North Carolina, Oklahoma and the Navajo Nation and, at the same time, re-initiate the humanitarian fundraising system based on collaboration.

We invite people from the stations of the GRC to explore Artists for Media Diversity, https://a4md.org, specifically our project "We All Rise Together" for WVQR - Radio Vieques.

We want you to join as a partner to provide Artists for Vieques to your audience, raising money in the process for Puerto Rican relief and your own stations. 

We are preparing to engage recording artists in the production of 3 new digital albums for "The Nature of Truth".  Our Executive Producer is Gerald Torres, Board Chair of Earthday Networks and so much more, and Media Alliance will be collecting the proceeds generated from digital albums and distributing them to collaborating radio stations and organizations.

Please join us as a partner in sharing our musical gifts with your listeners and raising funds to help us all keep going.

We are happy to answer any questions and thank you, in advance, for your consideration.

In peace with justice for all,
Barbara K

Artists for Media Diversity
https://a4md.org/