Effort to give financial assistance to emerging Seattle artists underway

The Seattle World Tour Foundation was founded in 2017 to build a fairer, healthier community.

The Seattle World Tour Foundation was founded in 2017 to build a fairer, healthier community by helping provide funding and programs to underserved communities.

The foundation brings together artists, businesses, and community members through events, programs, and concerts such as an annual Seattle World Tour concert series. The annual concert series raised more than $ 10,000 for Mary’s Place – helping women and families transition out of homelessness.

The foundation also raised thousands for the Rainier Valley Food Bank and South King County / Eastside COVID Mutual Aid.

According to Executive Director Seth McDonald, the foundation only wanted to be able to provide financial relief in times of crisis. The musician-based foundation never expected to be in dire straits itself.

The music industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 closings. Although they have successfully run fundraisers to save local stages and concert venues, artists themselves have mostly been left in abeyance with no financial support.

“The complete closure of live music venues has not only cut off the livelihoods of all the artists we support with this project, but also stopped the rest of their careers,” said McDonald.

Rain City Relief is a new fundraising initiative to provide financial aid to 10 emerging Seattle artists and to create a long-term relief fund for musicians in need in Washington state. Rain City Relief produces a vinyl compilation with the selected artists as well as 10 video performances that were filmed one year to the day the concert venues were closed.

Thanks to a significant investment by Seattle company Reef, all proceeds from the vinyl collection go to the artists; 75 percent will benefit the musicians of the record and 25 percent of the proceeds will flow into the newly established artist aid fund, which can be applied for as a permanent fund for artists from January 2022.

The 10 artists selected for the vinyl collection are Chong the Nomad, Parisalexa, The Black Tones, Smokey Brights, Shaina Shepherd, Perry Porter, Ariana DeBoo, High Pulp, Beverly Crusher & All Star Opera. The pre-sale for the vinyl compilation started on September 27th and will be delivered in December. Details and ordering information can be found at www.RainCityRelief.com.