The All-Ages Movement Project, a nonprofit organization founded by Shannon Stewart (who also helped found the Vera Project) to help foster all-ages venues across the country, is in the running to win one of ten $50,000 prizes through Pepsi’s Refresh Project. Over 700 organizations are vying to get into the top 10 via supporters’ votes; at press time, AMP was at number six in its category.
If it wins, AMP’s program director Kevin Erickson says part of the money will be used to cover printing costs of a reference book they’ve written to help people build all-ages communities.
“It’s both history and how-to, providing a road map for anyone trying to start and sustain an all-ages venue or youth music organization,” he says.
Another part of the money will help fund the regional events AMP is planning for the book’s release. “It’s not the kind of book that’s well-suited to a traditional reading tour—it’s a reference book, full of interesting stories, but really dense with information. So we settled on regional events. They’ll be at least a day long and will include workshops, performances, panels, trainings, etc.”
While the all-ages music community may be getting support here in Seattle (the Vera Project is partially funded by the city, for example), other areas aren’t always so lucky.
“Every week, I’m getting e-mails from people starting up venues or facing challenges,” says Erickson. “It can be really overwhelming, especially if you’re a young person without formal training, government connections, or access to resources. This grant will allow us to spend some additional staff time working individually with folks at the local level to strategize and problem solve.”
AMP has been sitting comfortably at number six in recent days, but there’s over a week left to vote, with hundreds of other causes in the running. Visit www.allages.net/vote to cast your ballot for AMP.
Fri Feb 19: Hey Marseilles, the Globes at the Vera Project, 7:30 pm, $10/$11.
Sat Feb 20: Sound Off! Semifinals #2 with A Cozy Kitchen, Hooves and Beak, Pan Pan, the Cat from Hue at EMP, 9 pm, $7–$10.
Tues Feb 23: Past Lives in-store at Sonic Boom Records (Capitol Hill), 7 pm, free.
this reminds me of how I felt seeing a starfucker song on a Target commercial the other day…..
Andy, don’t worry, we’re not going to let them slap their logos up anywhere or have any impact on the direction of our programming. It’s a donation, not a sponsorship.
Feel free to mercilessly mock Pepsi as you tell your friends to vote. There’s nothing in the rules against it!
also, reminds me of: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archi…
I dunno there is just something unsettling about making non-profits wrestle in the dirt over small amounts of “donations” given by giant corporations while simultaneously giving the corporations really cheap advertising space & faux-posi karma points. Not to mention every penny of this “donation” has come from profit from a company who sole purpose is to profit off poor & low income families by selling them overpriced sugar-water which is horrible for their health.
“slap their logos up anywhere or have any impact on the direction of our programming”
also, even if this is true, letting pepsi link & put pepsi can icons on your facebook news stream is ingenious subversive free advertising.
this is of course assuming that it cost pepsi more than $50,000 to advertise on the sidebar of facebook…..not only is Pepsi breaking out of the advertising sidebar safe-zone….they are essentially using the voter to endorse their product as something positive and put it center screen for the consumer to gaze at…..its beyond periphery, its straight up invasive.
This is all beside the point that funding non-profits is an awesome thing to do….and all-ages venues are fantastic & should be maintained.
Andy, I’m actually really glad that there’s been a little pushback on this–it’s reassuring that people aren’t just thinking we should roll over and passively accept corporate rule.
I do want everyone to know that we’re not being capricious about deciding to participate. My job involves figuring out how to advocate for the interests of some very diverse music communities, and i do this with the guidance of an awesome advisory board of folks from venues and organizations around the country. We had a lot of dialogue about this and wrestled with the problems inherent in the whole contest.
In mapping out the attitudes present i identified a gap between hip hop organizers and DIY/indiepunk folks in our networks. Part of this is a difference in philosophy along a punk/hiphop divide; punk embraces a marginal identity, while hiphop subcultural identity seems to be more about refusing marginalization. Basically punk/indie kids were divided between “grab the money and run” and “try and stay pure”, whereas the hiphop folks were solidly in the “do what you have to do” camp.
Our discussions also involved a lot of research. I spent a long time digging for information about Pepsi’s social responsibility. The general consensus, as far as i can find: they’re not great; since they’re a huge multinational peddling a product with no nutritional value, but they are significantly better than Coke. AFAIK, they’re not currently the target of formal boycotts by major labor or environmental organizations. They actually hired an indian woman with a history of criticizing US imperialism as their CEO, prompting boycotts by conservatives. Of course, this doesn’t change the problems with their products at all.
I eventually called the leading organization working on soft-drink industry reform, and asked them directly: Will this make your work more difficult? Would i be enabling a kind of greenwashing? They said basically: if we were the World Wildlife Fund or someone like that it would be different, but for us probably not–since we’re a small organization not generally focused on environmental or labor issues, it wouldn’t significantly impede reform efforts, and I should feel okay about it.
But yeah, I do generally find corporate cause marketing to be generally pretty bogus. On the other hand, it’s a better use of the money than this, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt8uNG02i…
PRO TIP: when you vote for us and want to spread the word on facebook, click the “no thumbnail box” so it doesn’t show the stupid pepsi logo.
We fully welcome dialogue and criticism about this kind of stuff. Trying to stay transparent and accountable, etc.
“This grant will allow us to spend some additional staff time working individually with folks at the local level to strategize and problem solve.”
Does this mean that none of this “work” will get done without $50,000?
“Kevin Erickson says part of the money will be used to cover printing costs of a reference book they’ve written to help people build all-ages communities.”
There is the web, and your site is great. It would allow you to post the entire book/reference for people all over the world to access and use the experiences you have learned in building a useful space for young people.
Is the idea of this $50K to sell a book, or is it to provide others with a good idea on how you can turn passion into a good thing?
I support the Vera and have donated to it as one of the best examples of how you can run an effective program while still seeking the “mans” money and approval.
Yet I do see young bands all over the country borrowing money from their parents, making their own flyers/web sites and throwing shows at the local Viking hall without millions of dollars in support over the years.
Sustainability is where it’s at. That means that you put on rad events and programs, and people want to support by buying tickets and program fees and donations.
When a “teen center” or non-profit doesn’t have a bunch of paid adults running the show, those are the places and times that get remembered and make an impact the most. Then you can dump all that time grant writing/contest winning into “spending some additional staff time working individually with folks.”