Live From Our Living Rooms - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

The creative world is reeling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has closed venues and cancelled work indefinitely for thousands of musicians. In an effort to help those financially impacted by the current crisis and to help foster communication in a time of isolation, Live From Our Living Rooms is returning with a Creative Summit & Fundraiser. Originally scheduled to run in June, the Creative Summit & Fundraiser will now run July 1 through July 12 and will include performances and daily workshops with master musicians, as well as webinars with industry professionals — within music and in other disciplines — designed to help musicians navigate this new environment.

Organized by musicians Sirintip, Thana Alexa and Owen Broder, Live From Our Living Rooms offers a platform for creative exchange, continuing to raise relief funds for musicians while providing paid performances and teaching opportunities for the music community at large. The inspiration to organize the Live From Our Living Rooms Creative Summit & Fundraiser grew from the success of their first Online Festival & Fundraiser, which concluded in April after raising nearly $60k from which performance grants were allocated to struggling NYC musicians. Referred to as “the first jazz festival for the quarantine era” by Rolling Stone, the April event featured live performances and masterclasses by a litany of top tier jazz artists such as Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Bill Frisell, Becca Stevens and more.

The upcoming multi-day event is likened to a virtual summer camp that will offer 68 instrument-specific workshops, twelve creative and industry-related webinars, two Sunday spotlight episodes, and ten evening performances. Among those leading workshops are considered masters of their instruments: Eric Harland, Orrin Evans, Kevin Eubanks, Miguel Zenon, Luciana Souza, Donny McCaslin, Jane Ira Bloom, Rufus Reid, Linda May Han Oh, Gilad Hekselman and John Clayton, among many others.

The topics of the webinars range from those that are particularly relevant to the current global situation (the state of concert booking, online brand building, streaming rights), to broader topics like cultural exchange in music, songwriting, and the art of music production. Webinar participants include Cecile McLorin Salvant, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group), Kenny Werner, Billy Childs, Danny Melnick (Absolutely Live Entertainment), Katherine McVicker (Music Works International), Gargi Shindé (Chamber Music America), Michelle Willis (GroundUP), Inara George (Bird and the Bee), and many others. Gretchen Parlato and Alan Hampton, Rachel Z and Omar Hakim, Terri Lyne Carrington, Lionel Loueke, Jason Lindner, Ingrid Jensen, Zakir Hussain, Chris Potter and Gerald Clayton are among those slated to perform.

On July 5th and July 12th, the Project Spotlight Series will highlight some of the remarkable work being released during quarantine, featuring live-streamed conversations with project creators Sarah Elizabeth Charles & Jarrett Cherner and Ryan Truesdale, respectively.

There is a $3 minimum donation required to attend each webinar and performance, which will stream on Crowdcast. The Zoom workshops range from $30-40, and will be capped at 20 participants per session to offer an exclusive experience with some of the biggest names in jazz & beyond. In a continued effort to support our community of musicians, participating artists have agreed to share a portion of their earned revenue with the Live From Our Living Rooms Fundraiser which will go towards the initiative’s next round of relief grants. Additional donations made from the initiative’s global audience will also be allocated toward relief grants. For this round, funds will be collected and distributed by fiscal agent, American Music Lab. The next grant application cycle will be announced after the completion of the Creative Summit.

More information can be found at www.livefromourlivingrooms.com.