by Duke

Since the first post on United in Flow we got a lot of ducks lined up. For those just joining us, Euphonic Sound and Studio 2.0 are gearing up to launch “United in Flow: Celebrating the World of Hip-Hop” – a charity fundraiser and showcase for vocalists, dance crews, turntablists and visual artists in the GTA. It’s a massive undertaking, so I’m kind of resorting to crowdsourcing in a way.

Charity & Sponsors

Here’s the thing: We want to launch this event in October – with CDs, t-shirts and a venue – all for $20,000.00 give or take (not counting Euphonic Sound Studio’s contribution of time and resources).

Anybody with suggestions for sponsors or charitable beneficiaries, we want to hear from you yesterday. We have a charity in mind (an outfit dedicated to getting violence out of schools by encouraging youth to channel their energies into artistic expression via the 4 pillars of hip-hop culture), but the decision is a long way from final at this point. We’re still exploring the options.

In terms of sponsorship, we hope to find support with companies that have an understanding of hip-hop culture, and are both free from sweatshop/child labor and environmentally responsible. While corporate money seems to come in big drops when it comes, we want to focus on those sponsors who have found the strength in being small – owner-operated, agile and close to the street. That’s the kind of company we’d be proud to work beside. Know someone who fits that bill? Leave me a comment!

Venue

We’re still looking for a place to hold this event. We want to avoid the pitfalls of holding it in a bar or club; wouldn’t it be better to have a musical event in a place that’s geared less towards shouting over the music & more towards actually being part of the whole experience? Massey Hall and the Berkley Church are great, but pricy; after all, giving a whole bunch of money to the venue would take away from the money going to Unity… and that would defeat the purpose of doing this.

In a nutshell, I’m looking for a place in (or close to) central Toronto that holds 300+ people (liquor license optional). Suggestions? Leave me a comment!

Phase 1 – Planning

This is the first time most of us have done anything like this (or at least on this kind of scale). Consequently we’re glad to have Heather Garand on board; she has loads of experience in marketing and promotion, which has already proven invaluable in these the early stages of planning.

Launching the Contest

Some of the artists on this CD & event will be selected from outside our little circle; we want videos of vocal performances and dance crews in the GTA. We’ll have beats on the Euphonic website for downloading. Drop your flow on that and we’ll have a spot for you to upload it for consideration.

Spots will go fast, so get on it as soon as the beats are available!

We’ll announce the winners on the STM blog & through the Euphonic Community. Membership is essential to getting inside info on United in Flow. Go to the Euphonic Community and sign up now!

…and leave me a comment!

Technorati Tags: charity, dance, hip hop, rap, United in Flow

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 10:04 am and is filed under Community Updates, Music Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.