Remember Social Crowding?
2020 ticket buyers, looking for information on your ticket?–go to the 2020 Ticket Buyers Page, here
Dear Ossipee Family,
While we have seen this announcement coming, it is no easier to make than when we first contemplated it.
A re-opening plan has been announced for Maine, and events over 50 people will not be allowed through the summer. As crushing as this is to hear— as an event of well over 100x that size, Ossipee was in the process of making an announcement of our own regardless of the plan’s criteria: The festival and string camp have officially been postponed until 2021. We want to get this right, and as hard as it is, that involves taking a year to reflect, and to help those who are vulnerable, especially groups who are economically devastated, such as musicians, survive and rise again.
We created this festival because we believe in the potency of such gatherings—they are the spark in the night, an opportunity for magic. Over 22 years, people have fallen in love, celebrated their 100th birthday, and made lasting friendships built on coming together here once a year.
Children have grown up at the festival, and musicians have grown up here too. Musical doorways have been opened, and we are here to tell you—those doors cannot be closed— we know this is the good stuff, and it is worth protecting.
This is why, while we are sad to announce the cancellation of Ossipee, we are proud to announce a new non-event for 2020: “NO-ssipee”, starting with a brand new ’safe’ logo! While the logistics are still being worked out, NOssipee will involve no physical interaction whatsoever, but will include as much artist and team member support as we can accomplish. We will offer our community whatever we can in terms of virtual (video/audio) and physical (merch!!) artifacts from this special year.
If you have already purchased a ticket to Ossipee,
Please do NOT call or email unless you have a very specific question— We will email YOU (check your spam!) You will have the opportunity to:
A. Receive a full refund
B. Receive a full refund minus a 5% handling fee that we have already paid to our processors (roughly $6 of a $115/ticket)
C. Roll over your ticket to 2021 (and receive NO-ssipee swag!) —your roll over money will go to ongoing expenses for the organization including artist deposits for 2021
D. Make your ticket money a tax deductible donation to our organization. It will go to the ‘NO-ssipee 2020 fund’ to help those artists & team members currently unemployed (and receive NOssipee swag + more TBD!) Those who donate their string camp ticket will receive even more special gifts, TBA!
Please stay tuned for more announcements, stay healthy and happy in your home,
If you are in need of assistance in any way, whether you need some food, or help applying to a program, or just need someone to chat with, please feel free to reach out—we have a robust community of volunteers who know how to organize, and put you in touch with someone who can help.
We will get through this together.
Love,
Team NO-ssipee &
The OVMF Board of Directors
The Number ONE way to support Ossipee artists is to continue to purchase tickets, and to choose to hold them over to 2021, or receive a tax deductible donation acknowledgment for donating your ticket to our non-profit. Donated funds will go to the artists, and held over tickets will go to holding artist deposits over a year.
The number TWO way to support Ossipee artists is to go to our lineup page and click on the individual artist pages. You can follow the artist pages to their personal websites, where you can find more information about merch, CDs/LPS/downloads, lessons, and anything else they are doing. We will be posting as many live-stream performances by Ossipee artists as we can.
General resources for donors to the arts and for artists in need:
Sign up for virtual lessons with artists at Peghead Nation or ArtistWorks
No-Depression list of how to help roots music artists CLICK HERE
The Recording Academy® and its affiliated charitable foundation MusiCares® have established the COVID-19 Relief Fund to help our peers in the music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Click HERE
Maine Arts Commission–Working with Creative Portland for a Portland Maine Artist relief fund, General grants program HERE
Americans for the Arts COVID-19 funds HERE
Billboard Magazine Coronavirus Resource Guide Click HERE
NPR A State-by-State Resource Guide for Music Professionals Who Need Help During Coronavirus Crisis Click HERE
A List Of Live Virtual Concerts To Watch During The Coronavirus Shutdown Click HERE Resources for Musicians
|
IBMA Resource List for Musicians click HERE
Springboard for the Arts Grants of $500 for cancelled gigs, click HERE
New York Foundation for the Arts grants click HERE
Resources for Funders
- Are you a funder? Here are 7 ways you can support your arts and culture community.
Relief Funds and Financial Assistance
- The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant is for painters, printmakers and sculptors
- Arts Administrators of Color Network launched a relief fund to support BIPOC artists and administrators.
- ArtsFund created the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund for arts organizations.
- Artwork Archives has compiled a list of emergency grants for artists.
- Boston establishes an artist relief fund.
- EqualSound launches relief fund supporting musicians who have lost gigs due to the pendemic.
- Foundation for Contemporary Arts has a relief fund for artists who incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance dates
- Frederick Arts Council (Maryland) launched a GoFundMe campaign for relief funding.
- Greater Columbus Arts Council (Columbus, OH) announced a relief grant for artists.
- Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (Pennsylvania) launches a relief fund for artists in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington, Lawrence, Indiana, Greene, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.
- Ijeoma Oluo has started a GoFundMe campaign to support artists in Seattle affected.
- Max’s Kansas City Project has emergency grants for New Yorkers in the creative arts
- Mellon Foundation Joins Consortium Supporting Small and Mid-size Arts Organizations through $75-million NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund
- Michigan Music Alliance’s Michigan Artist Relief Fund (in collaboration with Walk the Beat–a music nonprofit regularly raising funds to get musical instruments in kids’ hands)
- Musicians Foundation is accepting aid applications.
- NC Artist Fund Relief Fund: a collaboration between Artspace, PineCone, United Arts Council and VAE Raleigh
- New York Foundation on the Arts launches relief fund resource page for several disciplines and geographic focus.
- Portland Area Artist Emergency Relief Fund (Portland, OR) organized by Portland’s Creative Laureate, Subashini Ganesan, and Oregon’s Poet Laureate, Kim Stafford.
- Rauschenberg announced an Medical Emergency grant program for artists.
- San Francisco Foundation (San Francisco, CA) released emergency fund for organizations.
- Spokane Arts launched a relief fund for individual artists
- Springboard for the Arts has several resources and relief funds.
- Theatre Bay Area has set up the COVID-19 Performing Arts Worker Relief Fund.
- WomenArts has a fund roundup on their website
American Federation of Musicians (AFM): Lester Petrillo Memorial Fund
The Lester Petrillo Memorial Fund for Disabled Musicians provides a modest grant to temporarily or permanently disabled musicians who are members of the AFM.
Telephone: (212) 869-1330 ext. 224
American Guild of Musical Artists Relief Fund
The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) Relief Fund provides support and temporary financial assistance to members who are in need. AGMA contracts with The Actors Fund to administer this program nationally as well as to provide comprehensive social services. Financial assistance is available for rent, utilities, mental health and medical care, as well as other basic living expenses. Grants are made case-by-case, based on need. Through March 31, due to the devastating toll COVID-19 has taken on their members, the AGMA Relief Fund will temporarily double the cap of financial assistance available to AGMA members in need.
Telephone: East Coast: (212) 221-7300, Ext. 119; Midwest: (312) 372-0989; West Coast: (323) 933-9244, Ext. 55. For emergencies on evenings and weekends only: 212-621-7780
Email: East Coast: intakeny@actorsfund.org; Midwest: dtowne@actorsfund.org; West Coast: intakela@actorsfund.org
Bagby Foundation for Musical Arts
The Foundation offers small grants to support opera and classical music professionals, with a focus on pensioners.
Telephone: (212) 986-6094
The Blues Foundation has established the HART Fund (Handy Artists Relief Trust) for Blues musicians and their families in financial need due to a broad range of health concerns. The Fund provides for acute, chronic and preventive medical and dental care as well as funeral and burial expenses.
Telephone: 901-527-2583, Ext. 10
Email: elizabeth@blues.org
The Housing and Emergency Assistance program provides jazz and blues artists with an experienced social worker to assess his/her situation and provide rapid assistance including financial support, legal services, housing counseling, and more.
Telephone: (212) 245-3999
Email: info@jazzfoundation.org
The Musical Sustenance Program offers emergency funds, monthly living stipends, and assistance in obtaining social services to artists working in the Southern musical tradition, focusing on those 55 years or older with an annual income of $18,000 or less.
Telephone: (919) 643-2456
Email: 411@musicmaker.org
MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. MusiCares’ services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, including addiction resources.
Telephone: West Coast: (800) 687-4227; Central: (877) 626-2748; Northeast: (877) 303-6962
Musicians’ Emergency Relief Fund
The Local 802 Musicians’ Emergency Relief Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) administered by the Musicians’ Assistance Program (MAP). A New York State licensed social worker provides confidential social services to members and their families. It is funded by the Musicians’ ERF and administered by the Actors Fund.
The Musicians Foundation assists professional musicians (who have worked at least 5 years) with grants for medical and allied living expenses in the case of emergency situations.
Telephone: (212) 239-9137
E-mail: info@musiciansfoundation.org
The fund provides financial and medical assistance to Rhythm & Blues artists of the 1940s through the 1970s.
Telephone and Fax: (800) 980-5208
Email: rhythmandbluesfoundation@gmail.com
Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. Sweet Relief offers assistance to all who reach out. While financial grants may not be available to every applicant, other resources information, counseling and financial services are additional options each artist may take advantage of.
Telephone: (888) 955-7880
Email: info@sweetrelief.org
Contact Information for Roots & Bluegrass Musicians wanting to learn how to teach online classes:
* Nate Lee has offered to help people get started with online teaching. Feel free to contact him at 469-383-4840 or nate@thenatelee.com.
** Mike Mitchell has also offered to help people get started with online teaching. Feel free to contact him at 540-267-6069 or floydmusicschool@gmail.com.
*** The Jazz Education Network has created two webinars for getting started with online teaching.
Healthcare Resources:
An increasing amount of healthcare providers are offering testing, screening, and televisits at a discounted or waived fee. Here are official statements (with links to more information ) from some of the top healthcare providers in the United States (as of 3/20/20).
- Aetna will waive co-pays for all diagnostic testing related to COVID-19.
- Anthem’s affiliated health plans waive member costs for COVID-19 testing, while supporting telehealth and 90-day maintenance medication supply.
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) announced that its network of 36 independent and locally-operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies will waive prior authorizations and increase coverage for COVID-19.
- Centene intends to cover COVID-19 testing and screening services for Medicaid, Medicare and Marketplace members and is waiving all associated member cost share amounts for COVID-19 testing and screening.
- Cigna will waive all co-pays and cost-shares for COVID-19 testing as recommended by your healthcare provider.
- Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) – “Effective immediately, we won’t require prior authorization and won’t apply member co-pays or deductibles for testing to diagnose COVID-19 when medically necessary and consistent with Centers for Disease Control guidance. This applies to all members we insure.”
- Humana – “Testing for COVID-19 will be fully covered with no out-of-pocket costs for patients who meet CDC guidelines at approved laboratory locations. This applies to members of Humana’s Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial employer-sponsored plans. The CDC continues to offer free testing for coronavirus.”
- Kaiser Permanente will not charge member cost-sharing (including, but not limited to, copays, deductibles, and coinsurance) for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19.
- UnitedHealthcare has waived all diagnostic test cost-sharing for insured members.
Links for Ossipee Valley String Camp Instructors offering online classes.
LAUREN RIOUX:
www.facebook.com/jamwithlaurenlessons
JOE WALSH:
www.pegheadnation.com/string-school/courses/bluegrass-mandolin-jam-favorites
ETHAN SETIAWAN:
STEVE ROY:
www.317main.org/dt_team/steve-roy
www.pmaconline.org/music_faculty
ALISON DE GROOT:
www.allisondegroot.com/lessons
www.facebook.com/allisondegrootmusic
GABE HIRSHFELD/CHARLES CLEMENTS/PATRICK M’GONIGLE/GEORGE CLEMENTS:
www.facebook.com/LonelyHeartstringBand
www.georgeclements.net/classes
STASH WYSLOUCH:
www.facebook.com/stashwyslouchmusic
KATIE O’CONNELL