ARTS, BEATS & EATS RAISES OVER $400K
Money from virtual performances goes to local musicians
“This couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The only chance we got to perform this year was at the Arts, Beats & Eats stage.”
— Paul Brady, Stone Clover band
The Beats Goes On, the smaller event that Arts, Beats & Eats hosted live in Royal Oak and virtually Labor Day weekend, raised $431,000 that helped metro Detroit musicians idled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s smaller festival raised the money through virtual performances, GoFundMe and direct donations and drive-in concerts in Royal Oak parking lots.
Oakland County’s CARES Act matching grant funding contributed just over $215,000 to the total amount.
Nearly 450 musicians took part in the event. Of those, 127 got $300 and $20 gift cards, while 120 who met qualifications for county grants each got $1,760. Some others made thousands of dollars more than that from live and virtual performances, said Jon Witz, Arts, Beats & Eats director.
Witz was joined Thursday by musicians, Oakland County Executive David Coulter, county Board of Commission Chairman Dave Woodward and others Thursday to announce checks going to musicians.
“When Jon ( Witz) first approached me about this I was a little skeptical on how we would pull this off,” Coulter said. “But .. Jon pulled it off.”
Artists and musicians are part of the DNA for the quality of life in the county, he added.
A check from the fundraising and county CARES grant helped Paul Brady of the Stone Clover band keep his house. Checks were distributed this week.
“This couldn’t have come at a more opportune time,” Brady said. “The only chance we got to perform this year was at the Arts, Beats & Eats stage.”
Musicians such as Brady were among 120 performers who typically make at least half their income from music, qualifying them the county matching grants for such things as utilities, food and house or rent payments. Two-hundred-and-forty- seven musicians qualified for a total of $83,042 from the Arts, Beats & Eats Musicians Fund.
Another 200 musicians that didn’t qualify for grants made a total of $132,486 generated through virtual performances and live drive-in performances at the Beats Go On in Royal Oak.
“We all got hit hard” by the pandemic,” said bassist and funk performer Damon Terrell, who was the top money-raising virtual performer. “It was the only opportunity we had to play as a group” this year.
The Beats Go On included an Art by Appointment event at the Royal Oak Farmers Market. Near 20 artists took part and made a total of $40,000 in art sales, organizers said.
Hopes are high that Arts, Beats & Eats will return in 2021, Witz said.
“People are so hungry for getting together as a community,” he said. “We will follow the lead of the concert industry and the sports industry. Our corporate sponsors are still standing with us.”