Industry figureheads David Stopps, Ian McAndrew and Tom Schroeder, alongside Andrew Lenthall and Mike Lowe from Stagehand, began the #ILoveLive Prize Draw campaign to help raise funds for all the music stage and road crew in the live music events industry that have been affected by the pandemic.
David Stopps said: “When I heard about the tenth suicide among stage crew in late August, I knew I had to do something. Stage crew are not only suffering great financial hardship but most are also experiencing mental ill health. Money raised from these prize draws will actually save lives and help to safeguard their future.”
Stagehand is the only UK charity that specifically helps music stage and road crew and is dedicated to providing hardship funding for live events industry workers. In September 2020 the Stagehand Covid-19 Crew Relief Fund was launched, with a target of raising £1m (including donations) by the end of 2020. This was achieved with the current total at £1.17m which has enabled Stagehand to issue over 900 grants to crew, with many more to follow in 2021.
The #ILoveLive prize draw campaign, in partnership with the Crowdfunder platform, gives music fans the chance to give something back to the people who make life-affirming live events happen and to win money-can’t-buy prizes from their favourite artists. This is not an auction. It’s a series of prize draws where each artist has their own prize draw. With an auction, only a few fans with the deepest pockets get involved, whereas with a prize draw the whole fanbase can participate. Fans from all over the world can enter for £5 via the artist’s #ILoveLive Crowdfunder page. If a fan enters multiple times, they stand a better chance of winning.
Rob Love from Crowdfunder said: “The #ILoveLive campaign on Crowdfunder is critical to supporting the ‘behind the scenes’ workers in the live music industry. Without roadies there won’t be a live events industry, even when Covid restrictions are lifted. Crowdfunding is a way for communities to come together to support causes close to their heart, and this is a great example of how the music industry is pulling together to help each other in a time of need.”
