APPLICATIONS are now open for grants from the Whole Lotta Roadies fundraising campaign, available to support Scottish live touring crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you are a member of touring crew working with artists or bands and had the majority of your income impacted by the lack of live shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, you are able to apply for a grant from the Fruit Tree Foundation, who set up the Whole Lotta Roadies project. Applications are open here.
‘Whole Lotta Roadies’ was a unique album, set up by the Fruit Tree Foundation and put together by some of Scotland’s most loved musical artists and their crew. The project is the brainchild of Rod Jones of Idlewild, who saw first-hand the devastating effect the pandemic was having on all aspects of live shows. Speaking about the project, her said “The devastating impact Covid 19 has had on the music industry is well documented and few are far more affected than Live Crew. On speaking to members of our touring crew I realised how they were falling through the cracks in government funding and with no gigs and tours upcoming the outlook for them was bleak. I wanted to try and find a way to support them and the wider Scottish Live Crew industry. Knowing how many crew members are also very talented musicians in their own right I thought it would be fitting for them to showcase this by covering songs of the bands they have been working with over the years, and releasing an album of this to create a hardship fund and also awareness of their situation.”
Idlewild and Emma Pollock’s live sound engineer Richard Dempsey added “The UK government might not care about us, but the bands and the band’s fans do.”
This fund is open to all professional live touring crew based in Scotland and closes at the end of the month. Apply NOW.
