I’ve promised to do another charity busk to promote Niemann Pick Type – C, sometimes known as childhood dementia, but this time I’m going to try and do something for the U.K branch.

It’s about time I started thinking about doing another mission for the 100 charity challenge.

I’ve promised to do another charity busk to promote Niemann Pick Type – C, sometimes known as childhood dementia, but this time I’m going to try and do something for the U.K branch.

Since my last attempt, the weather has got much better as Summer draws nearer and I’m hoping to do a little better this time.

Want to Help Out ?

What would be good is if I had someone else with me on the day, either to help collect and hand out information for a few hours or maybe if there are any other musicians out there in the Dorset area, perhaps to take turns while one collects and the other busks, take a few photo’s or maybe even get some sort of jam going to make things more interesting.

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Anyone willing to help in some way, whether you are a musician or not would definitely add a bit of colour to the session and hopefully make it more successful.

I’m not going to book it yet, I’ll give it a while before I plan a date just to see if anyone’s interested.

If no one shows up, I’ll be doing it myself anyway, but if you think you might like to help out in some way for 3 or 4 hours at some point over the next month or so, send me a message and we can sort out what we’re going to do and where we are going to do it.

Should be fun.

K

On this occasion I thought I’d do a street busk to promote the Neimann Pick Children’s Fund. It wasn’t [...]]]> A couple of weeks ago I promised to kick off my part in the 100 challenge and do some busking to raise a bit of cash for charity.

On this occasion I thought I’d do a street busk to promote the Neimann Pick Children’s Fund. It wasn’t a big public promotion event, just a personal busk hoping to hand out a few leaflets and chat to people about the disease alongside a couple of blog posts to raise awareness about Neimann Pick Type C.

Take a look at my last post on Neimann Pick Type C if you would like to find out more about the disease and children who are affected by it. Also, if you are in the mood to do something good and want an excuse to get out and play, join up for the Musicians for Charity Challenge here on Street Musician and organise your own charity event. It doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, just think of something and go out and do it.

I’ll be doing this again in a few weeks time, so if you live in my area and can play or just want to do some collecting, you are welcome to come out with me and we’ll arrange a bigger street busk to raise some more cash (as long as the weather is better than it was this time).

Anyway, here’s how things went.

Neimann Pick – Charity Busk

Over the last few months I’ve been so wrapped up in other things that I’d been seriously neglecting my playing, so this charity busk was the first time I’d been out performing in the street for about 6 months.

I was pretty happy to be getting back out there and also to be kick starting my busking doing something for a worthy cause.

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The one thing I’ve been having trouble with over the last few months is trying to find the time to practice regularly. No matter how much I order myself back to a decent practice regime, after a few days everything else starts to get in the way again and my guitar takes a back seat while I deal with business, customers, paper work etc.

Being out of the picture for so long, I really needed get back to street busking and also get a few pub gigs in before Summer.

The great thing about promising to do something for charity is that once you have committed yourself to an event, whether it’s a small personal challenge or a big charity do, you know you’ve got to do it or you are going to let people down.

This can be a great way of making yourself do those things that you’ve been meaning to do for ages.

I’ve been practicing on and off this year without really making that proper commitment to hit the streets again on a certain date, but promising to do a busk in aid of Niemann Pick Type C ensured that however much work I had on, and whether I felt like it or not, I made sure I got my guitar and vocal practice in for at least a few hours a day for the couple of weeks leading up to it.

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Friday came and I was looking forward to getting out there and playing again after so long in the wilderness, but typically, the one day I needed to get out and do something – the whether was miserable and it was pretty much a gamble whether the rain would hold off and let me get out and play.

It was one of those days when it’s half raining, half drizzling and misty round town, which is about the worst you can hope for when you’re intent on going busking. If it’s not raining hard enough to cancel the busk completely, but drizzling enough to get your guitar wet and mess with your electrics, then unless you can get a pitch that’s under cover, you are pretty much screwed.

The last thing a musician needs is a rusty, warped guitar with water in the eq. Messing up a £400 guitar for the sake of earning a tenner is just not an option.

I spent half the morning watching the rain come down thinking ‘There’s no way I can play in that’, then after a while it eased off to a drizzle, making the choice even more difficult.

The one thing that does my head in is when you have to cancel something because of the rain and then the sun comes out and makes you feel bad for missing out.  It’s even worse when you risk giving it a go and then after spending ages getting into town, setting up your gear and waiting for a break in the whether, it just drizzles all day and you stand around looking stupid when you could be doing something else more constructive.

I bought some strings in town and while I was out the drizzle stopped. I thought ‘Let’s just do it anyway and see what happens’.

I took the car up to Dorchester and as I passed out of my home town, it started hammering it down again. The roads were foggy and I knew the conditions were going to be pretty bad when I got there.

Don't go into the fog !

By the time I got to Dorchester, parked the car and got my gear into town it was still raining and pretty bleak, but once you’ve come all this way you’ve just got to hope there are no other buskers or people collecting in the only sheltered pitch in town, or it’s game over.

Luckily there was no one else stupid enough to go out playing in this weather so I set up in the M & S alcove which gave me some protection from the rain, put my case down and slung 50p in to kick the session off.

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I kicked off at 12 to an almost empty street, which was a bit weird because there are normally quite a few people about at lunchtime but after a while the the streets started filling up and the umbrellas came out.

The problem with busking in the rain is that it doesn’t put people in the best of moods for giving. When I’m in town, if it’s raining and I see some poor busker standing there in the rain, I think ‘poor sod !’ and give him some cash, but most people are too cheesed off to put their hands in their pockets. It’s funny, because that also seems to happen when it’s too hot. Blistering sunny days can often be just as bad for your earning potential as miserable wet ones.

Not many people about

After about an hour of playing I’d had a few coins from passers by but it still wasn’t looking great. Luckily there were a few pound coins in the case and a couple of 50’s which helps. I’d rather have a few pound coins than masses of 2′ps. When you have a case full of coppers, people tend to think you’ve made loads of cash and stop giving when actually it only amounts to a couple of pounds.

Still Empty After An Hour

By now there was plenty of people about but not much cash throwing going on, which didn’t surprise me, considering.

Most days when you are out busking, people come up to you and chat and you get a few smiles from passers by, but in this sort of weather people keep their heads down and rush on by, probably thinking ‘What the hell is he doing out in this weather ?’

Why does it always rain on me ?

It’s always quite amusing singing Travis’ ‘Why does It Always rain On Me’ in weather like this. You see a few smirks on people’s faces. The song always gets a few people chucking coins at you when it’s raining.

I thought I’d get one of me in but couldn’t really hassle people in the rain and ask them to take photos so I took one myself.

Would You Give This Man Money ?

After a couple of hours or so the skies opened up again and as the lunchtime crowd had gone back to work I thought I’d give it a few more songs just to round things off and then get the hell out of there.

Singing in the street subjects your voice to much more strain than practicing at home and I hadn’t been singing too badly considering I’d not been busking in a while, but after two and a quarter hours my voice started to sound pretty ropey and no one had thrown me a coin for the last half hour, so enough was enough. Normally I’d stick it out for another hour but there is only so much your voice can take until you build up to it again and with everything getting more soaked every minute, it was time to go. By now it was torrential rain and people were trying to shelter in my alcove too… should have charged them to get in.

Soaked

I’d managed to keep my guitar from ruin as I was under an alcove and off the floor, but my busking case and bag had been on the ground for over two hours with the rain coming in at an angle and everything was wet through. There was no way I was going to put my guitar back in a waterlogged felt case, so I tried lining the case with my coat which wasn’t much good.

That didn't work

In the end it was either me or the guitar and with only one coat between us, the guitar came out on top.

I put the coat the coat on my E.S.P, picked up my bag and empty case, dumped the wet coins in my pocket and did a runner back to the car.

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In the few minutes it took me to get back to the car park I got a real soaking but when you’re carrying your only hope for success wrapped in a wet coat, the only thing you are worried about is getting it back to a safe place and getting your guitar dry again so you can busk another day.

Back into the fog

Taking the back roads home, the fog was still lurking around. I swear there was something strange in that fog.

Grand Total

I’d hoped to raise about £20 from the session and by looking in the case I estimated about £10 -15. When I got home I had a quick count up and the grand total was….

..wait for it…

£13.27

Wey hey – steady on !

Well, that’s not too bad for a rainy day.

I’d loved to have stuck around for longer and passed out lots of information on Neimann Pick Type C, but to be honest in that sort of weather people weren’t going to hang around and chat. I think unless you’ve got full rain kit and waterproof leaflets you need a reasonably good day to effectively promote your cause from a buskers perspective.

Leaflets would have been soaked and stopping people in the rain to talk wouldn’t go down too well, but the good thing about this mini charity mission was that just by getting involved and learning about children’s alzheimer’s, it spurred my last blog post about Nieman Pick Type C, which will be read by literally thousands of people over the coming months and also, even though I didn’t get a chance to get the message across to people in the street,  just taking about it to my family and friends over the last few weeks has really touched a few nerves and brought it to the attention of many people who would otherwise never have known about it, and that’s got to be worth something.

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The small amount of money I raised was donated on the same day via PayPal to Brisan and Parker’s Charity Fund as it was their inspiration that led to the busk taking place in the first place, but there are many branches of the Niemann Pick fund around the world that all raise funds for research and to help families coping with the disease.

If you are interested in raising money for this or any other charity of your choice and at your leisure, just as I have today, then read my post on the Street Musician 100 Musicians for Charity Challenge or head over to the 100 challenge group on Pledging for change and join in.

I’m thinking of giving it another go in a few weeks time. Hopefully if the whether is better, I’ll stick a few signs up, hand out some info, play for a few hours and spread the word a bit more.

If any one else wants to come out and join in, just send us an email and we’ll put something together.

On Friday, I kicked off my first personal 100 Challenge event by doing a charity busk in aid of the Niemann-Pick Type C – Children’s fund.

You can see how it went later but for those of you who have never heard of Niemann-Pick Type [...]]]> also known as

Children’s Alzheimer’s

On Friday, I kicked off my first personal 100 Challenge event by doing a charity busk in aid of the Niemann-Pick Type C – Children’s fund.

You can see how it went later but for those of you who have never heard of Niemann-Pick Type C, here’s a bit about it.

The children’s fund was set up in December 2008 by Michael and Jennifer Stults, the parents of two young children, Brisan and Parker who were diagnosed with the rare condition a only few months earlier.

Brisan & Parker

Check out their blog at www.bripardun.com

The organisation aims to spread awareness, raise funds and promote research into the genetic degenerative disease Niemann-Pick Type C, more commonly known as children’s alzheimer’s.

This rare terminal disease has no known cure and life expectancy for those diagnosed with the condition is believed to be less than 20. Usually the disease begins to affect children around the ages of about 4-7 and causes progressive deterioration of the nervous system.

Initially, Niemann-Pick Type C inhibits the body’s ability to metabolise cholesterol, which over a period of time causes an excess build up of this metabolite in the body, accumulating in the spleen, liver and brain of the child.

As the disease progresses, the build up of cholesterol around the body and other fat and sugar molecules in the brain cause a mass of physical and neurological problems including liver failure, loss of speech and voluntary movement, seizures, muscle degeneration and dementia which eventually leads to loss of life at an early age.

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Unfortunately, there is no known cure for this disease and because of it’s rarity, there is still a huge void of information throughout the medical world regarding the disorder, making it extremely difficult for doctors and pediatricians to treat the disease or even understand what causes it.

Sufferers of N.P Type C don’t have the luxury of countless years of medical research and history behind their condition, and as yet there are no tried and tested treatments which lead to a positive outcome.

Because of this lack of understanding, children and families around the world who are forced to deal with Neimann-Pick Type C find themselves in the front line, fighting a constant battle to help fund and promote new research into the disease and help in the development of medicines and treatments to combat it’s progression.

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There are some therapies available that can help with the numerous problems caused by the onset of Neimann-Pick, and by using drugs to control seizures, speech and occupational therapy to help with day to day living etc. and applying certain medications such as the drug Zavesca (Miglustat) to slow down the onset of N.P.C, it is possible to buy a little more time for those affected.

Unfortunately, these medicines are extremely expensive and run into hundreds of thousands of $ a year. The problem many sufferers of N.P Type C have is that although the drug Zavesca is approved by the F.D.A for the treatment of certain other Lysosomal Storage Disorders such as Type 1 Gaucher disease, it is not currently officially approved for the treatment of Neimann-Pick Type C and therefore has to be used ‘off label’.

When a drug is used ‘off label’ it means it is prescribed for a purpose outside it’s original scope of approval. Because of this, many insurance companies refuse to fund the use of Zavesca for it’s patients in the treatment of Neimann-Pick, regardless of the fact that it is one of the only effective treatments on the market that has any effect on it’s progression. This means that until it is approved by the F.D.A for the specific purpose of treating N.P.C, many families that desperately need the drug will not have the chance to use it.

Progress is being made into the study of N.P.C but there is still and incredibly long way to go and until more research can be done and a breakthrough is made into it’s treatment, the children and families of those diagnosed with the disease face a lifetime of testing and an uncertain future.

As the parents of Brisan and Parker, Mike and Jennifer Stults have spent the last two years coping with the effects the disease has had on their boys and the rest of their family, but throughout the troubles they have also brought about the creation of the non profit organisation the Neimann-Pick Children’s Fund and achieved wonderful things by helping to raise awareness, providing funds for vital research and offering support to other families coping with the disease.

The struggles they face, along with many other families around the world coping with diseases like Neimann-Pick Type C, makes me realise just how lucky I am to be able to live a normal life and to not have to cope with serious illnesses like these on a daily basis.

The worst thing in the world must be to have to face the fear of one day knowing you may outlive your children. Finding a cure and trying to enjoy the little time left you have with your kids must be the only thing in life that really matters.

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For those of us who don’t have to deal with these sort of life threatening issues, it can be easy to take our everyday lives for granted, but if we take just a bit of time out of our daily routines to learn about these things and think about the struggles ordinary families like the Stults face every day, we can really learn to appreciate the lives we have and be thankful for what we’ve got, instead of always wishing for something more.

For families like the Stults, just knowing people are sharing in their ordeal and gaining an understanding of rare diseases like N.P – goes a long way to helping them get through each day with a glimmer of hope for the future.

If you would like to gain more of an understanding of the condition, please take some time to view Brisan and Parker’s Blog and the Neimann-Pick Children’s Fund website by clicking the links below.

Also listed are links to other Neimann-Pick foundations and charities around the world.

If you would like to offer your support or make a donation you can either visit the links below and donate to your particular countries fund, or :

Donate to the boys directly by visiting

http://www.bripardun.com/donate.html

Donate to the children’s fund by visiting

http://www.npcfund.org/donate.html

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Brisan & Parker’s Blog – www.bripardun.com
Neimann-Pick Children’s Fund – www.npcfund.org

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• Canadian Chapter of NNPDF (Canada)
• Vaincre Les Maladies Lysosomales (France)
• Niemann-Pick Selbsthilfegruppe (Germany)
• Fundacion Niemann-Pick de Espana (Spain)
• Niemann-Pick Disease Group (UK)
• Associazione italiana Niemann-Pick (Italy)
• Dana’s Angels Research Trust (DART) (United States)
• Ara Parseghian  Medical Research Foundation (United States)
• NP-C Association Argentina (Argentina)
• Austrailian NPC Disease Foundation (Australia)

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Even better, if you would like to promote awareness or raise funds for any of the charities above or for any particular cause that you feel strongly about, take a look at my post on the 100 challenge, join up and go out and have some fun doing something worthwhile.

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Below are more links to other families dealing with Niemann Pick type C

• Addi & Cassi Hempel
• Breann Chavez
• Cathryn and Corynne Bouchard
• Dillion Papier
• Emily Hrbacek
• Fight For Jessica
• Gabrielle LaVerde
• Georgina’s Gang
• Hadley Hope
• Help Kevin
• Hope For Aaditya
• Hope For Hollie (UK)
• Jacobs Reach
• Kaiden
• Life For Luke
• Mindy Fagan
• Race For Adam
• Tylor White-Richardson
• Touchdown For Ty
• Joshua Cullip’s Homepage
• Addi and Cassi’s Homepage
• Hope For Aaditya
• Calum Burdon’s Homepage
• Georgina’s Gang
• Book of Ben

Take some time to visit these children’s websites and read their stories. If you can pledge your support or offer a small donation to any of them, it will be more than gratefully received.

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Last Friday I ventured out to try and raise a few pounds to donate to the cause…check out my next post to see how I got on.

If you are thinking of planning a charity event to raise cash for your cause, whether it’s a small personal challenge or a big public event, the one thing we must ensure is that we are fully aware of the legalities involved in collecting for charity, especially [...]]]> Collections – Licences & Laws

If you are thinking of planning a charity event to raise cash for your cause, whether it’s a small personal challenge or a big public event, the one thing we must ensure is that we are fully aware of the legalities involved in collecting for charity, especially if the intention is to collect in public.

The last thing you need when you are trying to do something good, is to get arrested by the police and get your name splashed all over the local papers for being a fraudster.

There can be a fine line between having a successful, legitimate charity event or collection and having a shady pitch that is going to attract suspicion from passers by and get you in trouble.

Spidey forgot his licence !

Often the difference between the two comes down to no more than what you actually say to the people you are collecting from or just a simple phone call to inform the necessary bodies of your intentions before you go out and collect.

Every town and city council tend to have their own specific regulations on what they allow in their streets and although they all steer generally in the same direction, there will be minor differences in the way they operate, which could make the difference between you stepping over the line and getting arrested, or remaining legal and doing something good.

When Do I Need A Licence ?

The main issue concerning any charity collection is whether or not the collection is publicly accessible.

If your collection is publicly accessible – you will most likely need a licence to collect.

What we mean by publicly accessible is for example, collecting from passers by in the street or perhaps in a car park, outside a supermarket or anywhere the general public can freely ‘access’ you without having to pay for entry or buy a ticket to get in.

This also applies with house to house or door to door collections.

Collecting Without A Licence ?

If your collection is NOT publicly accessible – you do not need a licence to collect.

An event that is not publicly accessible is generally one that is held on private property or an event that you would have to pay to get in to, such as a fate, fair or one that requires a ticket or reservations to gain access. If you are holding an event on private property, although you don’t need a licence it is usually necessary to gain the permission of the owner or landlord before hand.

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There are circumstances where your event might be held in a publicly accessible place, but you don’t necessarily need a ‘charity collection’ licence to raise funds, however in these instances it is quite likely you will need a different sort of licence in order to proceed, which will still involve contacting your local council or police.

Getting Round the Licence

If your fund raising involves a charity street jam or some sort performance to raise money in a place that is publicly accessible, but you don’t have a charity collection licence, as long as you have permission to play (which may or may not require a busking licence, depending on your town or city) you can still go ahead and remain within the law if you collect without informing the public that the collection is for charity.

This is a great technique if you fancy just nipping out and quickly doing your bit for the cause without causing a fuss or needing any preparation, although you do have to be careful what you say to the general public from whom who you are collecting.

This might seem a little strange and you’d think that if you were out busking, there would be no harm in telling the people throwing you money that it was for charity. The problem is, although most people would be delighted that you were performing for a good cause and many others probably wouldn’t notice or care, there are always going to be a few weary folks who will immediately be suspicious of your intentions and think that without a badge or licence you are most likely a con artist trying to scam a few quid for your next can of super strength.

The absence of a badge or official i.d and a statement that you are collecting for charity will most definitely raise suspicions and lead to complaints, whereas if you are posing as a simple musician out performing for your daily bread, but underneath you are a shinning example of modern martyrdom who donates his earnings to charity without telling a soul, then you can collect as much as you like without fear of being prosecuted.

To tell you the truth, the last time I did a charity busk, I had official signs pinned up on the wall behind me, more notices pinned on my guitar case and was backed by an official world known charity, but every time someone threw a coin in my pot and I mentioned it was for charity, most people stated they hadn’t even noticed and were just giving some cash because they liked the songs… typical eh ! So sometimes you may be better off just getting out there and getting the job done without telling anyone it’s for charity, because as soon as you do, if you haven’t got a proper licence, you are technically breaking the law.

It’s Not Just About the Cash

Although the above idea is great if you want to go out and raise some money quickly, we should remember that if you are collecting for charity, especially when doing your bit for the 100 challenge, it’s not all just about raising money, the point is also to promote the causes we support and make others aware they exist, so if you have the time to plan your event in advance, it is best to make that simple phone call and secure a licence so you can really make a song and dance about it when you get there.

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Selling Licence

Many organisations get around having to apply for a collection licence by selling a product and donating the profits to charity. These can be things like poppy’s, badges or perhaps holding events like charity jumble sales for example. In these cases you don’t need a collection licence. This also applies to events where the fund raiser is charging in exchange for a ‘go’ on something, which could be anything from a tom bowler or prize draw to an instant raffle or something similar.

In these instances, although you may not need a collection licence to legitimately sell your fundraising item in the street, you will most likely need a street selling licence, which can also be obtained from your local council or the governing body that runs that particular area.

Getting A Licence

Luckily enough, getting a licence to collect for charity is generally very easy. Your local council will have a licencing department who deal with that sort of thing and if you give them a call they will generally give them out without too much of a problem.

They will also check up on your supposed charity to ensure that it is a legitimate cause and will have to be informed of the particular date on which you intend to collect.

Some councils do have their own guidelines on how many collectors they will allow in the street on any one day. I know that our local council in particular will only allow one charity ‘group’ to collect in the street on any particular day but they do allow more than one collector from that charity to collect funds.

So you could have a few collectors for Cancer Research booked in on one day and fundraisers for Save The Children the next, but not both at once. I imagine the bigger charities will have their collection dates booked well in advance so it is advisable to check your preferred date is available before you start organising your event.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, every town and city will have slightly different rules regarding collections, so you may find you are still o.k to collect even if there are other campaigners in town at the same time. A simple call to your council will save many potential problems on the day.

How Much & How Long Does it Take ?

Licences are generally free, but the time it takes to get one differs radically from county to county. My local council said they could get me one within a week or so but I have read on other .gov websites (mostly from the bigger cities) that it can take anything from 1 to 12 weeks to obtain one. The official period on one site said to allow up to 12 weeks to complete the licencing process (probably just to cover themselves in case of problems) but they did allow ‘tacit consent’ to apply and so do many other councils.

Tacit consent – Basically means that you will be able to act as though your application is granted, even if you have not heard from them by the end of their target completion period.

Flouting The Law

There shouldn’t really be any need for our fundraisers to get them selves in trouble if they follow the simple guidelines mentioned above. Obviously, organisers should check up with relevant officials to ensure their local districts don’t have other rules and regulations that we may have missed here, but just in case you were wondering, there are two acts, the Police, Factories, Miscellaneous Provisions Act of 1916 and the Local Government Act of 1972 which can be thrown at you if you do step over the line or ignore the rules.

I recently witnessed a big scene in our local high street where a young lad was collecting for a particular charity. He looked pretty official and seemed to be doing a good job, but after a while I noticed he had attracted the attention of local police and a few other official looking people, along with one or two irate looking shop keepers.

This commotion went on for about an hour and the guy looked really racked off. He looked like he was with an official charity and I assumed he didn’t have the correct licence for what he was doing. I have since found out that the organisation he was working for was indeed an official charity, but was selling leaflets to raise money for charity under a news vending licence instead of a street selling or charity collection licence.

Apparently, his actions could not be classified as ‘news vending’ and that particular charity had previously been in trouble for doing the same thing in one or two other counties. The lad was not prosecuted but his ordeal was highly embarrassing and he was eventually kicked off the street. The charity he was collecting for has now been banned from collecting in this county.

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I’m sure for most of you it won’t come to that, as with the smallest bit of preparation and a bit of common sense these troubles can be easily avoided.

That’s about it, but if you need any more information on the subject, contact your local council and make sure you and your fellow fundraisers know exactly where they stand regarding the law and their fundraising activities.

What ever you decide to do – whether it’s personal or public, whether you decide to tell the world or keep it to yourself, just go out and enjoy yourself.

If you’d like to get together with other musicians and like minded people interested in raising a bit of cash every now and then, make sure you check out my post on the 100 Musicians for Charity Challenge, join up and get out there and do something good.

Artist Amanda Dunbar paints a 10-foot fiberglass Gibson Les Paul Guitar sculpture to raise money for good causes.

It was good fun and I’d been meaning [...]]]> Last summer I took part in the World Busk, which was an event to raise money for David Juritz’s charity - Musequality, the event was also a world record attempt to get the most people busking simultaneously around the world at any one time.

It was good fun and I’d been meaning to get into charity busking for quite some time, so being asked to take part in the event was a good opportunity for me to actually get round to doing it.

It’s been something that I’ve always wanted to do, especially since I started busking a few years ago and I thought it would be good to one day use my music to achieve something positive and make a difference to those in the world whose lives are less fortunate than our own.

Shortly after, I was invited to join a community called Pledging for Change by the site’s founder Karen Maskall, who contacted me on Twitter.

Pledging for Change is a non profit community interest organisation that supports charities, ethical business and non-profit organisations who are trying to make a difference in the world. After joining, Karen set me a challenge to find 100 musicians out there who are willing to play for charity.

At the time, I knew it would be a few months before I could get stuck into the task as I was struggling to set up my new business selling artisan goods from South America, so I had to put the challenge on the back burner until things had calmed down and I could get back to blogging.

That moment has now arrived and I reckon it’s time to kick off the -

Street Musician – 100 Musicians For Charity Challenge

That’s right, as the name suggests I’m looking for 100 musicians who are willing to stand up every once in a while and do something good for the world in which we live.

Now, I’m not suggesting we all rush out and save the planet or devote huge amounts of time and money to yet another bottomless cause, what I’m asking is that a few of our readers and fellow musicians, including myself, make a very small pledge to go out every once in a while and use the skills we have as musicians, whether amateur or professional, to do something good for someone else rather than ourselves.

It’s not about a raising money for a particular cause or event, it’s about getting people involved on their own terms on a general level and creating an attitude where musicians across the globe think about others more often and use their skills and abilities in a positive manner. The beauty is, we can all do this without really having to divert too much time or effort from our everyday lives.

Give Someone a Hand

The aim is to create a relaxed community of musicians and music enthusiasts who can exchange ideas about raising money for charity, promote various causes and gain support for their ideas and fund raising events, no matter how large or small, and post the results in a friendly environment.

It will also be a great way of meeting up with other musicians in your local area who want to get out and do something fun for a change. Members of the 100 Challenge can engage in their own solo projects or get together and arrange fun events like charity street gigs, busking sessions or jam nights with musicians in their locality when ever they like.

It’s a great excuse to just get out and play.

…

But this challenge isn’t just about musicians playing music to earn money for charity, it’s about everyone, musically minded or not, using the skills we have and the positions we hold, and putting them to good use for the benefit of others…that is what the 100 Challenge is all about.

Reach Out

Being a musician and blogger, for me the best way I can help is to use my musical skills to busk and gig for charity every now and then, use my blog to reach out and help raise awareness for the charities we play for, and also motivate other musicians to do the same.

There is a huge community of guitar bloggers out there, along with many other music related sites who reach out to tens of thousands of musicians and enthusiasts around the world on a daily basis. If we can promote the idea of this challenge across a number of guitar/music blogs and other sites, we should get a good few people interested.

…

I know everyone has got their own problems to deal with, but compared to millions of people out there who are desperately in need of help, where a few pounds can make a huge difference to lives of many, putting in an hour of our time once or twice a year to promote a worthy cause is not much to ask.

How many times have you seen adverts on TV for children going blind, or cancer research programs asking for money and every day we pass by street collectors fundraising for the Red Cross or Children in Need. We may put a few quid in the tin every now and then and think we are doing our bit, but if we can all do just that little bit more, and enough of us jump on the band wagon, then we can make a real difference.

Support

The one thing we all need if we are going to do something good, is support. This group will be focused mainly around the Street Musician’s 100 Challenge Group on the Pledging for Change social network site. PFC will be providing support in many ways for all our members and their charity efforts.

The Rules

There Are No Rules

It doesn’t matter what skills you have got, how good you are or what instrument you play. There are also no rules on when you are going to do your bit or what you decide to do.

All you need to do is make a promise to yourself and someone else around you, that on at least one day this year, you are going to go out and do something good for a cause that you believe in.

If you’ve been thinking about doing something for charity but weren’t sure quite what to do or how to do it, then this is the perfect opportunity to make that idea into reality at your own pace and without too much pressure.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you raise, it can be £5000 or 50 p. It doesn’t matter what you do, you can perform in public or in  private to your family and friends, perform solo or in a band, as part of a death metal group or the choir.

There are many ways you can contribute and what ever suits you is the best way to go. If you are not much of a performer you could head out to a jam night and stay sober for a change, maybe donate your beer money to charity, or lug some equipment around and help out at a charity gig. You could always sell an old pedal you’ve not used for years and send the cheque off to a relief fund.

The idea is to get creative and think of some really cool ways of raising that few pounds or completing the task you’ve set yourself to do.

You can also join in as much or as little as you like over the next year. If you have the time, you are most welcome to go out and do your thing once or twice a week. Even if you haven’t got the time to do this sort of stuff, as long as you can manage one event this year, that will do for us.

How Can You Join In ?

Experienced Players

Gig – Busk – Perform

For the pro and semi pro musicians out there, the obvious choice would be to go out and do a gig or performance and put the proceeds towards charity or a cause close to your heart. Even if you don’t get paid for it, if you promote the cause, you will help raise awareness. Play where ever you like or are able to, in a pub, club, bar, park or the street.

If you are a busker, go out and busk an extra day one week and donate your earnings to your charity. If you want to make the day more fun, get together with other buskers in your area and take turns. You could get a group together or alternate so one person busks while the other collects from passers by.

Collect

If you’re strapped for cash and can’t afford to play for free, a  good way of raising extra funds without loosing your shopping budget would be to have a donation bucket at your gigs or send around a collection pot afterwards. Audiences, especially drunk ones tend to be very generous after ten pints, so a quick charity whip round after a successful gig could be quite effective and not affect your band’s earnings.

Website Widgets

Perhaps you have a band website that gets a lot of hits. Adding a donation widget for your charity to your website can be done very quickly and easily using features provided by charity organisations like Justgiving. Click here to see what they are all about and how a donation widget can work for you.

Organise a Group Event

If you want to go that extra mile, get together with a few other artists in your area, sell a few tickets and get a charity gig night going with a few local bands and musicians. It will be a great night and you should make a few quid for the cause while also being good promotion for yourselves and all those involved.

Amateur Musicians

Book Your First Gig or Busk

For the amateur musicians who want to join in – a great way to do something good, improve your skills and give your playing a boost would be to give yourself a target or date to aim for when you intend to do your first busk or live performance. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, if on the day of your first ever performance you are playing for charity, you’ll get a really warm response from your audience, who ever they are.

Non Performers – Lend a Hand

If you are a non performer or are not happy in the lime light, everyone can try and make use of the skills they already have. Whether it is raising money in a passive manner, or having a sponsored jam at home, lugging equipment around, helping out as a volunteer or just giving advice and bringing awareness to charities who are making a difference, whatever you do best, go out and book a date to do it so you can say you have done your bit.

Be Creative

As I said above, think about what you can do and you’ll come up with some great ways of earning money or showing your support in as many creative ways as possible.

Quit Something

Quit partying for a week and vow to practice every night instead. This will give your playing a huge boost and donating the beer money you’ve saved to charity will make you a better person and a healthier one at that.

You could do the same by giving up smoking and play like hell through the cravings and suicidal thoughts for the next two weeks.

Just don’t throttle yourself with your guitar strings if it gets too bad.

Diet

Stop eating junk food and munchies for a week and send the cash to charity. You’ll lose some weight, look better and will have kicked off a worthy diet you can feel good about.

Gear/Tec Heads

Fix or Sell Something

If  you are more of a gear or tec head, flog some equipment or fix up an old amp and sell it. You could always set yourself a challenge to buy a piece of equipment from the free ads or Ebay for a few pounds, do it up and sell it. If you make a profit, donate that to charity, if you loose out, well at least you tried !

You never know, if you get the knack for it and make some cash, you could find yourself starting up a business fixing gear and flogging it.

Sing it - play it - fix it - sell it !

Guitar Teachers

Charge a Little More

Tell your students that you are going to charge an extra pound or couple of dollars for your lessons one week and give the proceeds to charity. I’m sure if it’s a one off or few and far between, students wouldn’t mind paying that little extra for a good cause. You could always add an extra ten minutes on the end of your lesson to make up for it.

Bloggers

Spread The Word – Blog/Retweet

Bloggers can really help out by simply doing a quick post or reference about this challenge on your site, Re-Tweet links to the 100 Musician’s Charity Challenge and if an event is happening in your area, even if it is just a guy out busking for a few hours, let your readers know about it.

Already Involved ?

If you are a musician who is already involved in charity projects and have events coming up and would like to gain more support for your cause, join in and tell us about what is going on.

…

I think when it comes down to it, everyone has a duty to do something good for our planet at some point in their lives as each and every one of us takes so much from it on a daily basis.

It doesn’t matter how much, how little or how often we decide to give something back, or even what that ’something’ is…all that matters is that every now and then we at least try our best to do some good.

A Call to Action

Once we’ve got enough people involved in the Charity Challenge and have reached 100 musicians (and hopefully many more), the idea will also be to extend to bigger projects every now and then where we will be calling for volunteers from the group to take part in large fund raising events such as Children in Need etc. so we can all focus our sights on one particular cause and really do some good in that direction.

With plenty of support from Pledging For Change, these events will be properly organised and on a much larger scale than our own personal fund raising antics, and as always there will be no obligation to get involved in anything unless you really want to.

Having a large community of people will allow us to engage in some really positive work in the long term future, both on a small scale, raising money for fun amongst ourselves and also on a large scale as part of the bigger 100 volunteer charity events.

Should be good fun !

How Do I Join ?

Joining the challenge is easy…

First you head over to Pledging For Change take a look around and sign up for free as a member of the community.

Or if you like you can sign up by clicking here to register as a member.

Once you have entered your details, when you reach the ‘Create Your Profile’ page – Click the box that says ‘I Am Joining For A Specific Reason’ and select ‘Musician’s Challenge’

…

Once you are registered, log in and join my Street Musician’s 100 Challenge group and you will see other members there who have already joined and a few discussions telling you how to get started.

Check out my ‘Introduce Yourself to the Challenge‘ post and tell us a few words about your self. What music you are into, what instruments you play, your general skill level and the sort of things you would like to do to raise a bit of cash in the future.

You can also mention if you’d like to join up with others in your area to arrange something or perhaps get an event going. You can aim for something simple like a street jam or busking session, or be a bit more adventurous and see who’s up for a charity album at some point in the future. Other like minded musicians will be able to contact you through PFC and as the community grows, the possibilities and opportunities will grow too.

…

Have a look at my ‘Collecting For Charity Guide‘ which gives useful information on where you stand with the law regarding your future fundraising activities.

Take a look at some of the posts and join in the discussions.

…

Once you have decided what you are going to be doing and where it’s going to take place, tell us about it by listing your event in the ‘Events Guide‘. You can then link to your own blog posts or website and start a new discussion about your event in detail.

…

You are also welcome to start your own posts in the group about anything you like. You could list your future intentions or tell us about your past successes, or failures as the case may be..

..and feel free to promote your particular charity or cause if you have one.

As part of the 100 Challenge group you will find plenty of support for your cause and as we grow in size over the next few months and head towards our target of 100 musicians busking for charity, you’ll find a good few like minded people willing to help in what ever way they can.

Whether it is busking, joining in the jam, getting a charity gig together, promoting an up and coming event or just coming along and offering support, if you are up for doing something positive or want to get an event going on in your area, put your name down for the Street Musician’s 100 Challenge, start a group post about it, and tell the world.

It is still early days yet and we have a long way to go, but it only takes a few people to make a big difference.

Thanks for Joining.

]]> http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/musiciansforcharity/feed/ 3 http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/haiti-earthquake-disaster/ http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/haiti-earthquake-disaster/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:46:56 +0000 Kier http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/?p=1235 If you’ve been watching the news unfold over the last fortnight you’ll be well aware that twelve days ago on the 12th January, a massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale tore apart the tiny Caribbean nation of Haiti, devastating the populated district of Carrefour and the capital city Port Au Prince, [...]]]> If you’ve been watching the news unfold over the last fortnight you’ll be well aware that twelve days ago on the 12^th January, a massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale tore apart the tiny Caribbean nation of Haiti, devastating the populated district of Carrefour and the capital city Port Au Prince, causing massive widespread destruction to the surrounding areas for miles around.

The quake hit around 10 miles West of Port Au Prince and was followed by two more severe aftershocks that wreaked havoc on the capital city, killing an estimated one hundred and fifty thousand people and injuring countless others.

The devastation that ripped through the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, has bought a nation to its knees and was on an unprecedented scale, the like of which has not been seen for over two hundred years.

Click the image below for an interactive map of the Haiti earthquake zone. Includes layered information on various statistics such as population density, damage zone and an animation showing the key aftershocks that hit the area over the following days.

The catastrophic effects of this earthquake have caused a massive humanitarian crisis in the stricken region, leaving hundreds of thousands of men, women and children homeless with no food, water or medical supplies.

Not only has the destruction taken the lives of many of the population, the situation has been worsened by the destruction of large parts of the country’s infrastructure, making it extremely difficult for aid organisations to mount an effective relief effort to deal with the crisis.

Although the international community’s rescue and aid efforts were initially criticised for being slow to react to the disaster, aid agencies have explained the sheer scale of the devastation and the logistical implications involved in dealing with an earthquake of this magnitude on an island such as Hispaniola, are making the task immensely difficult to cope with.

Apart from taking time for aid workers and supplies to be able to reach the destination, the task of landing hundreds of supply planes a day on the islands’ small and ill equipped airports and runways was only one of the many problems facing the relief agencies as they scrambled to the devastated region. The main port was also heavily damaged meaning larger, more permanent relief vessels could not be docked and only smaller supply ships were able to dock at neighbouring ports.

Getting aid to the people who need it most and distributing vital supplies throughout the affected zones was also made virtually impossible due to the severely damaged infrastructure of the affected areas and the limited resources of the ruined nation.

Co-ordinating the effort was further hampered due to Haiti’s phone, internet and communication systems being down for the first 48 hours after the quake.

A lack of vehicles, fuel, storage facilities and badly damaged roads strewn with vehicles, demolished buildings and thousands of desperate refugees leaving the capital, has made getting aid to those who need an extreme challenge.

Over the last two weeks the relief efforts have gained massive pace in an attempt to bring the worsening situation under control, but the overwhelming need for food, clean water and medical equipment to treat the hundreds of thousands of injuries has meant there are still not enough supplies to go round, the surviving population have been forced to live and deal with unbearable conditions since the disaster struck.

With the situation becoming more desperate by the day, concerns for the security and safety of the aid workers have also been a major problem hampering the distribution efforts.

Severe Shortage of Medical Equipment

Due to the nature of the casualties sustained in an earthquake situation, the majority of injuries involve heavily crushed limbs, resulting in amputation and wounds prone to infection. With a shortage of medical supplies and antibiotics, many operations have had to be carried out without the use of sterile equipment and proper instruments.

Huge numbers of people caught in the quakes have been unable to reach medical centres and receive treatment in time. In these situations even small injuries run the risk of infection leading to gangrene and sepia (blood poisoning). Medical centres have been reporting huge numbers of amputations being performed every day as a last resort to prevent the onset of sepia in the unsavable limbs and other wounds of crush victims.

Amputees then have to return to face unbearable living conditions and deal with the aftermath of the operation, surviving without antibiotics, clean dressings and fresh water.

The disaster is said to have left over 150 000 children orphaned and it is estimated the death toll may reach 200 000 with many more men, women and children still feared dead or missing. Last night the confirmed death toll had already reached 120 000 with agencies believing that many of the dead would have already been buried by their families and relatives soon after discovery.

The crisis has left tens of thousands of families suffering, with loved ones missing and unsure of their future. The earthquake is said to have affected the lives of over three million people in the area.

It is now the 24th Jan and we have been watching the nightmare unfold on our screens for nearly two weeks.

Hundreds of independent charities and aid organisations from around the world are working in the heart of the disaster zone bringing relief to those in need.

Alongside the larger and more widely know charities such as Oxfam, the Red Cross, Unicef and Save The Children etc. there are also many lesser know charities contributing their skills and expertise to the cause, such as Care, Air Serve International and Habitat for Humanity to name a few.

Thousands of volunteers from all over the world have flown to Haiti to help the aid process and collections are being held in towns and cities across the globe.

Although there is now a sustained and co-ordinated relief effort dealing with the situation, it is going to take billions of pounds and many years to return some sort of stability and normality to the area and we all need to individually do our bit to help the effort.

Have you donated yet ?

When disasters of this magnitude strike, we see the nightmare unfold on our screens across the world and are inundated with news bulletins and reports on radio, television and the internet. The shock and horror hits our hearts as we see a nation’s plight and we feel the urge to do something to help. The campaigns for help grow in number and the money starts to roll in.

As the days pass and aid organisations pile in to deal with the situation, we see anarchy and chaos give way to organised chaos and start to hear stories of miraculous rescues and record amounts of cash being donated to the disaster funds.

Viewers subjected to daily broadcasts of suffering and trauma quickly become accustomed to the images they see, and after a couple of weeks news reports start to drift back to matters closer to home, devoting less and less air time to the crisis. The viewing public think ‘Oh well – that’s that sorted then’.

Well it isn’t and won’t be for a long time.

It is easy for us to believe everything is now in place and the situation is under control, with plenty of money and aid available and that we can forget about it and get back to our comfortable lives. Don’t be lulled into thinking it’s over.

The people of Haiti are now facing months of unimaginable physical and psychological suffering due to the damage that has been caused to their nation.

Even with the help the aid the agencies provide, the scale of the disaster is on such a massive scale that they will be dealing with the terrible consequences for years to come, with the final cost to repair the situation running into billions of pounds.

Donate

Many of you will have already donated money to the cause over the last twelve days, but for those who are still yet to offer support, your help  is still desperately needed and will be for a long time to come.

It doesn’t matter how much you donate, or which program you donate to, as long as you do something to help, no matter how small.

Interaction.org has compiled a list of many of the charities and organisations operating in Haiti. If you would like to help or donate to the cause, please click the link below and visit the listed charities websites.

These agencies all deal with different aspects involved in coping with this disaster and you may find one you choose to support that is closer to your heart.

Click the image below or visit Interaction.org’s relief list page for more detailed explanations of the charities involved and how they are helping the Haitian people in their time of need.

Interaction.org

If you would like to donate by phone here are a few ways you can donate by Text or credit card.

Haiti Text-To-Give Numbers

Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross

Text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to International Rescue Committee

Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada

Text YELE to 501501 to donation $5 to Yele

Text HAITI to 864833 to donate $5 to The United Way

Text CERF to 90999 to donate $5 to The United Nations Foundation

Text DISASTER to 90999 to donate $10 to Compassion International

Text RELIEF to 30644 You will be connected with Catholic Relief Services and instruct you to donate money with your credit card.

As always, amongst the constant reports of doom and gloom emerging from the scenes of destruction, there are always a few miracles that take place amongst the carnage. These scenes of compassion and kindness provide us with a glimmer of hope for the future and show the generosity of the public and the unbreakable nature of the human spirit in times of need.

A nurse and child pulled from the rubble after 4 days

The miracle baby – 3 Week old baby Elizabeth pulled from the rubble after being buried alone for 8 days

The Presidential Palace in Ruins

Please donate

I was a bit worried whether I was going to be able to hack it today as I’ve had a cold and a sore throat for a number of days, and after canceling a gig in a local [...]]]> World Busk Fund Raising Totals

Just got back from my Musequality charity busk in town.

I was a bit worried whether I was going to be able to hack it today as I’ve had a cold and a sore throat for a number of days, and after canceling a gig in a local restaurant a few nights ago, thought I might have to bail out of today’s busk as well.

But heroically, with a just cause to will me on and without a moments thought to my own fragile well being, I fought through the searing heat, spluttering cough and scratchy throat for just over two hours before finally calling it a day and completing my world busk.

Town was pretty deserted for the first half of the session as the main focus of the town today was the armed forces celebrations for the War Veteran’s Festival going on all this weekend.

I was half an hour late getting to my busk as I ran into the memorial service taking place on the seafront while heading towards town and my busking spot. With the military bands playing and prayers taking place for the countless lives lost in the wars, it was only right to take a few moments out and join in with the thousands of people watching, praying and taking part in the ceremony.

Veteran’s March and Remembrance Service

Living where I live, just off the seafront, means we are always smack in the middle of anything that goes on in this town and it’s nice to know that whenever a war commemoration service or D – Day celebrations take place and other events like carnivals and summer fireworks, it’s always happening literally a hundred yards up the road, so it’s easy to join in and you never miss out on much.

Busk

Once the main service was over I eventually got to my spot in town, put my posters up and got the busk underway.

Town was pretty dead as most people were still watching the various bands marching up and down the front during the morning’s events. The only cash to come in for the first half hour was the 50p I put in to start with to kick off my busking pot.

With my voice straining and no cash coming in, I thought it was going to be a complete disaster until I was saved by one of my mates in town seeing me and on hearing it was all for charity, stuck in £3.50. I was really pleased with that and it made up for a bad start, but even with strategically placed World Busk ads behind me and moving them around every now and then for better visibility, the fact that the busk was for charity didn’t seem to make as much difference as I’d hoped to the earnings.

It seemed people weren’t really noticing the ads, and as I thanked passers by for their donations and stated that it was all for charity, it was only then they realised it was a charity busk. I think if I had stuck a huge wall of posters behind me or a giant World Busk poster, it might have made a difference and people would have been more aware of the cause. It may not have made a difference to the level of donations but then again who knows. Next year, I think I’ll make a 4 foot sign and stick lights on it, just to make sure.

12 o’ clock came and went and after getting a photo of me busking and a signed witness statement saying I was there and completing the required half an hour for the World Record round the world busk attempt, I got on with the job of getting the public to sling a bit of cash my way.

Once the morning parades had finished on the sea front, town filled up a bit and a few coins started rolling in.

Busking for The Musequality World Busk

I gave it just over two hours, and got some good donations and a few nice comments. I normally busk for about 3 or 4 hours but with a dodgy throat I could see I would really wreck myself if I pushed it any more.

A couple of flyby’s from WW2 Hurricane and Spitfire planes at around 2pm signaled the end of my busk and I packed my stuff and wandered back along the seafront.

The veteran’s festival was in full swing with tanks, armoured vehicles, servicemen and stalls all along the beach and promenade on yet another scorching hot day in sunny Weymouth.

Here’s a few photo’s of things going on.

Tank Crew

WW2 Vehicle Line Up

Big Guns

It’s all going on in Weymouth over the Summer, we’ve got the Olympics here in 2012 and a couple of days ago the Queen and Prince Philip stopped by to say ‘Hi’.

Here’s couple of photo’s I took on the way past.

HRH arriving by train and getting in the bomb proof Bently.

Penny for the busker Ma’am

I should have hassled her for a few quid aswell.

In fact a few hours later as she left Weymouth after a bit of sight seeing, a boat trip and a wander round the beach, she pulled up about a meter away from my daughter and fiancee at the traffic lights and waved at them as they waited to cross.

Anyway, back to the busk. On the way home, I stopped in on a few of our neighbours in our street and hassled them for a coin or two to stick in my case. As always they were happy to oblige and added a few more coins to the pot.

There’s still a couple of people I’ve yet to collar, and I’ve got to add what we collected to the £10 I’ve got on my donations page, but so far in real cash we made….wait for it…

£ 23.54

…plus £10 from my donations page

That makes £33.54

It’s not bad… better than a kick in the teeth anyway, and hopefully we’ll get a few more pounds over the next couple of days to add to it.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been kind enough to donate to the cause this week and all the buskers who have taken part and done their bit around the world.

I’m not sure if we’ve broken the record for the most simultaneous buskers busking around the world but I’ll let you know the results when I get them in from the World Busk team.

Once again, if anyone feels like adding to the charity busking fund over the next few days, check out my donations page over at Justgiving.com or send me an email.

Here’s the Musequality website…take a look at what else they are doing around the world.

Quick Update

Here’s a vid from the British Antarctic Survey team, who did their busk in the middle of antarctica. It didn’t take long for their gear to freeze. Well done guys.

…and here’s a quick summary of how the busk went and some links to more You Tube World Busk vids sent in by other players.

http://www.worldbusk.org/index.html

Cheers.

Posted 14.06.09

Other Posts of Interest

What Equipment Do I Need ?
Busking
Busking Permits and Permissions
Busking Earnings
Famous People Busking

Back Home

The World Busk is a charity event which will raise money for good causes and attempt to break the world record for the biggest simultaneous busk around the world at [...]]]> I’ve just registered to take part in the biggest busk the world has ever seen.

UPDATE : STARTS TODAY 8th JUNE

The World Busk is a charity event which will raise money for good causes and attempt to break the world record for the biggest simultaneous busk around the world at any one time.

The event is being organised by the charity Musequality, which was founded by David Juritz, an internationally acclaimed violinist and leader of the London Mozart Players who in 2007 embarked on a round the world busk to raise money for charity.

David Juritz busking at the Golden Gate, San Francisco

Musequality sets up and funds communal music projects for some of the poorest and most disadvantaged children in developing countries around the world and gives them the skills and qualities they need to turn their lives around.

The aim of the charity is not to produce professional musicians but to give vulnerable children the chance to learn skills such as self confidence, problem solving, numeracy, goal setting and to help them build a sense of identity, provide a route out of poverty and give them a chance to escape the risks of drug culture, violence and crime that these children suffer on a daily basis.

The event lasts all week from Monday 8th June to Sunday 14th. To take part in the world busk and raise money for charity you can play anywhere you like and at any time during the whole week. It doesn’t have to be a live performance in the street or in public and you can play in front of family, friends or who ever you choose.

You can register and get more information at www.worldbusk.org and the actual record attempt will take place at 12 noon on Sunday 14th June.

To achieve the world record, each busker must be playing at 12 noon local time and be busking for at least 25 minutes. The idea is to start a little before 12 and finish after 12.30 to ensure the required performance time is completed. I’ll probably play for two or three hours from about 11′o clock onwards to hopefully raise a bit of cash for the cause.

If you check out the World Busk web site, you will find loads of useful stuff including busking tips, information, maps of where registered buskers will be performing, promotional material to download and help publicise your event and there’s an easy way to set up your own donations page in a few clicks at JustGiving.com.

If you would like to donate a few quid to this cause and help support the world busk, check out my donations page at..

http://www.justgiving.com/streetmusician

All your support will be greatly appreciated.

I’ll post more on this nearer the event. Until then take a look at the World Busk web site and see if you would like to take part or help out.

If you sign up, feel free to leave a comment below and tell us what you’re up to.

Click here to watch a short video of David busking in different locations around the World.

14 th June : POST BUSK UPDATE

Click here to see the funds raised from todays busk

Posted 11.05.09

Other Posts of Interest

What Equipment Do I Need ?
Busking
Busking Permits and Permissions
Busking Earnings
Famous People Busking

Back Home