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Trixie Mattel

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"Writing With Pride": GRAMMY Museum & Digital Drag Fest To Host Celebration Of LGBGTQ+ Songwriters

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The GRAMMY Museum has connected with Digital Drag Fest for “Writing With Pride”, a day of livestreamed panels, performances to celebrate LGBTQ+ songwriters and artists
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
May 7, 2020 - 4:20 pm

Just announced, the GRAMMY Museum will collaborate with Producer Entertainment Group’s Digital Drag Fest for Writing With Pride, a livestreamed celebration of LGBTQ+ songwriters and performers in the music industry. The one-day digital event will feature the likes of former "Ru Paul’s Drag Race" contestants Trixie Mattel, Jinx Monsoon and Alaska, as well as others including esteemed songwriters Justin Tranter and Leland.

Fans can tune into the event beginning at 11 A.M. Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, May 16 via StageIt where the program will kick off with a panel including Tranter, Monsoon and Mattel. Later, the digital fest will see live performances and in-depth conversations from Bright Light Bright Light, Stephen Wrabel, Sharon Needles and BeBe Zahara Benet amongst others.

In a statement to Rolling Stone regarding the event, Backstreet Boys and Kesha collaborator Wrabel said, "It’s so important to spotlight songwriters in the LGBTQ+ community, not only for the general exposure, but because we all have our own individual journeys that we are on… I think through music and lyric we can better understand each other’s hearts and heads and dreams and struggles. And events like this are such a beautiful way of sharing."

Additional information regarding scheduled artists and panelists is said to be announced at a later date. For more on the GRAMMY Museum, virtual exhibits and other additional programming, visit the museum’s site.

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Pitchfork Fest 2014

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Pitchfork Fest 2020 Has Been Canceled Due To COVID-19 Concerns

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The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run The Jewels, Waxahatchee, Thundercat, Tierra Whack and more were scheduled to perform at Chicago's Union Park in July
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
May 6, 2020 - 3:08 pm

Pitchfork Fest was set to celebrate its milestone 15th anniversary this year. However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pitchfork Fest 2020 has been canceled.

The Chicago festival, organized by the digital music publication and scheduled to run July 17–19, said it was "heartbroken" as it broke the news to festivalgoers in a statement on Tuesday, May 6. Pitchfork said the fest would come back in 2021 if the circumstances are right. 

"It can be pretty daunting to think about the future of live music right now, but know that we are fully committed to bringing Pitchfork Music Festival back in 2021, if the public health situation allows for it," organizers said. 

The 2020 festival rendition was set to feature Run The Jewels and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as headliners. Big Thief, Thundercat, Tierra Whack, Caroline Polachek, Waxahatchee, Danny Brown, Maxo Kream, Kim Gordon, Angel Olsen and Yaeji were among other performers set to take the stage at Union Park.  

The festival organized kick-off parties on Feb. 19 and 20 in celebration of its 15 years running. 

Last year, Pitchfork Fest's executive director Adam Krefman spoke to the Recording Academy ahead of the 2019 festival about how it stands out from the rest, its diversity inclusion in its lineup, how much it values being a festival monetarily accessible to fans and how it likes to highlight Chicago's culture. 

"We like to support our own and people are kind of self-made here. And so, that part is just important as the annual celebration of Chicago music and art and culture," Krefman said.

The festival reiterated in their statement that this was not the end for them and that in the meantime, they would continue to support artists in other ways.

"We’re not going anywhere—stay tuned, stay positive, and see you soon," the statement ended. 

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Janelle Monaé at the 60th GRAMMY Awards in 2018

Janelle Monaé 

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Janelle Monáe To Headline Verizon’s "Pay It Forward" Livestream

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The at-home concert will happen at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time via Verizon social channels and SiriusXM
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
Apr 30, 2020 - 2:45 pm

Taking place tonight, eight-time GRAMMY-nominated artist Janelle Monáe is set to perform on Verizon’s "Pay It Forward Live" streaming event. The series of livestreamed performances, presented by Verizon to support small businesses nationwide that have been impacted by COVID-19, has previously featured at-home sets from the likes of Dave Matthews and Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas.

Fans will be able to catch the live performance in the comfort of their homes, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Verizon’s social-media channels. Alternatively, the event stream will also be available on SiriusXM and iHeartRadio.

In a statement regarding the event and its proceeds, Monáe said, "We need to make sure we are surrounding all small businesses – especially black and LGBTQ owned – with support and love so that they can open their doors again one day soon."

For each use of the hashtag #PayItForwardLive during the event, Verizon will donate $10, up to a maximum of $2.5 million to small businesses.

You can find out more information about tuning in to the livestream and the COVID-19 relief efforts that it will support by visiting the Pay It Forward Live site.

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Massive Attack 

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Minecraft's Block By Blockwest Virtual Fest To Feature Massive Attack, Fever 333, Pussy Riot & More

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The virtual event will raise money for the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Apr 24, 2020 - 1:09 pm

Update: According to a representative of the festival, Block by Blockwest experienced an overload to their servers on the day of the event due to a larger-than-expected online turnout. The event has since been rescheduled to Saturday, May 16. According to a post on the event's website and the representative, the festival met its VIP donation goal of $5,000 in less than an hour, which has since been donated to COVID-19 relief initiatives.

Minecraft's virtual music festival Block by Blockwest will feature Massive Attack, Fever 333, Pussy Riot, IDLES, Cherry Glazerr and more on Saturday, April 25.

The acts will perform inside the Minecraft video game fest starting at 3 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. PT. The event will raise money for the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. 

The Wrecks, Oliver Francis, Phil Good, Citizen and Hunny are among the other acts. 

Organizers want festival attendees to experience a virtual music fest that brings them together through some of the ways they would at real-life music fests including three virtual stages. 

"Block by Blockwest aims to forge a hub of human connectivity in this time of social distancing through livestream acts, competitive mini games, a vast art gallery featuring rising fine artists as well as a handful of other features for the festival goer to explore," the fest said in a tutorial video explaining how the event will work. 

The tutorial said fest-goers will need to purchase the Minecraft Java Edition to join. 

Block by Blockwest is among the music livestream events deciding to take viewers into a virtual video game world. This week, Travis Scott premiered a song and launched a tour on another video game platform, Fortnite. 

To see the full lineup and stream Block by Blockwest, go to the event's website here. 

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#WomenCrush Music To Launch Virtual Tour In August

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The non-profit will support the music community via online showcases, industry panels and more.
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 28, 2020 - 12:49 pm

#WomenCrush Music, a non-profit arts organization supporting up-and-coming women songwriters, has announced a virtual tour that will bring songwriting showcases, panels and other online events with industry professionals to music communities across the country.

The national tour will kick off on Aug. 3 in San Francisco and then continue to 14 other cities through mid-December. The non-profit will collaborate with venues and sponsors at each stop to donate all proceeds to women, Black and people of color-owned venues as well as artists. They have also started a donation page on Facebook. Ten percent of the funds will go to Public Functionary, a platform for grassroots organizing across music, visual art, performance, and more.  

One of the Bay Area dates will benefit the Ivy Room and will feature a showcase with local musicians Skip The Needle, Coraza and No Lovely Thing's Melissa Jones on Aug. 6. On Aug.11, a webinar with Founder / CEO at Indie Music Women Linda Garnett and Manager & Consultant at Direct Input Management Courtney Fairchild will focus on taking careers to the next level.

The move to virtual events an effort to continue supporting the music community. The added local element to the online events was something #WomenCrush Music felt could further help connect communities. 

"When COVID-19 hit, I knew that as a community-focused organization we had to continue supporting our community in any way we possibly could," #WomenCrush Music Founder/CEO Ashley K. Stoyanov said in a statement. "While the weekly Instagram Lives and webinars were reaching an international audience and were a valuable resource, we wanted a way to help further connect the rising womxn songwriter community on a local level, as well as help support local music venues who truly make the local music scenes in these communities special. We have always wanted our events to be a place where womxn songwriters can find their next collaborators for shows and to share resources, and we hope that we can continue doing that even if it is virtually through this pandemic."

For more information on how to get tickets for the Bay Area or other cities, visit the #WomenCrush Music website. 

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