October 2, 2000 (SAN FRANCISCO) The San Francisco Bay Area now has
a nonprofit arts organization solely designed to preserve and
benefit its endangered music culture. Founded by musicians and
other key members of the San Francisco music scene, The Popular
Noise Foundation today announced its strategy to reverse the decline
of local music in the San Francisco Bay Area, with plans to:
- Assist the music community in finding solutions for
sustainable rehearsal and performance space
- Provide a face for the local music community and validate
its credible place within the cultural establishment
- Award grants to promising music groups or individuals in
the community
- Represent local music to the business community and provide
avenues for the business community to assist local musicians
- Stage public concerts and events to showcase and benefit
the music community, and educate the public
PNF principals include: Noise Pop Festival founder Kevin Arnold;
Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and garageband.com; Scott Kannberg
of Pavement and Amazing Grease Records; Sharky Laguana of Creeper
Lagoon; Zeitgeist Artist Management principal Jordan Kurland;
Listen.com VP of Content/Editor-in-Chief Nick Tangborn; Chime
Interactive music technology consultants principal and IUMA co-founder
Jon Luini; and Lycos Music product manager, co-founder of nineup.com
and member of pinq Tim Mitchell. Musician Sheetal Singh is PNF's
full-time acting Executive Director.
PNF is committed to building an effective fundraising infrastructure
to ensure the ongoing preservation of the Bay Area music community,
and is working closely with other groups recently mobilized around
these issues, including the Save Local Music Coalition and RockOut
SF. As an arts foundation, an important part of this effort is to
provide a face for the local music community to the larger,
traditional arts community as well as the business community in
SF.
"The Bay Area business community and dot-coms in particular have
been accused of killing the local arts," says Popular Noise founder
Kevin Arnold, "but the perceived gap between those communities is
not as wide as many think. We're longtime fans and participants in
local music and we know that we all have a vested interest in seeing
the music scene continue to thrive. We believe that Popular Noise
can help individuals and businesses who have benefited from the
economic boom contribute back to the music scene they love."
For more information and our mission statement, as well as details
about how to donate or volunteer, see our website at
http://www.popularnoise.org.
Contact:
Kevin Arnold, Founder - kevin@popularnoise.org - 415.720.5228
Sheetal Singh, Acting Executive Director - sheetal@popularnoise.org
###
