Local musician Samantha Church is taking her music to the streets of America for a project she hopes will make a social impact on the way we absorb the arts and support artists.
“For the last year, I’ve been preparing to live in a bus and tour around the country street performing,” she says. “However, I recently became a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit which sponsors individual artists to enable them to apply for grants usually denied to individual artists, and make contributions to their work tax-deductible. “
While crowdfunding has become the normal way to fund projects, Fractured Atlas presents itself as a game changer in that it creates a sustainable, steady income for buskers, allowing musicians to take more risks. Church hopes she can be supported enough to play music solely for the people —and not for money.
“As a street performer, in time, and with enough support I can eventually close my guitar case and forgo tips altogether,” she says. “The hope is to change the parameters of how live shows are produced and distributed and to highlight the idea of art as a public service rather than a commodity.”
Folks can donate through Church’s Rockethub campaign here until the deadline on Friday. She’s headed from New York to Los Angeles by way of Nashville, and incoming donations will dictate where she’ll stop in-between.
“The tour is indefinite, so I’ll be able to stop in towns and linger, get to know the culture and communities there before moving on,” she says. “I will, of course, be trying to hit as many major music hubs as I can as a guide, but it will be the smaller towns along the way that get less attention that will really make this tour.”
Though the Rockethub deadline is this Friday, tax-deductible donations will continue to be accepted at her Fractured Atlas page. Church says, “Recurring donations at any level are going to not only make the tour sustainable, but once a solid base is built and I don’t have to rely on tips to fuel my gas tank, it will enable me to donate any tips made to the local homeless shelters in each town I’m in — so I can give back to the towns that are hosting me as much as humanly possible.”
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
