Sidewalk Symphonies

Sidewalk Symphonies began in October of 2010, organizing a few of our friends' bands to play at Weaver D's, a local soul-food restaurant who's slogan gave the Athens-based rock band REM their inspiration behind the title of their album "Automatic for the People". Local patrons came out in droves, filling the lawn and sidewalk with eager ears and plates of fried chicken. The owner of Weaver D's was so impressed that he asked if we'd be willing to make this an ongoing thing, and so it began. Since that fateful fall day, we've booked over 20 local acts at around 10 local restaurants on a weekly basis, boosting business on not-so-busy nights and giving musicians a chance to get their name out to a music-loving audience. We've been featured in several local newspapers and publications, and also on our University radio station. We hope that this coming academic year will be all the more successful, and will help us to raise the funds necessary (about $20,000) to ship $200,000 worth of donated medical supplies to a new non-profit hospital in rural Kenya. We generate revenue from Sidewalk Symphonies by asking restaurant owners to donate a percentage of their profits for the night to our cause. This we hope to also host a Sidewalk Symphonies Festival, where we will invite all the restaurants that have participated as well as others to set up booths displaying their foods and products while the bands of Sidewalk Symphonies will entertain. Such an event has huge potential to bring publicity to local businesses and performers by drawing a large crowd, and we hope to gain enough money through donations and sponsorships to reach our goal and help increase access to basic healthcare to those who so desperately need it.