Major ticket vendors may seem caught up in their own corporate agenda, yet sometimes a larger company structure and larger pool of supporters with financial resources can be a positive advantage.
StubHub, one of the world’s biggest digital marketplaces for tickets to concerts and other forms of live entertainment, has decided to use its massive presence to help efforts to sustain and expand “outstanding nonprofit organizations that are positively changing the lives of vulnerable youth through arts and recreation.” This is the core mission outlined for StubHub’s newly launched philanthropy based program, “Rising Stars” and the first recipient of the program’s affiliated award, is the The Roots of Music Foundation, based in New Orleans.
The Rising Stars program provides a combination grants and pro-bono services to the non-profits organizations that selected. Grants can range from $25,000-100,000 and the chosen companies also have free reign of the fan marketplace created by StubHub. The big picture shows potential for financial revival and exponentially wider opportunities for good public relations and general exposure.
The partnership between Roots of Music Foundation and StubHub showcases how this type of regionally focused resource can see an immediate boost in national public awareness within the collective arts world. StubHub’s effort is represented by a personalized project for “Roots” that takes the form of a short documentary titled after the New Orleans 501(c)(3) and is “produced in collaboration with the cast and crew members of the critically acclaimed HBO series, Treme.”
Aside from being well made and promotional unto itself, StubHub added an extra bonus onto the video to help “Roots.” Supplementing the $50,000 already awarded to the non-profit, if the video reaches that amount of views on YouTube come Super Bowl Sunday (February 3), that many more dollars gets bequeathed to the foundation from the StubHub Foundation.
The beauty of the focus for the Rising Stars program is in its unfolding “friendly giant” complex, seen through the program’s given awardee focus, explained by the CEO of StubHub, Chris Tsakalakis:
…Rising Stars will focus StubHub’s philanthropy where we see the greatest need: underserved, at-risk youth and locally rooted, grassroots nonprofits.
The funding for the Roots of Music will be marked as the biggest single gift since the StubHub Foundation’s beginnings. Different recipients will be announced during the course of the year, primarily in the main markets where StubHub conducts operations, which for the moment are Europe and North America. Suggestions for award candidates are accepted only through invitation but not-for-profit companies that have a concentration in nurturing youth through arts or sports related activity are allowed to send organization materials to the corporate responsibility division at StubHub for initial review and consideration. More information on submission procedure can be found here.
Below is “The Roots of Music” short documentary. Give it a watch, share and the views could reach 50,000 in no time!
Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1
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