We all benefit from a strong music community

JWF Board President Rachel Melissa volunteering at our Waterfront Blues Festival booth. Read her letter to the community below.

Dear Music Friends and Family, 

In recent weeks, I've noticed a new series of billboards around Portland that announce, simply, “Portland Is What We Make It.” The mural-like advertisements feature colorful, happy scenes involving Portland iconography such as roses, beer, and pastel donuts. When I see these cheerful proclamations, I think to myself: Portland is Music.
 

Far and wide, we are known as a community built on music: from big names like, Esperanza Spalding, Elliott Smith, The Decemberists, The Shins, and Portugal. The Man – to local legends including Dharma Bums, The Freak Mountain Ramblers, LaRhonda Steele, Blitzen Trapper, Hazel, Norman Sylvester, and Pink Martini. We also have so many amazing up-and-coming artists: Kassi Valazza, Glitterfox, Blossom, Anna Tivel, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, and Margo Cilker – just to name a very small sampling. Music is everywhere here – and not only in Portland, but throughout Oregon.

The truth is, we ALL benefit from the strength of our music community. Despite the hardships faced by Portland in recent years, music will be a huge contributor to our city's rebirth. Unlike our roses and amazing restaurants, our city's music can easily and instantly travel around the country and the globe, making it one of the greatest possible ambassadors of Portland's enduring contributions to the arts.

How best can we support local music, aside from attending live shows and buying albums? We can invest in the health and well-being of the artists themselves. 

We can acknowledge that many musicians – even those who are well-known – work as independent contractors, living on modest incomes, often with inadequate access to healthcare and very little savings, if any. We can band together to support our beloved musicians and music industry workers when they become sick, injured, or experience mental health challenges.

If Portland is what we make it, let's be a part of the change. Join the JWF in supporting our music community, and tell the world: Portland is Music. 

Thank you for supporting our community. 

Sincerely,
Rachel Melissa
Board President, The Jeremy Wilson Foundation