Making Positive Change is a Collective Effort - Let's Do This!
Updated: May 5, 2022
Hi everyone,
There’s only a week to go until Rockaway welcomes Days N Daze and The Blunders on Thursday 12th May. We’re pleased to announce that Steve Lake of legendary anarcho-punk band, Zounds, will also be joining the bill, and we’re very close to selling out the physical tickets.
Following on from our success with live-streaming the Steve Ignorant gig last month, we're going to stream this show as well. The live-stream will kick off at 19.00 hours GMT and we really hope some of you can join us. I'm sure that many of you will know that we, at Rockaway, like to do things differently from the norm, and this will be no exception. We will once again be charging £5 to watch the show live, and then releasing the footage for free later. We would really like to stress that we welcome everyone, and if you're unable to contribute financially, that's fine. However, we’re also aware that many people might be able and willing to help support what we're doing and I'm going to attempt to explain a few things.
The last stream (Steve Ignorant Band, Ray Mighty & The Migraines) was paid for by 69 viewers at £5 each, although 200 watched it on the night… That's cool. We know people are going to share a code. We all do that from time to time. The £345 we raised was donated to Médecins Sans Frontières UK/Doctors Without Borders. Then we released the edited footage for free on our YouTube channel, with an option to donate via a GoFundMe page:
To date, the recording has been viewed over 2,200 times, yet the GoFundMe page has only received one donation of £20...
We were lucky enough to have low overheads for the Steve Ignorant stream and we absorbed the costs (about £600) from the physical sales. This time, our filming and equipment hire costs are going to be nearer to £1,000! We are currently putting together a funding bid to pay for all this for the future, but we're not quite there yet. It’s our aim to split any profits we earn from these shows 3 ways:
1. The artists - to support the continuation of DIY music wherever we can, especially in these difficult times for touring bands
2. Rockaway Park - to support our community-based projects, such as subsidised places on our workshops and developing our Community Forest Garden
3. A chosen charity - to help them continue making a positive difference to people's lives
For the Days N Daze show on the 12th May, any profits from the live-stream will be donated to the mental health charity MIND - I'm sure we all know how much they really need it in these turbulent times.
We're really keen and excited to produce a lot more of these gigs, as well as educational and inspirational content, like workshops, classes and community theatre, and we’re reaching out for your help. If you are willing and able to buy a live-stream ticket, we would hugely appreciate your support. For all the info on Eventbrite and to book, please see below:
Likewise, if you can send any donations to the GoFundMe page, that would also be great. Just click on the image below:
We have to try and turn people's desire to make a difference into giving a few quid, so we can keep doing what we do and actually start making a difference. It doesn't have to be much. Every pound or dollar or Euro really helps.
We know that loads of you love what we do here, we know that loads of you care. We're just trying to make sure we can keep it all going. I believe we can become a great fundraising machine, and that we can really start to make a difference - fancy giving us a hand?