MySphera interview with Nick Norton Artistic Director @Equal sound
"yeah, maybe 100 or so people will apply and we'll get some donations and I'll have an annoying day with our accountant and a spreadsheet and that'll be that." That was late Thursday afternoon, and wow was I ever wrong. This thing gained a lot of steam, very fast.
2020 had started of wild with the outbreak of Covid-19 throughout the globe. Almost now industry or economy is immune to the massive implications of a global event such as this.
Similar to other industries the world of music had suffered quite an impact. With the cancellation of live shows, events and festivals such as SXSW the physical side of music had completely shut down.
The above situation had caused many venues and musicians a great discomfort and resulted many financial concerns.
Luckily, funds luck Equal sound exists.
Equal Sound strives to introduce listeners to new music by breaking down the traditional confines of musical genres; curating experiences that illuminate the threads between classical music and other genres to attract and engage new audiences from all musical worlds.
And once the Covid-19 health crisis had started they were quick to introduce their new relief fund.
"The Equal Sound Corona Relief Fund was set up on short notice to provide direct financial assistance to musicians who have lost work as a result of Corona-related event cancellations".
We've had the privilege to discuss with Nick Norton, Artistic Director, about their fund, helping musicians in the current crisis and some music.
Enjoy:
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure. I'm a composer from LA. I grew up playing guitar in bands - mostly in punk, alongside my school's music program - then went to college and grad school for music. Along the way I picked up a pretty wide skill set, and have had jobs in most aspects of music - playing, post production, live sound, management, teaching, marketing....a lot of us have a ton of different gigs in order to survive.
Why/When did you create Equal Sound?
I founded Equal Sound quite a while back with my original partner Andrew Glick, who remains on our board. We actually started it as a business, to see if we could apply to rock/pop/commercial model of presenting concerts to the music we knew well in the avant-garde classical world and experimental music world. It was kind of a side project, and we got some good responses from our audience, but at some point recognized the need to be a 501c3 to really pursue our mission to the fullest.