Newport Festivals Foundation Teams With Lucius For Donation, Names Brandi Carlile To Board Of Advisors

On behalf of indie-pop four-piece Lucius, Newport Festivals Foundation has donated $5,000 to the Harmony Project, a nonprofit that provides music instruction and instruments to underserved youth in the band’s current base of Los Angeles.

“In our childhood communities, we experienced a lack of emphasis on creativity and arts – be it a lack of funding or just the attention and support necessary to nurture artistic development,” Lucius, which performed at this year’s Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, said of the donation. “On the flip side, we’ve also experienced the relief of knowing what it’s like to find a community who understands the importance of expression.”

The funds will be used to underwrite expenses for Harmony Project’s Leimert Park vocal/choir program – specifically the teacher’s salary and music supplies.

See: The Festival Legend: George Wein – 64 Years Of Producing Festivals From Newport To New Orleans And Far Beyond

Lucius, represented by High Road Touring, has upcoming dates in Paris, London and Ireland before immediately heading Stateside for dates including the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Paramount Theatre in Austin and dates supporting (fellow High Road clients) Portugal. The Man.

Recent boxoffice reports include March 24 at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, N.C., which sold out 991 tickets and grossed $25,735; State Theatre in Portland, Maine, March 16, which sold out 1,279 tickets and grossed $25,860; and Thalia Hall in Chicago March 13, which sold out at 850 tickets and grossed $19,125.

Earlier this year, Newport Festivals Foundation made a $5,000 donation to alt-folk singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation. Carlile, who also performed at Newport Folk this year, and her team has worked with Seattle Music Partners to identify Lowell Elementary, a school in the Seattle area that will use the funds to create free after-school and evening music programs.

The Festivals also announced Carlile as the newest member of the Newport Folk Festival Board of Advisors.

Jay Sweet, Executive Producer of Newport Festivals noted, “Inviting Brandi to join the Board of Advisors was pretty much a fait accompli when we ran into each other at the Grammys earlier this year and immediately picked up a conversation about the music business we’ve had running since 2010. She’s so in tune with its evolution and how it affects everything we are doing at the Fort and with the Foundation. Not to mention she’s got a voice that can move mountains and her passion is gloriously infectious.”

To celebrate the donations and Brandi’s invitation to the Board of Advisors, the Newport Folk Festival released a video on YouTube of Lucius and Brandi performing “Dusty Trails” at the 2018 festival.

“Every time I watch this video of Dusty Trails I’m emotionally transported right back to the festival – and I’m reminded of just how transformative music can be, especially when it’s people you’re lucky to call friends creating such a powerful memory,” Sweet said. “The purpose of these donations is to extend this feeling beyond the festival weekend and empower the next generation of musicians to create and collaborate together. As I’ve said before, these donations aren’t completely altruistic, they’re a little bit selfish as well – if kids aren’t getting the resources they need now to become musicians, there won’t be any Brandis or Lucius’ to book at the folk and jazz festivals in the generations to come. It all starts with music education, and we can’t thank Holly, Jess and Brandi enough for working with us to make this happen.”

Carlile is wrapping up nearly non-stop North American dates since March following the release of her acclaimed LP By the Way, I Forgive You.

Boxoffice reports include 3,543 tickets sold to the Chicago Theatre June 15, two nights at the Anthem in Washington D.C. May 19-20 (5,928 tickets, $329,151 grossed) and three shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, which sold a combined 8,235 tickets and grossed $413,785.

This year’s Newport Folk Festival took place at Fort Adams State Park July 28-29 featuring everyone from Tank And The Bangas, Gary Clark Jr., Courtney Barnett, and Shakey Graves to Toots & The Maytals.

Newport Jazz Festival took place Aug. 4-5 with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Pat Metheny, Andra Day, BadBadNotGood and many others.