‘The Wild Hearts Tour’ Partners
With PLUS1 For A New Way Of Life

Buying a ticket for “The Wild Hearts Tour” will not only give fans the chance to see three amazing singer-songwriters on the road together but will raise funds to help formerly incarcerated people rebuild their lives. The tour – which starts July 21 in Vienna, Va., at the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, featuring Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten and Julien Baker – has partnered with PLUS1 to donate $1 from every ticket sold to the Los Angeles-based nonprofit A New Way of Life.

Since being founded in 2014 by former Arcade Fire member Marika Anthony-Shaw, PLUS1 has worked with more than 250 artists to raise more than $20 million for nonprofits.
Kathryn Schotthoefer, senior advisor at PLUS1, explains that the nonprofit “lets the artist raise funds without having to bring on a big philanthropic infrastructure. We have a team that handles all of the back end and handles all the operations, works with promoters and venues. And we’ll work with [artists] to match them with an effective nonprofit that’s been vetted.”

Schotthoefer notes that 75% of the artists who come to PLUS1 have an issue area in mind, but not necessarily an organization.

“We really try to focus on grassroots groups who can make the best and most effective use of the funds,” she adds. “One thing that we don’t want to do is put a ton of burden on small nonprofits to jump through a bunch of administrative hoops. … There’s so much need in the country that we want to make sure that we’re partnering with these organizations in a way that ultimately lets them do their best work possible.”

A New Way Of Life was founded in 1998 by Susan Burton as a single reentry home in South Los Angeles and has since provided housing to more than 1,200 formerly incarcerated women. The nonprofit has 11 safe homes in Los Angeles County, with the capacity to house 83 women.

“A lot of women are released [from jail/prison] without housing, without a stable place to go. Housing is really at the heart of our organization,” A New Way Of Life co-director Pamela Marshall tells Pollstar. “If you have a safe place to live, you have a safe place to bring your kids, a safe place where you can start focusing on your recovery … you’re able to really start that journey of healing.”

A New Way Of Life provides a holistic approach that’s about addressing the individual’s needs. Along with housing, A New Way Of Life provides family reunification services and helps impacted individuals with education and career opportunities. The nonprofit has also provided pro bono legal services to more than 3,400 community members with conviction histories.

With nearly two dozen shows on “The Wild Hearts Tour,” ranging in capacity from 2,362 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to 5,801 at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, the trek has the potential to raise a lot of funds for A New Way Of Life.

“I just have to say how honored and appreciated we are for the donation [from ‘The Wild Hearts Tour’],” Marshall says. “We don’t have a lot of grants and contracts. A lot of our funding is from individual donations and foundations. So to be able to have this level of support, it will really help us be able to serve the women and make a difference in their lives.”

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