The Northwest Music Experience (NWME) was developed as a celebration of talent and community in the Pacific Northwest. Its first incarnation was a successful awards show honoring 40 fantastic artists who represented the diverse music community that surrounds us. This spirit will live on with the Songwriters in Seattle Awards, which is in the planning stages now to return in 2015.
Going forward, the Northwest Music Experience name and what it represents will be shifting from Songwriters in Seattle to a new non-profit organization based in Portland. Here is the description from leader Tom Melillo:
“Our non-profit will be geared towards experiential projects that connect young (high-school age) musicians with local professional musicians in our area to collaborate on projects to produce, perform, and record music. Our ultimate goals are to generate interest in music and music education, and to generate funds to give back to local school music programs.”
We hope you’ll agree that this is a worthy cause and a valuable addition to the NW music community. Please join us in supporting the new organization’s efforts whole-heartedly. Best wishes to Tom and to the new incarnation of Northwest Music Experience.
We’re excited that Songwriters in Seattle will be part of The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG event on May 6th. Donations made to Songwriters in Seattle through The Seattle Foundation’s website ON THIS DAY ONLY will be stretched/matched thanks to The Seattle Foundation and GiveBIG sponsors! Make a donation, share with your friends (#GiveBIG), and be a part of our community’s biggest day of giving of the year. Make your gift online at: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/SongwritersinSeattle.aspx
If you donate through GiveBIG on May 6th, you could be randomly selected for a Golden Ticket that wins you a $100 Starbucks gift card and gives us an extra $1,000 from The Seattle Foundation & other sponsors!
Because @TheSeattleFdn’s #GiveBIG will stretch any dollars donated to us that day, we want this to be our one and only pure fundraising event of the year. Help us make that happen so we can keep bringing more impactful events to the Songwriters in Seattle calendar. Please Give BIG – thank you!
After almost a year of paperwork and back and forth with the IRS, Songwriters in Seattle has received official approval for recognition of tax exempt 501(c)(3) and public charity status beginning Feb. 23, 2011. While we have been working under the assumption that this would be achieved for tax years 2011 forward, we are happy to publicly announce that it is now officially and legally the case.
So, what does this mean? In simple terms, it means that any donations made to Songwriters in Seattle (including those made last year) are tax deductible. It means a lot more in reality, as it opens us up to many more avenues of funding, including corporate matches (and in some cases like Microsoft, matching of volunteer hours with dollars) and grants, both public and private. Also, the likelihood of corporate sponsorships and others jumping onboard to help us increases. These are areas we can now pursue that had been on the backburner. If you have knowledge or ideas for funding opportunities, please contact us at donations@songwritersinseattle.com and we will help set it up.
More funding means more opportunities for the musicians of our region to learn, grow, and enrich the culture of the Pacific Northwest. We are proud to serve our membership and the region in this endeavor and thank you for your support.
There are many ways to support Songwriters in Seattle – with your time by attending events or volunteering, and financially through the purchase of music or direct donation. Now there is another easy, fun and stylish way to give back to the creative community: Songwriters in Seattle merchandise! We are proud to announce the launch of the official SiS online store at CafePress.com. When buying SiS merchandise, not only are you contributing financially to our cause, but you are publicly showing your support and spreading the word. Let’s have a look at just a few of the wide variety of initial offerings.
First off, we have four design treatments of the logo, the original circle version by Jill Christoffel, The full name/logo/website rectangle by Chris Klimecky, then two cool new shirt designs by Kimberly Newland: the musicians of SiS and the stylized acoustic guitar.
Main SiS Circle Logo you know and loveFull name/logo/website rectangleSiS Musicians LogoAcoustic Guitar Logo
Within each of these sections of the online store, you’ll find the categories of items you can choose from to focus your search. In the case of Kimberly’s two designs, only men’s and women’s shirt styles are available. Here are a few examples of each:
SiS Musicians – Men's Baseball JerseySIS Musicians – Jr. Ringer T-ShirtSiS Guitar Logo – Hooded SweatshirtSiS Guitar Logo – Women's Dark T-Shirt
The name/logo/website rectangle is designed for promotion and the items associated with it are, too! Magnets, bumper stickers, bags, notecards, buttons, calendars, laptop skins, and more. Here are a few examples of this one in use:
Logo/Name/Website – Rectangle MagnetLogo/Name/Website – Shoulder Bag
Last, but certainly not least, is the original circular logo. One of the cool things about this design is that it’s super flexible and looks great on just about anything – and I mean anything! This section of the store has the most to offer, so take a minute and see what might tickle your SiS fancy. Here is just the tip of the iceberg:
SiS Circle Logo – MugSiS Circle Logo – (dark) iPad CaseSiS Circle Logo – (dark) Throw PillowSiS Circle Logo – Modern Wall Clock
So the holidays are coming up – could SiS merchandise fit on your wish list? Maybe there’s an enthusiastic musician you know who would like to display his or her support for the organization in a cool new way? Maybe you’d like to doubly support SiS by purchasing something that you then donate as a contest prize? Or a promotional item that you buy then spread around for the group to use (stickers, magnets, buttons, etc.)? Lastly, if you have ideas for new designs or other products you’d like to see, we are definitely open to expanding this store in the future. Please write to info@songwritersinseattle.com if you’d like to contribute in this way.
Thank you so much for your continued support – we hope you enjoy the SiS online store!
