Hardly Strictly Bluegrass talks virtual performances, pandemic musician relief fund
Hirsch client Frances Hellman, of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and the Hellman Foundation, is featured on ABC7 news regarding community relief grants and initiatives that the festival has created to help Bay Area musicians survive.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – The global COVID-19 outbreak caused most Bay Area music and arts organizations to cancel in-person experiences in 2020, including San Francisco’s iconic Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.
While the pandemic may have put a Golden Gate park tradition on hold, it has not stopped the team behind the event from working to support the local music and arts community in a financially-trying year.
Frances Hellman, of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and the Hellman Foundation, joined ABC7 on Friday to talk about community relief grants and initiatives that the festival has created to help Bay Area musicians survive.
Hellman says the while the potential impacts of COVID-19 on the festival were clear early on, it has not made them less devastating for the Bay Area performing arts scene.
“Needless to say, it was crushing when we realize we were going to have to cancel the annual festival,” Hellman says. “We realized it fairly early on and decided to switch over to an online version. And then along the way, it was clear that the live music industry is being devastated because of COVID. Events were being shut down, shows were getting canceled, people’s livelihoods were, you know, upended.”
Read the rest of the article and watch the video of the full interview on ABC7 news here.