Inaugural Gender Balanced Music Fest In TO This Wknd

By Karen Bliss

Long-time publicist and Hotcha! Musician Beverly Kreller has put together the first-annual Speak Music Be Kind Festival, this weekend at Toronto’s Tranzac Club, proudly programming a gender-balanced line-up and dedicating the net proceeds to the Unison Benevolent Fund, which provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community, including financial aid. 

Tickets are $20 for all three days — kicking off the music at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“There are, of course, many charities needing financial help, but I chose this charity because it seems that now more than ever, musicians are having a difficult time making a living,” Kreller tells Samaritanmag. “Music venues are closing down and the cost of living and housing here in the city of Toronto is outrageous and out of reach. And kindness is in their name, ‘Benevolent.’”

Kreller plans to select a different charity each year.  But while Unison is the main beneficiary this year, Speak Music Be Kind is also bringing attention to Community Meal, a non-profit with a mission to make food donation a norm in the hospitality industry.

“They are partnering with us so we can help them bring awareness of what they do,” Kreller says. “The co-founder Emma Druckman is our niece and because it’s such a wonderful community initiative, I thought it was a great idea to bring them on board" (Kreller’s husband is Howard Druckman, editor in chief, communications & marketing, at performing rights organization SOCAN). — Continue reading here