How Prints For Music is helping to save the creative sector

Yet when we offer a helping hand to the creatives most affected by this crisis, we’re drawn towards the limelight, often forgetting about the people behind the scenes.

The new Prints for Music venture has set about raising money for the Stagehand Covid Relief Fund, an organisation that’s devoted to helping the music stage crew who’ve fallen through the gaps in government support schemes this year.

Through setting up an online platform, professional photographers have been able to sell iconic prints of famous artists, with the money being donated to those who need it most. With over 100 prints featuring the likes of Kanye West, Grace Jones and David Bowie, Prints for Music has already been a huge success, reminding us that banding together can be the best way to show solidarity.

Speaking on the Stagehand Covid Relief Fund, Leeds-based lighting designer Patrick Sollitt said: “Before lockdown I was looking at a full year of work, with my main client’s album at Number 1 in the UK charts and a sold-out arena tour due to start in April 2020. All of a sudden, it was gone: no work, no money, I had nothing. The help I have received from the Stagehand’s Covid-19 Crew Relief Fund has been a ray of light and has given me something that I have not had much of recently – hope.”

Patrick’s story is one that resonates with many; thousands of self-employed creatives had the rug snatched from under them this year and are now relying on Stagehand for financial help. Yet the Prints for Music project isn’t all about raising funds, it also highlights the importance of these people who fuelled the creative industry less than a year ago. This gallery is a collection of history, curated to remind us of the joys of live music, and the way it can bring thousands of people together. Each photograph speaks of a specific moment in time, and each photographer has their own story attached to it.

“To this day, it’s probably still my all-time favourite gig out of everything that I have ever been to,” said photographer Tom Martin on his experience shooting The Prodigy. “The crowd was so intense, it appeared to be a really special experience for everyone who was there that night. It really is such a shame that a talent and presence like Keith’s is no longer with us.”

Also included in the sale is the work of another Leeds-based phtographer, Andrew Benge.

Without every sound engineer, photographer, lighting assistant and roadie, it’s unlikely the world as we know it will return to the way it was before the pandemic. At £95 per print, each investment in a bit of music history works towards restoring an industry we all derive so much pleasure out of, and making sure that when we regain normality, the creative sector can follow suit.

The sale is now open on www.printsformusic.com until December 21, 2020.

To follow Prints for Music visit: 

https://www.facebook.com/PrintsForMusic/

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