Time and time again, San Diego musicians have shown that when the chips are down for someone, they are more than willing to step up to the plate and help in anyway they can. Even a cursory look at the local entertainment calendar will show a plethora of fund-raisers and awareness campaigns sponsored and supported by musicians.
Last month, A Reason to Survive (ARTS), a Point Loma non-profit that employs visual, performing and literary arts as a means of expression for children facing great adversity, was the victim of check fraud via mail box break-ins. Almost immediately, a group of musicians offered to help.
On Friday, Sept. 15, the 710 Beach Club will be the site of a fund-raiser for ARTS, featuring three local acts: Splitfinger, High Tyde and Carlsbad group Stone Senses, who recently released an album, “Harder Than The Rest.”
“The musicians approached me,” said Matt D’Arrigo, founder and executive director of the organization. “Alec Dempsey, the guitarist with Splitfinger, saw what had happened on TV and contacted me immediately. He gathered together the groups and it’s snowballed from there. I was thrilled to have this help.”
The music will be a diverse mix of reggae, rock and roots music, with D’Arrigo and his small staff on hand for introductions and to let audience members know what ARTS is about.
“I woke up to the news report on TV,” Dempsey recalled. “It struck me as absurd that someone could do something like this at the expense of disadvantaged kids.”
It only took a few moments to devise a plan of action.
“I figured I could be like most people and just sit on the couch and think ‘that’s too bad’ or I could actually do something about it,” Dempsey continued. “Since benefit concerts aren’t unheard of in this town, I thought that was probably the way to go. All the other bands agreed, and the businesses involved have been really supportive.”
For Dempsey, it’s what ARTS does that makes this fund-raiser so important.
“We take cultural things out to where they’re needed,” D’Arrigo explained. “Working with ‘at risk’ kids in hospitals, domestic violence shelters and any place there are children that need hope and maybe a little fun.”
The theft of their funds comes at a particularly bad time, as they are just about to open a permanent facility at the NTC Promenade in Liberty Station, formerly the Naval Training Center.
“With this location we’ll be able to offer so much more to the public, from poetry to visual arts,” D’Arrigo remarked. “It’s all so that children can have the opportunity to express themselves. Access to the arts can heal and give a child a reason to survive. At this new center we’ll give them options to discover what they are capable of.”
He considers “options” one of the most important components of what ARTS does.
“A child needs to see different things to work out what is best for them,” D’Arrigo said. “This building will have a little bit of everything. Maybe they’ll want to take advantage of the music room, learn to play an instrument, or take part in a drama reading or any number of other possibilities. Through this a child can heal.”
For his part D’Arrigo is extremely grateful to the bands contributing their services for the night.
“A chance like this to try and recoup our losses as well as raise awareness about what we do is fantastic,” he said.
The concert will take place in Pacific Beach at 710 Beach Club, formerly Blind Melons, 710 Garnet Ave. For the concert time and cost, call (858) 483-7844.