So a couple months ago I raved about Kindiependent, the new collective of family musicians working on growing the kids and family music scene in Seattle and outward in the Pacific Northwest.
Well, they're not alone now. Now LA's jumped into the act with AmFm -- Artists Making Family Music. Cofounded by Deborah Poppink (DidiPop) and Birdie Mendoza (Birdie's Playhouse), AmFm is, according to Poppink, a "group of family musicians that gather to support each other in the business and art of making children's and all-ages music. Meetings consist of brainstorming, sharing successes and challenges and creative work, such as songwriting."
Poppink and Mendoza (pictured here with Tristana Ward) said they started the group after the Grammy family music brunch in early 2010. For the future, they report they want to put on shows featuring various members/performers for children and families in need. Also, they want to create an active online sharing community for family musicians world-wide.
So there you have it. When it comes to regional family music cooperatives, it's West Coast 2, East Coast 0. Not that I'm keeping score or anything.
OK, on a slightly more serious note, something like this might not be necessary in NYC, where there are tons of venues and a very large potential audience crammed into a relatively small space. (Though I suspect it would be useful there, too.) But especially out here, with the bigger distances between venues (both within and between cities) this type of sharing of information is a valuable thing. And while you can certainly do that on the internet, it sometimes helps to be in the same place in the real world.
We've got (community-based) spirit, yes we do, we've got (community-based) spirit, how 'bout you?
