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Brasstronaut: Rock and Roll is good for kids

Do you know Brasstronaut? They’ll be playing a Downtown Eastside relief benefit called “Rock and Roll is Good for Kids”, at the Astoria on June 6th.

Mission Statement:
Rock and Roll is Good for Kids is committed to improving the lives of children in East Vancouver by raising funds and supplies for safe and fun after-school environments with an emphasis on the arts.

The Issue:
Children in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are used to encountering drug dealers, drunks, pimps, and prostitutes in their neighbourhood on a daily basis. For the fifth year in a row BC has the highest child poverty rate of all provinces with the rate in inner Vancouver far exceeding any other area in Canada. Approximately 70% of the children at Grandview Elementary School are living under the poverty line. At Sir William Macdonald School needles are found in the bushes around their schoolyard and children as young as 11 or 12 have gotten involved in prostitution. Studies show 55% of adult women involved in street prostitution started prior to age 15 and are recruited during daytime hours.

Most Eastside families cannot afford childcare. Childcare prices have increased by over 50% over the last 4 years and demand far exceeds supply. Only 14% of estimated childcare needs in Vancouver were met in 2008. As a consequence, many of these kids lack guidance, support, and access to healthy and safe outlets.

How We Are Trying to Help:
We are group of local musicians and/or university students, Adrienne Grant, Christopher Burnside and Kyle Sulyma, using our resources to make a difference. Rock and Roll is Good for Kids (RRGFK) is a benefit concert to raise money in support of after-school programs for children in Vancouver’s downtown Eastside.

This year’s concert is being held on Saturday June 6, 2009 at the Astoria and is featuring Juno-nominated and Polaris-shortlisted Shad K, along with local artists, Brasstronaut and Twin Crystals (all of whom are generously donating their talent). The goal is to provide funding and supplies to support an already existing community program, ‘Camp Grace’ (located on 1st Ave. near Commercial Dr.). Camp Grace is one of four camps under the ‘Urban Promise’ umbrella. Sadly, one of these vital programs is facing termination due to lack of funding. Tanya, the Director of Camp Grace, has dedicated herself to picking these children up from school (including Queen Victoria, Grandview Elementary, and Lord Nelson), providing leadership, healthy food,
organizing indoor/outdoor activities, and tutoring. The children that attend are extremely diverse, many are First Nations and some with special needs. Emphasis is placed upon helping kids build self confidence and self-esteem and to grow into a community where each person feels valued and included. Camp Grace suggests children pay $50 per month to help with the foods and supplies, but Tanya concedes that more than half of her kids cannot, and do not, pay at all.

A primary goal of RRGFK is to supply music and art supplies to this camp as our personal experiences have taught us to value the arts as positive outlets, especially during difficult times.

As a community we can create societal awareness of the importance of art and music in the lives of children and the social responsibility we all share of providing the necessary means to enrich them. Every child deserves the chance to explore, develop and apply their individual artistic, musical, mental and physical talents free from duress.

Myspace: myspace.com/brasstronaut