During times of economic and financial strife, the music industry has stepped up to the plate time and again to support its community. That notion rings especially true during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which decimated the live music landscape and left innumerable artists, sound engineers, venue operators, security staff, and more fighting for their livelihoods.
Enter Ultra Music Festival and iHeartRaves, two influential organizations in the EDM zeitgeist that teamed up to deliver masks to Miami’s underserved communities this summer. After the organizers of Ultra were forced to reschedule the fest’s 2020 edition due to the impact of COVID-19, they joined forces with iHeartRaves, a popular rave fashion brand, to donate 12,000 surgical masks to marginalized communities.
According to a press release issued to announce the initiative, Ultra employees joined Miami city officials back in June and went door-to-door, delivering masks to residents of two senior living facilities. While both brands’ demographics are rooted in the younger generation, they recognized that senior citizens are at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19. Representatives also took to City Hall as part of their philanthropic endeavor, donating masks at a drive-through food giveaway hosted by Farm Share, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to ensure that food-insecure Floridians receive the food and support they need.
“Our Buy A Mask, Give A Mask program enables our customers to help those on the front lines while purchasing a face mask at a fair price. During this time of crisis, we wanted to make sure that we were still able to give back to the community,” said iHeartRaves CEO and founder, Brian Lim. “We chose to partner with Ultra on this initiative for the same reasons we partner with them during the festival season. We wanted to enhance the positive impact we could have on the EDM community by joining forces with other leaders in the space.”
FOLLOW ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL:
Website: ultramusicfestival.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Ultra
Twitter: twitter.com/ultra
Instagram: instagram.com/ultra
FOLLOW IHEARTRAVES:
Website: iheartraves.com
Facebook: facebook.com/iHeartRaves
Twitter: twitter.com/iheartraving
Instagram: instagram.com/iheartraves