Carolina Music Makers Fund Update, January 2025

In October, we announced the creation of the Carolina Music Makers Fund, an aid fund for musicians affected by Hurricane Helene in the Carolinas and beyond. While the storm’s devastation has since moved out of the headlines, it continues to shape daily life for mountain communities and the artists who keep their traditions alive.

We are pleased to share this update from Olivia Phillips, Artist Outreach Coordinator.

In this season of the New Year, I’m excited to share the progress of our Carolina Music Makers Fund, created with the help of Music Maker’s generous donors to offer support for musicians who were significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene in and around Western North Carolina. These impacts include storm damage to musicians’ homes or property as well as loss of income.

Most of these funds will support public performances, allowing Music Maker to help pay artists, subsidize gigs that bring audiences to local venues, and generate musical activity in recovering communities. Though we have a preference for roots musicians, the project supports musicians of all kinds and doesn’t require awardees to be full-time music professionals.

With the help of partner organizations and music community leaders throughout Western North Carolina and beyond, I compiled a list of musicians who may be a good fit for a grant from the CMMF and have begun interviewing these folks. Since mid-November, I have also been contacting other regional and national organizations that offer emergency relief to musicians as I identify approaches that have been successful in the wake of Hurricane Helene as well as needs not yet being addressed. I’m sorting information gathered about other relief opportunities into a list of available resources that we can offer to all musicians who interview for a grant through the CMMF.

Grant recipient Sheila Kay Adams is one of the many Western North Carolina musicians who have shared that the mutual care and support of their communities has kept them going since Helene. Sheila Kay says, “We were good friends before and now we’re family… You can’t quit when you’ve got really good people who love you and care about you.”

Music Maker Foundation is honored to join this support community for Southern Appalachian musicians facing the storm’s aftermath. We’ve begun awarding the project’s first grants this month and look forward to getting hurricane relief funds into the hands of many more artists in 2025!

– Olivia Phillips, Artist Outreach Coordinator

Sheila Kay Adams is one of the first artists to receive an aid grant from the Carolina Music Maker Fund. Born and raised in Madison County, NC, Sheila Kay is a seventh-generation ballad singer, clawhammer banjo player, and storyteller. Her dedication to preserving Appalachian musical heritage has earned her a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as honors from the North Carolina Folklore Society and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Learn more about Sheila Kay at the link below.