
BTS at 2019 GRAMMYs
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BTS Donates $1 Million To Crew Nation To Support Out Of Work Concert Crews
BTS and their management company, Big Hit Entertainment, have donated $1 million to Crew Nation, Live Nation's COVID-19 relief fund for out of work live entertainment staff. The K-pop superstars would've been on tour for the majority of the year, before coronavirus turned live music and the rest of the world upside down earlier this year.
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"This is one of the largest artist donations that has been raised for the Crew Nation fund since its conception," a statement, shared by Variety on June 22, noted.
The event behemoth launched the fund in March with an initial $5 million, pledging to match another $5 million of donations from employees, artists and fans, according to Variety. Event crew personnel who typically make at least half of their income from live events can apply for one-time grants of $1000 via Crew Nation. Individuals living and working in any city/country can apply.
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Over 70 live concert crew members who were originally scheduled to work at BTS’ concerts before the postponement (or cancellation) due to COVID-19 have received funding so far, 20% of whom are veteran crews who have worked in live performance industry for over 16 years. This contribution will help aid 1,000 live concert crews to receive relief, according to the announcement.
"It is very unfortunate that the music industry has to go through such difficult time at the moment," Big Hit's Global CEO Lenzo Yoon wrote in the statement. "We hope our contribution to Crew Nation could help support many live concert crews around the world."
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"If it weren't for COVID-19, we would have been happily touring across the world with many of our live concert crews by now," BTS added. "We are aware that a lot of communities need help due to COVID-19, and we wanted to support the music industry crews by making a donation. We hope to meet again on stage very soon."
The generous contribution comes just several weeks after BTS and Big Hit donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter Foundation, as well as publicly announcing their allyship with the Black community.
Earlier this month, on June 14, the talented septet shared a live pay-to-watch virtual concert, BANG BANG CON, with their massive BTS ARMY. They also recently released a new single, "Stay Gold," on June 19.
The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund is also supporting out-of-work crew and all other music industry folks who have been financially affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.
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