Three Sinclair students are taking initiative for their community and hosting a benefit concert to make a change and support the music therapy program at Dayton Children’s Hospital.
Sarah Patrick, Bethany Baldwin and Julia Molnar put the concert together as part of a project for their public relations class, reaching out to several local businesses and artists that were willing to donate their time and talent for a good cause.
The concert, titled Tune Into Music Therapy takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30 at The Brightside (located at 905 E. Third Street), a venue built to showcase local musicians and other Dayton-centric events. The benefit includes performances by Libby Dietrix, Isicle, Bird Brain Breakfast and Todd the Fox.
These artists and the owners of The Brightside have offered their services to Patrick and her team in an effort to raise as much money for the cause as possible. Tickets are $10 at the door and 100 percent of the proceeds go to Dayton Children’s.
Andrew Shaffer, Sr. lab tech and manager of Sinclair’s guitar lab, and two students in the program, Shaun Gibson and Blake Kinderdine, have also donated their time and hard work, crafting a guitar kit (including an electric guitar, amp and accessories) for the cause.
All the musicians performing at the concert will be signing the guitar before donating it to the music therapy program at Dayton Children’s. For more information on the guitar lab, visit www.guitarbuilding.org.
The students also went through Facebook to build awareness of the donor-funded program. They took pride in being able to reach out and have friends and family be a part of the journey with them.
Their efforts have already raised $1530 to the cause, and they anticipate making at least that much from the concert.
The aforementioned artists performing at the show are all on Facebook, and archives of their music are included on the site.
The music therapy program at Dayton Children’s is relatively new, being established in May 2017. It is primarily funded by donations of either money or musical equipment. Anyone can donate to the program.
Linsdey Steinbrunner, a certified music therapist and 2013 graduate of the University of Dayton, spoke on the effectiveness of the program on the Dayton Children’s website:
“Music therapy has so many uses – it can calm a child during a stressful time, it can provide an outlet for a child who doesn’t like to talk about their feelings, it can provide a distraction, it can contribute to stabilizing a newborn’s vital signs,” says Steinbrunner.
Patrick discussed the lofty goals the team set themselves up with at the beginning:
“I think a lot of people talk themselves out of really great opportunities, thinking it’s too crazy to work, or too big of an idea,” Patrick said. “Trust me, my original plan was to walk into the Fraze and give them this fabulous spiel that allowed us to use the venue free of charge, and then reach out to multiple great bands spread out from Cincinnati to Columbus and have them [come and] play for free.”
The team dialed it back a bit, as they had only a semester’s worth of time to put the event together.
With the help of Libby Ballengee and Ian Baldwin, the three found more obtainable, and Dayton based musicians for the cause and a venue tailor-made for local groups and charities, The Brightside.
She and her team are thankful for the generosity of the artists performing at the show.
Patrick then spoke on the trials and tribulations that came with the project, as well as a professor who was instrumental in getting the project off the ground.
“…We have a great professor, Jessica McKinley, who has helped us throughout this project’s journey from the very beginning,” Patrick said. “The public relations class this project is for has taught me so much, all because Professor McKinley is teaching us in such a better way than just through a textbook, with hands-on experiences.”
She continues:
“While working on the event, it has taught me the challenges, things like compromising and getting the approval to do certain things takes a lot of time and sometimes gets lost in communication limbo,” Patrick states. “We were working with a lot of organizations (Brightside Music & Events Venue, all four musical groups, HPAC representatives, and Dayton Children’s), most donating their time to the cause so it was always stressful making sure we weren’t taking advantage of their kindness but also making this a great event.”
She also gave some words of advice and encouragement to those who want to make a similar impact on their communities.
“You can have big ideas, you just have to give yourself the push to find a way to make it happen!” Patrick stated. “It isn’t just you who wants to help a group or organization, there are so many people in our community that jump at the opportunity! We definitely learned that in doing this. Not everything goes according to plan, but it has taught us to have multiple backups, a thick skin and to stay positive!”
With the knowledge and experience gained from the project, Patrick is confident in her abilities and still has high hopes for the future.
“And eventually, who knows, I may be walking into the Fraze with the intention of planning a benefit concert that has tons of great musicians coming from all over Ohio to help organizations like Dayton Children’s Hospital, it will just take a lot more time and a lot more people helping!” She exclaimed. “I’ll never doubt it can be done!”
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor