Wanna make a difference and meet new people?

Hello, friends of the internet!

I wanted to extend a personal invitation to something special Indy Hall is hosting this Friday, and what I hope is a powerful community partnership with our friends at REC Philly. 

For the last couple of months, Indy Hall has been hosting an online version of our monthly open house event that we have affectionately dubbed “Open Hall.”

You can think of Open Hall @Home as sort of a “sampler” of short, scheduled opportunities to get together online in different ways. Nobody’s talking “at” you and it’s a bit more serendipitous than the most typical zoom events.

THIS FRIDAY, we’re hosting a special Open Hall in collaboration with and support of REC Philly to bridge our communities and support their Juneteenth “Black Joy Matters” musical showcase.

You can come to just one part, come to a few, or come to all of them. And then definitely join us for RECPhilly’s live concert in the evening!

If you’d like to attend - it’s free! - guests can RSVP here (Indy Hall members have a separate RSVP link, you should have already received that and sorry about the duplicate messages!)

Once you RSVP, you’ll find out more info about participation over the next couple of days. We also encourage you to share this event with any friends who might want to join in the fun.

But that’s not all - YOU can make a difference, even if you don’t come to Open Hall

When we talked to REC about this collaboration, one clear goal was to extend it beyond the one-day event. Their community is filled with amazing and talented creative entrepreneurs of all kinds - a lot like our community! - just with more emphasis on the music and the arts, and WAY more Black and brown folks :)

So we came up with two ways for our community to make a lasting difference, and we’re treating this Friday as a “kickoff.”

First: help us pledge 100 hours of expertise to supporting members of the REC Philly community

This isn’t structured teaching or even a formal “mentorship” arrangement (which can lead to weird expectations). It’s simply you offering some of your time and expertise to help one or more (predominantly Black and brown) member of REC Philly overcome some challenge in their business or career. It’s that simple, but it’s also super meaningful.

So if you can pledge a even just 1-2 hours hours of your time fill out this quick (<5 minute) form to pledge some of your time.

We’ll keep track of pledges and work with the REC team to link members with you, starting in July.

Second: Financially support an artist in need

REC is also launching a financial relief program to provide microgrants (usually ~$250-350) to working artists who are unable to perform due to COVID19and therefore struggling or unable to pay their bills.

I would love for our community to raise $1000 or more, which will help 3-4 artists.

Small contributions really matter to reaching a goal like this, so I’m going to personally match the first $250 in small (under $25) contributions until we reach $250, dollar for dollar. All contributions of all sizes will count towards the goal of $1000!

Note: this is NOT a tax-deductable contribution, it’s a gift.

We’re going to keep both of these efforts going beyond Friday, BUT I’d love to show up for the REC community with a bang to start things off.

As always, lemme know if you have any questions or ideas for how to make this even better.

So, to recap:

• Open Hall is FRIDAY and REC Philly are our special guests.
• Guests RSVP for Open Hall here - Members RSVP for Open Hall here 
• Grab a free ticket to REC Philly’s “Black Joy Matters” showcase on Friday night
• Pledge your time to help us reach the goal of 100 hours to share expertise between our communities
• Kick in any amount you can towards financial relief for working artists in Philly (instructions above)

Whew! Thanks for hanging in. Looking forward to spending some of Friday with you and seeing new friendships form :)