The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

An entertainers’ union is proposing that a portion of the levies collected by the Government from foreign artists be used to finance its ‘Band Aid’ initiative to assist Bahamian performers with health needs.

The United Artists Bahamas Union (UABU) said it will make the suggestion to the Government with the Band Aid plan set to roll-out after the union’s elections in May. It added that the proposal has gained fresh impetus from the recent passing of Elon Moxey.

Asserting that the plan will act as a “safety net”, Linc Scavella, the secretary-general, told Tribune Business that from its inception and breakaway from the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union, the UABU planned to create a way for funds to be collected and put towards Bahamian artists’ medical expenses.

Open to all musicians and entertainers, whether part of the UABU or not, Mr Scavella added that the funding for the Band Aid initiative will also come from two major annual events. “We’re going to do two events a year,” Mr Scavella said. “The musicians and entertainers are going to participate themselves. So they’re going to raise the money using their talent. That’s why it’s not relegated just to UABU members.

“It could be members, even who are not in the union, who will benefit. We’re going to get a reputable group to manage those funds. And so we got to do something like an annual ball and what you would call a fair - pretty much like what the Red Cross does.

“I think once our elections are completed in May, around the first part of June, you will see that roll out. We would have two major events, and we will have them far apart. One will be, like I said, the fair, which we will go to some of the hotels that hire musicians and entertainers to assist in making contributions as well. And then we would do an annual ball, something that musicians have never had.”

Mr Scavella said the union will also “sell” to the Government the idea of using 50 percent of the levies collected from foreign artists that perform in The Bahamas and putting it towards the fund. He added: “One of the things that we are selling to the Government in getting the advisory body in place with regards to the foreign artists coming in, the levies that come from the foreign artists, 50 percent of that, we want to put that in that same fund.

“And so that is something we will be discussing with the Government in that regard. And so there’ll be a number of ways that the funds will be raised, but mostly the musicians and entertainers, they’re raising their own funds.” Mr Scavella said the passing of well-known Bahamian musician, Elon Moxey, pushed him to get moving and focus on launching the Band Aid initiative.

“Elon, his people have been begging for funds to help save his legs before they amputate it,” Mr Scavella said. “They didn’t raise the funds in time, and they didn’t raise the amount they needed. So after they finally got to take off his legs, then trouble followed after that. But I hate to see artists having to go through that.

“For example, let’s use Elon Moxey. Let’s say, if the fund was already in place, and have been matured, when they would have come and said, ‘well, he need assistance’, rather than going begging all over the place, that fund would have taken care of whatever his situation was - rather than waiting for GoFundMe and doing cookouts and all that.

“That’s the reason why we utilising the musicians themselves. Because whenever you do a fundraiser, the biggest cost is the musicians, sound and light and all that. And so all these people who are involved with sound light, music and entertainment, we’re going to get them to be the ones to raise the funds because it’s for them. And so, at the end of the day, whoever is in trouble, they can come and they will get whatever issue is resolved.”