The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The United Artists Bahamas Union (UABU) yesterday launched its Benevolent Fund Committee to serve as a “safety net” for Bahamian musicians and entertainers regardless of union affiliation and membership.

The Benevolent Fund Committee will start with $3,000 representing a portion of the union levies collected from Tricky Entertainment's Bahamas Breeze Festival, which was held at Atlantis recently.

Stephen Greenslade, the Committee’s co-chair, added that a significant portion of levies collected from foreign artists and associated personnel who engage in gainful employment in The Bahamas will provide further financing along with a portion of the proceeds generated from two annual major fundraising events including a musician and entertainers gala and a Rake N’ Scrape concert.

“Needless to say, this Benevolent Fund will be used to assist musicians and entertainers in stress and relieve difficulties that are affecting their lives,” Mr Greenslade added. “Plans are underway for the funds to be invested and managed by a reputable accounting firm.

“We have in excess of 50 members in our union... And we are open to all persons who operate in the entertainment space, who are creators. Our overall objective is to create a body or a system that brings us all together continuously so that we can move from one level to the next with our work, with our craft and also to celebrate our members. 

“We want to see entertainers in The Bahamas become celebrities. This fund will be a benchmark of support for all of us, for all who create, for all who entertain, all of our art, our culture. We see this as a stepping stone toward a greater vision,” Mr Greenslade added.

“If you come into The Bahamas, the minute you hit any one of our gateways, you hear Bahamian music, you see Bahamian culture, you experience Bahamian dance and the like. And so we are very happy about this initiative. We are proud that we have gotten it to this stage, and we look forward to the support  of the society as we move forward.”

Fellow co-chair, David “Funky D” Ferguson, in highlighting the importance of the Fund said many artists are currently struggling, adding that musicians are not usually granted bank loans.

“Right now, we have a lot of new artists who are unaware of the framework of the music,” he said. “For instance, we had a lot of entertainers who are suffering because they don't have a job, they don't have enough gigs to support your life. For instance, there are many entertainers who, they make money, but they don't know how to invest the money, or they don't know how to make sure that afterwards, what's going to happen if the system dies because music is an up and down industry. One day you could be up and one day you could be down. 

“This Benevolent Fund is for when a musician is down. We have a lot of musicians who had operations or who passed away, the family didn't have enough money to bury them. So what we want to focus on is having a safety net for musicians who were falling down or who need medical help because, when you go to the bank, banks don't lend musicians money. You go to the bank and say, ‘I'm a musician’, ain't nothing happening.”

Mr Greenslade said the Fund is open to all musicians and entertainers regardless of whether they are part of the UABU. “The founding members of the United Artists Bahamas Union (UABU) believe in the phenomenal abilities and talents of the Bahamian creatives in the music and entertainment industry in our beloved Bahamas and abroad,” he said.

“Although the ultimate goal of this organisation is to protect the rights and interests of its members, the current plight of the creatives in our music and entertainment industries has become an important factor that accelerated the efforts of the UABU to cause a safety net, in the form of a Benevolent Fund, to be created for the benefit of the UABU members and deserving musicians, entertainers and DJs as a whole. Needless to say, the welfare of our members is deserving of a much-needed attention and urgency to ensure that our members are protected in every appreciable way.”