Red Dirt Relief Fund announces it has reached a mission milestone of providing $1 million to Oklahoma music creators through its Emergency Financial Assistance program. This aid has helped 851 industry professionals in 100 communities recover from accidents, cancer treatment, medical emergencies, natural disasters, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, COVID-19 and other unavoidable emergencies that prevent them from making music in our communities. These grants typically cover immediate living expenses and medical bills.
According to a recent Broken Arrow recipient, “We didn’t know where to turn and remembered you all helped us during the pandemic. The phrase ” I get by with a little help from my friends” holds truth and love. In this case, a lot of help. You have kept us from drowning and becoming homeless. I will never forget this kindness. Musicians are generally not used to it. When I return, I will pray to pay it forward. Thank you just isn’t enough.”
“It has taken all of us, contributing what we could, to make this happen,” said Dale. “To every person who has played a part, big and small, we want to say thanks a million!”
Katie Dale, Executive Director
Co-founder and current Executive Director, Katie Dale, was meeting with John Cooper in 2012 when he said, “musicians don’t have insurance—we host benefits.” It was the tough truth in this quip that led Cooper and Dale, along with other Red Dirt musicians and industry supporters, to create an Oklahoma music safety net they called Red Dirt Relief Fund. Soon after RDRF was granted 501(c)3 non-profit status, it became clear it couldn’t just serve Red Dirt musicians but would need to serve the entire community of music industry professionals in Oklahoma. Today, any person living in Oklahoma who has worked in the music industry for at least 5 years is eligible for assistance.
Creative professionals are often self-employed and lack access to traditional employment benefits like paid time off and health insurance, so RDRF partnered with providers like Cardinal Rule Insurance, Tulsa Dental Center and Backline.care to connect more than 300 music creators and their families with affordable health insurance, low-cost dental, vision and industry-specific mental health care. According to Dale, “While the core of our mission is delivering immediate financial help to music people in an emergency, the safety net is more than that. It’s building a safer and more supported music industry by connecting the people we serve, as a community, with all available resources.”
A significant portion of this aid was distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of 2020 as COVID-19 shutdowns began, RDRF launched a grant program that delivered $300,500 in direct aid to support the changing needs of music professionals out-of-work in every musical genre, job and geography statewide—from writing, singing and producing to engineering, tour managing and sound engineering. This aid supported members of the Tulsa Symphony, the OKC Philharmonic, worship musicians, renowned hip hop artists, award-winning singer songwriters and musicians who have played or worked Cain’s Ballroom, Tower Theater, Paycom Center, BOK Center, Tulsa PAC and more. This work was recognized with an Oklahoma Arts Council Governor’s Arts Award for Community Service in 2022.
This June, the global Music Cities Awards announced RDRF had been nominated for “Best Organisation or Individual Supporting Music in their City.” The organization took part in the Organizations Facilitating Health Care Coverage & Access for Musicians conference in Washington D.C. in February 2020 alongside leading industry organizations like MusiCares, The Actor’s Fund, HAAM, SMASH, New Orleans Musicians Clinic and Music Health Alliance to employ national best practices at RDRF.
This million-dollar effort has been funded by a coalition of individual donors and business sponsors, event income from the organization’s two annual music festivals—Bob Childers’ Gypsy Café held in Stillwater in May and Skinnerfest held in Tulsa in October—and program support from funders including George Kaiser Family Foundation, Kirkpatrick Foundation, Albert & Hete Barthelmes Foundation, Kerr Foundation and The Mervin Bovaird Foundation. RDRF has also benefitted as a festival charity partner of Mile 0 Fest Key West, Diamondstone (formerly Medicine Stone), Bushyhead, G Fest and others.
