Santa Rosa offering new relief grants to musicians suffering from COVID-19 pandemic pause

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- The city of Santa Rosa has a new idea to help keep local musicians afloat while they struggle to survive the coronavirus pandemic, forcing them to press pause on their livelihoods.

With in-person concerts and live music still on hold with COVID_19 health guidelines, the city has offered relief grants to applying musicians.

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"There's a large music community here and it's pretty popular to have a variety of concert series, small and large, all throughout Sonoma County and the region," said Tara Thompson, Arts & Culture Manager of Santa Rosa. "This is an attempt, a small step, towards helping to support those musicians who don't have access to those live gigs right now."

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Santa Rosa has made 18 grants available, worth $2,000 each. Funding is coming from what was reserved for the city's 'Live at Julliard' concert series, which has been cancelled this year for COVID-19 safety protocols.

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To apply for a grant, interested musicians can apply here. Winning musicians will be notified in May.

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