WE SHALL OVERCOME!

SATURDAY APRIL 11th (noon to midnight)
Musicians playing live from their homes direct to your homes to help those who don’t have homes. 

As the Corvid-19 virus leads to gig cancellations across the country – including many We Shall Overcome gigs – at the front line things are getting even tougher.

Our friend Pauline Town has housed almost 400 people and on a daily basis is feeding and supporting 60 homeless people. She also supports many other people such as those with mental health issues and lonely isolated older people. This is all from her pub The Station in Ashton-Under-Lyne.  She relies on her We Shall Overcome family to play gigs that raise the money she needs to feed people.  With official government advice to avoid pubs things just got a whole lot harder. So that’s where we step in.

Isolation Fest 2020 is a virtual festival with a simple aim – to get money direct to Pauline. We’ve assembled a stellar line up of what would likely be a £40-60 ticket and it’s all happening online for free. Donations can be made at gofundme.com/we-shall-overcome-2020

FAQ

1. WHAT IS ‘WE SHALL OVERCOME’?
WSO started in May 2015 as a response from the music community to the worst excesses of austerity. Since then our organisers have run more than 1100 gigs raising an estimated £500,000 worth of food, cash, warm clothing and toiletries for food banks, homeless outreach, soup kitchens, crisis centres, youth projects and refugee support, every penny of which went straight to the front line.

2. WHAT IS WSO ISOLATION FESTIVAL?
It is an 12-hour online festival run through a Facebook group here- WSO ISOLATION FESTIVAL- SAT APRIL 11th 2020– where you can see 30+ artists perform in their homes from midday to midnight on Saturday April 11th.

3. WHAT IS IT FOR?
We raise our help at gigs, and thanks to Covid-19 there aren’t any. Our main hub in Ashton-under-Lyne provides 60 packed lunches per day to Greater Manchester’s homeless as well as working 24/7 to provide shelter for some very vulnerable people. We are running a GoFundMe page for voluntary donations and we ask you help if you can.

4. HOW DOES IT WORK?
From midday on Saturday April 11th we will have 20 minute sets from each artist, and when their stage time comes they will become the pinned post at the top of the group. When they finish, their post will be unpinned and the next act will take ‘the stage’. All you need to do is put the kettle on and enjoy music from our kitchen to yours.

5. CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU PLAN TO GET 30+ ARTISTS TO DELIVER A SET TO A TIMETABLE WITHOUT THE WHOLE THING DESCENDING INTO A SHAMBLES?
No. Because we haven’t tried it yet. But when we do, and if it works, we will happily share the mechanics of it so that you can run similar events while we are in lockdown.

6. SO WHAT DO I DO?
You join the group. Everything will happen in there. And at midday on Saturday April 11th, you turn up and cheer us on while we try to build bridges up and down the land and raise spirits in these darkest of days.  If you can afford to donate some money that’s all the better, but the event is free to all.

JOIN US !

A4 POSTER (to download – right click and ‘save as’)

 

HOW IT WORKS GRAPHIC (to download – right click and ‘save as’)

SQUARE SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHIC (for twitter/instagram – to download – right click and ‘save as’)