Oklahoma nonprofit Red Dirt Relief Fund aided 700 music professionals during COVID

UPDATE: The Red Dirt Relief Fund announced May 2 that the 11th annual Bob Childers' Gypsy Cafe raised more than $47,000 to fund financial assistance for Oklahoma music professionals in crisis. In addition, Tulsa entertainer Branjae won the Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest with her song "Free Facts."

STILLWATER — When the Red Dirt Relief Fund launched a decade ago, its founders never could have imagined the moment the modest nonprofit would be called upon to meet.

"We never envisioned a moment where every person potentially that we could serve would be in crisis at the same time. So, looking back now, over the last couple of years, we were very fortunate that we had a system in place to vet applications and distribute funding in a speedy manner, which has always been our mission," said Red Dirt Relief Fund Executive Director Katie Dale.

A nonprofit organization that provides a safety net of critical assistance for Oklahomans in the music business in times of need, the Red Dirt Relief Fund is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2022. But it's also celebrating a lot more: Namely, the waning of a global pandemic that shut down the live music business in 2020, putting hundreds of Oklahoma music professionals — from musicians and lighting technicians to sound engineers and stage riggers —- in sudden financial straits.

One sign that the music business is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic: The Red Dirt Relief Fund is bringing its flagship fundraising event back in-person for the first time since 2019. Billed as Oklahoma’s largest homegrown songwriter festival, the Bob Childers' Gypsy Café is set for April 27 in and around three Stillwater venues: Eskimo Joe’s, George’s Stables and Newbar (formerly Stonewall Tavern).

"Putting it together in person again, we're all a little rusty. But it's exciting because there is so much enthusiasm from fans and artists to get back together again," Dale said. "For all of us involved in putting it on — and for the artists who are performing — it's more than just a festival. It's kind of a reunion. So, everyone — including the fans and vendors — is very excited about the idea of all being together again in person."

Gypsy Café to feature almost 60 Oklahoma songwriters

The first in-person Bob Childers' Gypsy Café since 2019, this year's event will feature nearly 60 Sooner State songsmiths swapping tunes in groups of three or four. The 2022 fest will include perennial favorites like new Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductees Mike McClure and Randy Crouch, Kaitlin Butts, Mike Hosty, the Red Dirt Rangers, Stoney LaRue, Ali Harter, Beau Jennings, Carter Sampson, Greg Jacobs, Gene Collier, Mallory Eagle and more.

The 11th annual festival will add nine new voices to the lineup, along with the winner of the Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest, which is open to unsigned and emerging Oklahoma songwriters of all genres.

The event also will include a silent auction of autographed guitars; live painting by Bobby Moore, a member of the Tulsa-based band The Brothers Moore; and the presentation of the Red Dirt Relief Fund's annual Restless Spirit Award in the memory of Oklahoma Red Dirt rocker Chad Sullins, who died last year at the age of 43.

The acoustic music showcase is named for the late Bob Childers, the Oklahoma songwriter known as the “godfather of Red Dirt music,” and the fanciful nickname for a shed on the grounds of The Farm, the Stillwater homestead recognized as the birthplace of Red Dirt music.

"It's definitely something I like going back to, because I really admire what the Red Dirt Relief Fund does for musicians," said McClure, who has played the event most years.

"When COVID hit and nobody could play gigs, they sent out some checks and gave people some money. If somebody gets injured and doesn't have insurance, Red Dirt Relief steps in and helps. I've seen them do that a lot of times, and it's really cool. I believe in it."

Nonprofit steps up during COVID-19 pandemic

The Red Dirt Relief Fund was founded in 2012 using the ticket proceeds of the first Gypsy Café, which was organized in Stillwater in 2011. Since, the nonprofit organized has granted more than $580,000 in emergency assistance to more than 800 music professionals in 38 Oklahoma cities and towns.

"In the first eight years of Red Dirt Relief Fund, we issued about $275,000 in grants to a little over 80 people. During the pandemic we granted almost $300,000, so almost the same amount of money in two years vs. what we did the first eight years," Dale said.

"There were close to 700 grants made in that time, because they were smaller and we were trying to reach as many people as we could with the resources that we had."

With the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, it took the executive director and all-volunteer board just 10 days to launch a $50,000 emergency grant program to help music people whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic — and just 10 days more to distribute $105,000 in one-time $250 grants to 420 Oklahomans.

They made speed a priority, since the relief fund strives to be "economic first-responders to the music community of Oklahoma," Red Dirt Rangers musician John Cooper, one of the fund's founders, told The Oklahoman.

In some ways, Dale said the organization operated on faith in those dark early days of the pandemic.

"The decision that was made was, 'If we spend every penny we have in the bank, well, what greater crisis could we imagine? That's our mission, so that's what we're going to do,'" she recalled.

"As the support from not just individuals, but also from foundations and other funding mechanisms just continued to fall into place ... anytime we would get to a point where we'd say, 'Oh, well, the funds are dwindling,' the phone would ring and someone would say, 'Well, how much do you need?' ... It's inspiring to us that work in this organization just how much the community values and appreciates the work of the people we serve."

At the same time, the organization had to take its 2020 and 2021 Gypsy Cafés — along with some of its other fundraising events — virtual because of the coronavirus.

"This festival used to be our No. 1 fundraiser; thankfully, because we diversified the way that we raise money and that we are able to sustain organization, that's no longer necessarily the case. But we still have to raise at least $30,000 to throw back in the grant fund so we can continue," Dale said.

"Besides, how do you have this many musicians together not trying to raise money for this?"

As the organization celebrates its 10th anniversary, Dale said its leaders are taking to heart the lessons and spirit of the past two years.

"The pandemic just opened our eyes to what could be done by an organization like ours — and what was needed. Moving forward, as more people understand what we do, the more people will reach out to us when they are in that time of need," she said. "Lots of people still say, 'I've never heard of Red Dirt Relief Fund.' So, that is our goal for this 10th year is to continue to build awareness for folks who need help."

BOB CHILDERS GYPSY CAFE

When: 4 p.m. April 27.

Where: Grand Casino Stage at Eskimo Joe’s, 501 W. Elm St.; Oklahoma Film + Music Office Stage at Newbar, 115 S. Knoblock St.; and George’s Stables, 502 W. Elm St., Stillwater.

Information and tickets: https://www.reddirtrelieffund.org/gypsycafe.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma nonprofit helps 700 music professionals during COVID