HIGHLIGHT:
Band of Angels
The Background
Band of Angels is a Kansas City-based 501c3 co-founded by Mike Meyer of Meyer Music. Their mission is to provide instruments, scholarships and all the support that children in need in the greater Kansas City Area require to succeed in music.
In 2022 I was nominated to be part of Band of Angels’ annual class of Rock Stars (I’d say please ignore my dorky picture but I guess I’m the one who put it there, huh?). Rock Stars are community-driven folks who help fundraise and spread the word about the organization, spearheading a promotional charge in the months leading up to Band of Angels’ biggest fundraiser, Art That Blows.
I was excited for the opportunity – I’ve been deeply ingrained in music since I was a kid, playing the piano, guitar, and even teaching myself how to make hip-hop and electronic beats on my computer. But when I first started this seasonal fundraising effort, I had no idea what incredible and surprising turns would lie ahead.
The Idea
I’ve done plenty of fundraising in my day, and pretty quickly had a grasp on some of the things I wanted to do to help drum up donations for Band of Angels. But the biggest push – and the one I was most excited to work on – was a music-themed Kansas City shirt that I would sell with 100% of profits going to my efforts.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, I had created an online store where I sold KC-themed shirts, stickers, etc. with a portion of every sale going to local charities. Since then, it has raised thousands of dollars that have gone to area nonprofits. Why couldn’t I replicate that concept here? So I did!
Below is the design I put together for my fundraising efforts. I ended up selling 59 of these shirts, raising nearly $700 that went straight to Band of Angels. But…it didn’t stop there.
The Spinoff
I expected people to dig the shirt I created for my personal Rock Stars fundraising. What I didn’t expect was for Mike Meyer to love it so much that he’d end up reaching out and asking if I’d be willing to make something for Band of Angels in a similar style, but in an official capacity.
The Request
The bones of this new design were there, but a couple particular things needed to be incorporated for Band of Angels’ purposes:
1) Since their primary focus is on providing orchestra and band equipment, I needed to do away with turntables and electric guitars and instead incorporate brass, woodwind instruments and of course…some angel wings.
2) For the sake of consistency with prior apparel they had put out, I needed a heart shape to be at the core of this design.
I couldn’t be happier with the end result! And Band of Angels seemed quite happy with it too. The shirt ended up being sold at the Art That Blows fundraiser, and to this day it still brings me a ton of joy to see photos of Band of Angels staff and recipients wearing this ode to Kansas City and music.
The TV Appearance
After the dust had settled from my Rock Stars campaign and Art That Blows 2022, I figured things would be relatively quiet with the Band of Angels shirt design I had created. I figured it was quietly making appearances at Band of Angels events or being utilized to help raise money for the organization, and I loved that thought!
Then Mike Meyer calls me one day and asks if I’d be willing to sign a clearance agreement allowing my art to potentially be shown on a TV show. He couldn’t offer up details, but they were shooting soon. Sure. Yes. Okay. Deal.
Fast forward a few months and The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning is released on Peacock, narrated by Amy Poehler and highlighting a team of experts who help individuals organize their homes while finding emotional growth and closure. One of those episodes just happened to be in Kansas City. And the individual happened to have instruments she was ready to donate. Sure enough, they ended up at Meyer Music and there was my shirt design. And there it was again. And again!
Did I cry a little bit watching TV that night? Maybe I did and maybe I did!
