The Legacy Project: Feed a Body, Feed a Soul – One Year Later

I celebrated my birthday over Easter weekend, and realized that it was a year ago that I launched the Legacy Project, recording “Greenseleeves & Puddin’ Pies”, a CD of Christmas/seasonal music in memory of my father, Richard Riding. What a year it has been! It seemed like a good idea when I came up with it, and like so many good ideas, it was a lot of work, but well worth it!

I first launched this project on my birthday in April of 2013, and followed up the initial launch with various fundraising concerts and an on-line PledgeMusic Campaign. Between those initiatives and the kindness of the Charlotte St. Arts Centre (which sponsored both the initial fundraising concert and the Fredericton CD launch), artists Jake Powning and John MacDermid (who both donated photos for the CD artwork), Danny Crain (who donated his time to record the bass tracks) and most of all my partner Outreach Productions (where I recorded the CD, and who gave me a break on the recording costs), we were able to raise enough money to cover the cost of recording, mixing, mastering, designing the layout, purchasing the rights to record the music, and the reproducing of the CDs. I say we because without the support of all of these people, as well as those who donated financially to the project, I would not have been able to cover all of the costs.

Here the year at a glance:

April – launched the Legacy Project
May/June – finished picking the music, put together medleys, practiced!
July – recorded!
August – planned PledgeMusic campaign, recorded bass tracks, started planning launches, worked on text for CD
September – mixed the CD, finished text for the CD, picked images for layout, launched PledgeMusic campaign
October – finished PledgeMusic campaing, signed off on CD artwork, worked on details for launches
November – designed CD launch poster, advertised CD launch concerts, did interviews with various media outlets
December – CD launch performances

I have to say that when the first CD launch was finished that I felt a great sense of relief. I had done all that I could and was finally able to relax. I was delighted in December to be able to visit CBC Fredericton to donate the proceeds from the CD sales and CD launch concerts to the local food banks in Health Region Authority 3 through CBC’s “Feed a Family” campaign. We managed to raise $2602 through this project.

It is interesting looking back at the year in this way. I now understand why I was so tired by December! Putting everything together was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. I am proud of this project and feel pleased to have been able to put it all together in memory of my father. If you want to read more about the idea behind the project, you can do so here: http://www.katherinemoller.ca/the-legacy-project-feed-a-body-feed-a-soul-recording-a-christmas-cd-of-fiddle-music/.

I am continuing to sell the CD “Greensleeves & Puddin’ Pies” and am collecting the funds to be donated to the local food banks again this year. If you would like to order a copy, you can do so at: http://www.katherinemoller.ca/store/, or if you live in Fredericton, you can buy a copy at Tony’s Music Box, Real Food Connections, or Sweet Belgian Desire.

Thank you all so much for you support throughout this project! I could not have done it without you!