We’re With U: The Blind Community at its Best
by Jonathan Mosen
From the Editor: No voice is more internationally known among the blind community than that of Jonathan Mosen. He is unquestionably a Renaissance man, a person who has his hand in music, technology, literature, and who clearly demonstrates a healthy concern for his community. Jonathan’s production skills and his willingness to share resources did much to make the concert a success, and it is with pleasure that we print the article he has written for readers of the Braille Monitor:
The world can seem like a gloomy place at times. Momentous events occur that concern us, but their magnitude overwhelms us. Yet, sometimes, the spark of an idea occurs which catches fire, making us realize we have more influence than we thought.
There is no better example of this than the We’re With U concert for Ukraine. It showed us that with an inspired idea, planning, and unity, no problem is too big that we can’t make a difference.
It all started with one blind man’s belief that we could assist the people of Ukraine through music. Jaffar Sidek Ahmad, a musician from Singapore, started a discussion on relevant email lists about blind musicians holding a virtual concert to raise money for blind Ukrainians, both those who remain in Ukraine whose lives have been torn apart by war, and those who have had to flee. Jaffar’s original idea was to run the concert as part of a fundraising initiative being undertaken by his church.
Having covered the invasion from a blindness perspective in my podcast, I was outraged by what was happening and eager to find a way to assist. So, I contacted Jaffar offering my assistance in any way that might be useful to him. Ideas I ran by him included being the MC for the event, donating Mushroom FM’s resources and infrastructure, and seeking the support of others in the blind community. Jaffar was happy to accept my offer of help. We immediately got to work. I created a website, and Jaffar continued to encourage blind performing artists to submit content.
As part of my initial contacts with people in the blind community, I reached out to Mike May, who became an unsung hero of this event. His enthusiasm was infectious, and he single-handedly recruited several of our corporate sponsors. Mike briefed President Riccobono, who was quick to offer NFB’s full support. This support took many forms, including infrastructural, fundraising, and messaging assistance.
The event’s success depended on identifying a credible partner to receive the funds. It had to be an organization the blind community knew well and trusted, and it had to have the links to ensure that funds raised were dispersed in the most impactful way. Through President Riccobono, we were connected with Marc Workman, Executive Director of the World Blind Union, which had just set up a Unity Fund for Ukraine.
Since its founding in 2010, Mushroom FM has hosted many successful events making innovative use of social media. But one of the most consequential decisions I made early on was to make the concert available to any internet broadcaster who wanted to carry it. There are a surprising number of internet radio stations run by the blind, for the blind. Often, they compete for the same audience. On the day, the event was carried by over twenty broadcasters in a resounding display of unity for the blind of Ukraine.
We are bombarded by so much information nowadays that it is easy to become desensitized to the fact that war equates to millions of personal tragedies. To make it clear why money was so badly needed, it was important that we hear from blind people or those assisting blind people, be they still in Ukraine or now refugees. So, the concert was interspersed with first-hand accounts of the war.
Many people made this event what it was, but the true stars of it are undisputedly the performers, who so generously donated their talent and kept so many people listening throughout the entire concert. Most were blind, a few were not, but all performances were exceptional. We heard many styles of music and even some poetry.
We couldn’t all gather together in a stadium, but we were brought together virtually via a Twitter hashtag, and I was able to acknowledge many listeners on-air. Donations came pouring in via NFB’s and WBU’s accessible online platforms.
For the radio and audio geeks, and the blind community has a good number of those, let me share a few behind the scenes details of an event, which, despite its complexity, was technically flawless for its 11.5 hours. We played 224 separate audio elements during the concert. This included the music, anecdotes from Ukraine, sponsorship messages, and calls to action. Every element was normalized to a common LUFS value and had it crossfade point set manually.
We streamed two versions of the concert concurrently. The version on Mushroom FM included our usual audio processing, while a separate stream offered an unprocessed version for Internet radio stations wishing to retain their unique sound.
The result of it all was that on the day, we raised over $80,000. When other donations were processed because of the event, the amount raised exceeded $100,000. While I have no doubt that it will be easy to find worthy ways to allocate those funds and that more are needed, it is a significant sum for a grassroots movement of concerned blind people to have raised in a project that went from idea to global event in the space of a month.
Whether you donated your talent, your time, your money, or all of the above, thank you so much. You can look back on the contribution you made and feel proud of being a part of something very special. We made a difference for the people of Ukraine. In the process, we also provided a powerful, moving demonstration that, no problem, even a war, is so big that we can’t make a difference. We are stronger together. We are better when we focus on what unites us. We have more power than many of us realize.
The memory of the concert may be fading, but the conflict is ongoing. Please continue to look for ways that you can show the people of Ukraine, “We’re With U.”