The Grand Oak Opry hosts a donation-based concert series featuring a variety of musical performers. This summer’s season kicks off on July 2 with Mayyadda, followed by Nur-D on July 9th. Co-producer Sean Kershaw says the goal is to create a space that is supportive of artists and community building while creating a welcoming space for anyone who attends.
“We really deliberately want to provide a space for music for a diverse group of musicians, and diverse in every way: diverse by race and ethnicity, by gender, and by musical type,” said Sean. “There are people doing house concerts, but a lot of them are white guys with the guitar doing folk, blues, and rock music. We really are deliberately trying to support a broader range of artists in that house concert setting.”
Grand Oak Opry hosts six performances over the course of the summer and early fall. The series is named after the huge oak tree in the middle of Sean and Tim’s backyard. All of the work for the shows is provided by neighborhood volunteers. Attendance averages 250-300 people with 100% of the proceeds going to the bands.
“It was really Tim's idea that why don't we just try this in our backyard and invite some artists, we know, and invite the neighborhood, and see how it goes,” recalled Sean. “So we did two shows in 2014, experiencing what live music was like in our backyard.”
Sean says offering a donation-based show helps artists to get paid for their time and reduces the barriers that come with attending live entertainment events.
For more information visit grandoakopry.com.