Chicago musicians went head to head for glory and for education at the North Shore United Way Battle of the Bands, attracting more than 100 audience members Tuesday night at Evanston SPACE.
Five bands competed at the downtown venue, 1245 Chicago Ave., for both the judges’ and the audience’s favors, as proceeds from ticket sales and donations raised money for a new United Way Metropolitan Chicago initiative called Live United 2020. The initiative will focus on community investments in the areas of income, health and education in the Chicago area for the next 10 years.
Rock and blues trio Handsome Dave & The Ravens captured the judges’ favorite award, winning a time slot at Phase Recording Studios. Acoustic and electric rock quartet DeXter took home the audience favorite accolade win.
Dan Sloan, music director and DJ at Northwestern radio station WNUR, served as one of the judges of the night, along with music producer Matt Feddermann of Phase Recording Studios in Highland Park and noted Chicago musician and blues guitarist Dave Specter.
UWMC chose Evanston as a partner community for Live United’s education platform, both for the city’s level of need and its ability to absorb and effectively use donations, said Sarah Frick, director of marketing and communication at UWMC.
Live United will target early education and middle school students in Evanston to ensure their academic success in high school and beyond.
“Evanston has always been within our footprints and now we’re going much more narrow and deep into the community,” Frick said.
UWMC will allocate education resources through Evanston non-profit organizations, including the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston and the Youth Organizations Umbrella. They will also handpick which grants to fund out of the over $25 million in education grants that have been requested in Evanston, allocating a total of about $9.3 million to various recipients.
United Way members and musicians alike touted the cause.
“It’s all about the kids,” said Conrad Nowak, guitarist for the Chicago-based band The Nuisance, which entertained the crowd second with their rock covers and original songs.
The ultimate goal of Live United 2020’s education initiative is to prepare 50,000 underperforming students in the Chicago area to enter high school, according to the UWMC website.
“This is about our workforce and education,” Frick said. “If we don’t have a workforce coming out of Chicago that is nationally and globally competitive, we have a really big problem.”
Correction (9/24/11): A clarification has been inserted regarding the dollar amount of grants United Way gives out. United Way received $25 million in grant requests, but the actual money allocated to recipients totals to about $9.3 million.
