4 Somerville Acts Awarded Music Grants

SOMERVILLE, MA – Four Somerville-based musical acts were among 24 artists and groups to be receive a grant from the Passim Iguana Music Fund. The fund awarded a total of $40,000 to acts in New England, which included Somerville's Age, Strangers by Accident, Catherine Capozzi and Forrest Pettengill.

"It’s really amazing to look at Passim as we celebrate our 60 years. So many musicians have come through the club over those years. It is core to our mission to help the musicians in our community grow and develop their careers," Jim Wooster, executive director of Passim, said in a statement. "We take immense pride in providing the Passim Iguana Music Fund grants. These grants really make a difference in the careers of local musicians and also help them enrich the lives of so many others."

Age will use its funding to record a spiritual world music record with Dave Brophy inspired by traditional Jewish/Hebrew texts; Strangers by Accident will record a debut record; Capozzi will present “Bring Us Your Women,” a multimedia concert set for March that will lift up often-overlooked stories of women in several of the world's religious traditions; and Pettengill will buy a new upright bass.

The Iguana Music Fund was launched in 2008 after an anonymous donor approached Passim with the idea to provide financial assistance to local artists. It annually awards grants from $500 to $2,000 in the fields of recording or manufacturing assistance, publicity and marketing support, equipment and instruments, songwriting retreats, tour support, special projects and professional growth to musicians with a New England connection. To date, it has provided more than $350,000 in funding.

The work of the 2018 Iguana Music Fund grant recipients will be showcased at Club Passim on April 8 at 7 p.m. Free tickets for this evening are available online at www.passim.org, by calling 617-492-7679 (9:30am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday) or at the Club Passim box office sixty minutes before the show begins. Club Passim is located in Harvard Square at 47 Palmer St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

Image via Shutterstock