
Up until very recently, the idea of a concert festival brought to mind a fairly specific picture: huge outdoor stages with walls of speakers, dozens of artists to choose from, and throngs of revelers in sunglasses huddled together in celebration of their favorite music. In the last month, that picture has shifted dramatically, with major festivals like Coachella and South by Southwest (SXSW) postponing or canceling outright due to global concerns over containing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
We've already seen many artists take to video (including our own students) and streaming from their homes as a way to keep spirits up while so many people are quarantined for a still indefinite amount of time. And while sustaining morale is important, many musicians are even more worried about sustaining their careers in general. That certainly was the case for fiddle player, composer, producer, and engineer Galen Fraser B.M. '13, who is currently in lockdown in Valladolid, Spain. Soon after the lockdown began on March 13, Fraser was quick to rethink just what a concert festival could mean during a crisis. Along with fellow musicians in lockdown, Mar a and Diego San Miguel, he began planning the Stay at Home Festival.
If we can bring different people closer together through music and community, it will help everyone feel less isolated and alone.
-Galen Fraser B.M. 13, cofounder of the Stay at Home Festival
For the last couple weeks, we have watched our livelihood slip out from underneath us as the pandemic spread of COVID-19 forces events to be canceled, and music venues to close, Fraser said. We watched as the same happened to all our musical peers and thousands more across the globe. A week after the lockdown began, the trio had put together a full roster of artists willing to perform from their homes, worked out all the logistical kinks, and held live-streamed concerts from March 20 to 23, raising more than $30,000 in donations-all of which went directly to the artists.
Once we got the idea in our heads to make an online international music festival, we basically gave up sleeping for a week to push the project out, Fraser explained. They worked tirelessly to enhance their extra-musical skill sets, from graphic design to event planning to working out how to broadcast the concerts, continually driven by the desire to, as Fraser put it, set an example and keep people from getting totally discouraged by the current pandemic. If we can bring different people closer together through music and community, it will help everyone feel less isolated and alone.
Many of the performers had Berklee connections as well, including faculty members Natalie Haas and Mike Block, former program director for Valencia Casey Driessen, and Berklee alumni Hanneke Cassel B.M. 00, Rushad Eggleston 03, Laura Cortese B.M. 02, Louise Bichan 19, Ethan Setiawan B.M. 19, Duncan Wickel 11, Frankie DeRosa 14, Jenna Moynihan B.M. 13, and Alex Hargreaves 13.
The event was so successful, in fact, that Fraser and crew are already gearing up to host the second festival, which will occur from April 3 to 5, and will feature an entirely new slate of performers. And with so much in the world feeling unpredictable, it's hard to know how long festivals will need to be held remotely, but Fraser said that he, Mar a, and Diego are committed to bringing joy and light to the people for as long as we are in this situation. We want to show the world how important it is to shine in difficult circumstances like this and how necessary arts and music are for peoples souls.
Related categories:
News
Related Reading
How to Support Artists During the COVID-19 Outbreak Four ways you can help artists and music industry professionals right now and in the days ahead.
What the World Needs Now Is This Student-Made Video Boston Conservatory at Berklee student Shelbie Rassler convened a virtual orchestra of 74 of her peers to create connection in a time of social distancing.
A Bedroom with a View As the Berklee community adjusts for remote learning and creativity, we offer a few artists who have used limitation as their inspiration.
More from Berklee Now
Most Popular
Berklee Announces Creation of Dream Theater Scholarship Progressive music icons Dream Theater and Berklee College of Music announce the creation of the Dream Theater Scholarship Fund.
Latest Moog-Korg-app-free.jpg
5 Ways for Musicians to Collaborate Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak Social distancing can be a strange new concept for musicians, but you don't have to wait until quarantine has lifted to get back to working with other creatives.
Stay at Home Festival Brings Relief to Fans and Artists Cofounded by alumnus and fiddler/composer Galen Fraser, the livestreamed event series helps keep artists off the road and in business.
Scene at Berklee: Noa and Gil Dor The two Israeli musicians shared their artistic journeys and performed pieces from their new collaboration, Letters to Bach.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Berklee Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Snapchat
Soundcloud
Spotify
North America Stories
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
PlayBox Neo appoints Besco as Channel Reseller to establish a firm foothold in Asia Pacific's thriving high-tech export-driven economic boom
PlayBox Neo, t...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...
23/06/2026
LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...
23/06/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...
23/06/2026
DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E
Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...
23/06/2026
Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026
Brie Clayton June 22, 2026
0 Comments
New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...
23/06/2026
SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...
23/06/2026
News Highlights:
NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list.
26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...
23/06/2026
Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run.
The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...
23/06/2026
Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...
22/06/2026
The next era of AI will not be defined by compute alone. Its growth will be dete...
22/06/2026
Mission, Vision and Veritas - new Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercom...
22/06/2026
At the ISC conference running in Hamburg this week, NVIDIA is introducing new so...
22/06/2026
For the past two years, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Arti...
22/06/2026
JUPITER, Europe's first exascale supercomputer at Germany's Forschungszentrum J lich, runs on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Inf...
21/06/2026
To call the 2026 FIFA World Cup a big undertaking would be a big understatement....
21/06/2026
Hot tubs sit at about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius, warm enough that most people can only soak for about 15 minutes. NVIDIA's newest AI servers can run their co...
20/06/2026
What exactly is Apogee Control V3?
Control V3 is a new mixer application that controls Apogee interfaces. The new hit feature is that V3 finally allows for...
19/06/2026
Split compound eases operational challenges at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club...
19/06/2026
North Carolina, Oklahoma meet in the best-of-three Finals as ESPN leans into spe...
19/06/2026
Data from May shows seasonal outdoor trends triggers lower viewing
Warsaw, Pola...
19/06/2026
Buttons is best control system in the rAVe Best of Infocomm Awards 2026...
19/06/2026
Mavis Studio Makes iPad Production More Powerful
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
InfoComm update brings new NDI Preview, PTZ control, USB audio ...
19/06/2026
Immersive Studio Metaverse Stage Tackles Post with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 19, 2026
0 Comments
New narrative projects rely on DaVinci Reso...
19/06/2026
How to Run the Original 1993 After Effects
Graham Quince June 19, 2026
0 Comments
How to the original After Effects v1 in an emulator, and you don'...