4 Somerville Artists Awarded Iguana Music Fund Grants

SOMERVILLE, MA – Four Somerville-based musical acts were among 28 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 Mary Bichner, Ben Truboff, James Rohr and Charan Devereaux.

"Throughout our 60 years, Passim has sought to nurture artists in every stage of their careers and to support a vibrant music scene," Jim Wooster, executive director of Passim, said in a release. "The Iguana Music Fund grants allow Passim the opportunity to directly help a number of local musicians with career-enhancing projects and impactful community programs."

Rohr plans to use his funding to update his current recording gear; Bichner will use hers to serve as the composer-in-residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, N.M.; Truboff will bring musicians and educators into his seventh-grade classroom to broaden his students' understanding of World Music; and Devereaux will record music of different faiths found in the city of Somerville, hoping to create an exhibit that will ultimately be displayed in the Somerville Museum.

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 2017 Iguana Music Fund grant recipients will be showcased at Club Passim on Monday, April 9 at 7 p.m. Free tickets to the Iguana Music Fund showcase are available online at www.passim.org, by calling 617-492-7679 (9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday) or at the Club Passim box office 60 minutes before the show begins. Club Passim is located in Harvard Square at 47 Palmer St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

Image via Passim