MusicHelps annual fundraising initiative NZ Music T-Shirt Day is taking place on Friday 3rd May 2024 as part of NZ Music Month. NZ Music T-Shirt Day is all about celebrating great New Zealand music, raising awareness for the important work of MusicHelps and showing your support by sporting your favourite artists or band tee.  

NZ Music T-Shirt Day raises funds for MusicHelps, a charity that helps the most vulnerable in our communities by supporting projects that use the power of music to help and heal. This includes music therapy sessions, music programs in respite and palliative care, music education programs for the at-risk and vulnerable and rehabilitation programs to name a few. They also provide free professional counselling and emergency financial wellbeing support to kiwi music workers. Since inception, they have positively impacted the lives of over 90,000 people across Aotearoa.  

New Zealand Music T Shirt Day is primed to become a favourite fundraising event during NZ Music Month. This year’s event will raise much needed funds for grants to those who use music to help and heal as well as support the music community with whatever challenge they may face into the future.

Gather your friends, whānau and workplace, create a team, spread the message, and donate by visiting www.nzmusictshirtday.org.nz or texting MUSIC to 2448 to donate $3.

The NZ Music T Shirt Day action is easy:

MusicHelps supports initiatives and provides grants to a variety of communities across Aotearoa, from Whanganui to Tamaki Makaurau, Hamilton to Dunedin, Wellington to Whangārei. Some highlights of communities that Musichelps has supported this year include:

- Swan Nest in Wellington, a charity providing therapy, support and advocacy for children who are living with complex health conditions or terminal illness and their families. MusicHelps supports their Music Therapy programme, which provides children with tools to make sense of the world they are living in, in a fun and meaningful way.

- The Music4us Puoro Mō Taatou Music Education Trust in Dunedin which gives ‘at-risk’ youth access to music education and tuition; including them in a community that celebrates the cultures and communities of those involved.

- Whanganui’s Other Orchestra - who have been running since 2015 - run weekly sessions led by a facilitator and invited music guests. They provide a safe musical environment to people from all walks of life, especially those disadvantaged by health, disability, social or financial circumstances.

- The KiwiOra Community Trust in Auckland, who provide a ‘Notes of Hope’ outreach programme collaborating with experienced musicians, providing music lessons to rangatahi from families with limited financial means. They encourage musical performance and serve as a platform for giving disaffected youth dignity and purpose.

MusicHelps is also pleased to have recently announced our first MusicHelps Music Therapy Award to Kate Owen. The award is for wāhine identifying students who have been accepted into the Master of Music Therapy Programme at Victoria University. Presented in collaboration with Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust and The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust, the recipient of the award received an $8,000 scholarship for one year of study, and if they are in their second year of study, the award will include a supported student placement with the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust.

From singers to sound engineers, managers to musicians, MusicHelps service is available to anyone involved in the Aotearoa music industry to ensure people are taken care of when they need it most. Initiatives such as the annual New Zealand Music T-Shirt Day are vital to ensure Musichelps can not only celebrate the array of talented musicians we have throughout Aotearoa, but to continuously deliver their grants and services to anyone and everyone -  the very people that bring us the music we love, and all those around it.

For a full list of kiwi bands and artists who are currently selling merchandise online, please head to: https://www.nzmusictshirtday.org.nz/t-shirts-and-merchandise

The net profits of all official NZ Music Month T-Shirts are donated to MusicHelps.