The cash-strapped Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) which has endured a daunting year, got a shot in the arm on December 20 with a J$150,000 (around US$ 1200) donation from the Merritone Foundation.
Monte Blake of the Merritone Foundation presented the check to Frankie Campbell, chairman of JAVAA in Kingston, Jamaica.
Campbell welcomed the funds which will be used to shore up his organization’s sagging coffers. He disclosed that donations have come in from companies such as Burger King since he made a desperate appeal for assistance in November.
“We’re still struggling to bury some of our members and that can’t be a good thing, so a gesture like this from the Merritone Foundation is welcome,” said Campbell.
Blake’s older brother, Winston Blake, was a co-founder of JAVAA in 2003. Its objective is to assist artists and musicians who have fallen on hard times.
Most of the organization’s 150 members have been unable to pay insurance fees because of a fall-off in shows due to Covid-19.
Within two days of Campbell’s SOS, Burger King donated J$250,000 (around US$ 2,200) to JAVAA. Private pledges have come in since then.
Monte Blake believes Winston, who died in February, 2016, would have been appalled at how Jamaican artists have been treated in their homeland.
“He would find it repugnant that one of Jamaica’s greatest industries have people struggling to find comfort in their health and burial,” he said.
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