QUALIATIK Robbed of Tour Earnings
Donation protected
My name is Arielle Herman and I am a music producer, performer, and new media artist with a background in neuroscience, working under the alias of QUALIATIK .
On July 14th at 12:30 PM, I was robbed of all my cash at the Prague train station. I arrived at noon, exhausted from a show the night before from which I had to leave immediately, on no sleep, to take a one-hour train to Brno, Czech Republic, and then a three-hour train to Prague, and then a car to the airport to catch a flight to Copenhagen for a show that night.
To gain some energy before heading to the airport, I stopped by a small coffee shop at the train station. I took out my wallet to buy a coffee, which—at the time—contained my full €400 payment from performing at Creepy Teepee Festival as well as €100 of my own personal money. The total loss equals $585 USD.
I went back to the table to rest, exhausted from hauling heavy gear from city to city and performing with full force every night with a chronic tailbone injury that keeps me on my feet for most of the day.
A little before 12:30 PM, a man with several shopping bags came into the café and asked to sit on the other side of the table. Almost immediately, he dropped all of his shopping bags on the floor near my backpack, and starting scuffling around with them to pick them up. When he had them in order, about five minutes later, he got up and left. He had not purchased anything from the café.
At 1:00 PM, it was time to head to the airport. I stopped at the magazine shop next door to buy a snack for the plane, and when I opened my wallet I was stunned, shocked, and horrified to see that every last Euro was gone. This was all of the money I have made on tour and the only cash I have for the remainder of it. Not to mention, the only financial recoup for all the travel fees I have covered myself to make this tour happen as an independent artist.
Panicking, I ran back to the café to ask about security footage, but they did not have a camera. The owner escorted me to the police station, where I filed a police report, but was told it would probably be pointless because the man most likely fled the station.
This moment came as a staggering, disruptive shock to my already financially threatening tour, and could affect my travel plans back to NYC, as well as my ability to sustain myself in the coming months.
I am an independent artist with no manager or booking agent, who organizes tours singlehandedly for myself as well as the artists I travel with. I worked for two months on this tour, handling the full travel itinerary and even organizing shows myself in cities I have never been to. I invest all of the money I have directly into my project, taking necessary financial risks to travel and play shows despite having a bank account that relies solely on irregular invoice payments from freelance work.
A donation of any amount would mean the world to me, and lighten the huge burden of the theft of this small amount of money I worked tremendously hard for. It will also help me keep my head above water in NYC in the coming months following this loss, so I can continue to prioritize my work as an artist and performer, and devote myself wholeheartedly to releasing my first record this fall.
You can listen to some of my music on SoundCloud , and see video clips from tour, as well as my visual work, on my Instagram . I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read about and consider my situation and hope you will share my message with some friends <3
Paypal: [email redacted]
Venmo: Arielle-Herman-1
On July 14th at 12:30 PM, I was robbed of all my cash at the Prague train station. I arrived at noon, exhausted from a show the night before from which I had to leave immediately, on no sleep, to take a one-hour train to Brno, Czech Republic, and then a three-hour train to Prague, and then a car to the airport to catch a flight to Copenhagen for a show that night.
To gain some energy before heading to the airport, I stopped by a small coffee shop at the train station. I took out my wallet to buy a coffee, which—at the time—contained my full €400 payment from performing at Creepy Teepee Festival as well as €100 of my own personal money. The total loss equals $585 USD.
I went back to the table to rest, exhausted from hauling heavy gear from city to city and performing with full force every night with a chronic tailbone injury that keeps me on my feet for most of the day.
A little before 12:30 PM, a man with several shopping bags came into the café and asked to sit on the other side of the table. Almost immediately, he dropped all of his shopping bags on the floor near my backpack, and starting scuffling around with them to pick them up. When he had them in order, about five minutes later, he got up and left. He had not purchased anything from the café.
At 1:00 PM, it was time to head to the airport. I stopped at the magazine shop next door to buy a snack for the plane, and when I opened my wallet I was stunned, shocked, and horrified to see that every last Euro was gone. This was all of the money I have made on tour and the only cash I have for the remainder of it. Not to mention, the only financial recoup for all the travel fees I have covered myself to make this tour happen as an independent artist.
Panicking, I ran back to the café to ask about security footage, but they did not have a camera. The owner escorted me to the police station, where I filed a police report, but was told it would probably be pointless because the man most likely fled the station.
This moment came as a staggering, disruptive shock to my already financially threatening tour, and could affect my travel plans back to NYC, as well as my ability to sustain myself in the coming months.
I am an independent artist with no manager or booking agent, who organizes tours singlehandedly for myself as well as the artists I travel with. I worked for two months on this tour, handling the full travel itinerary and even organizing shows myself in cities I have never been to. I invest all of the money I have directly into my project, taking necessary financial risks to travel and play shows despite having a bank account that relies solely on irregular invoice payments from freelance work.
A donation of any amount would mean the world to me, and lighten the huge burden of the theft of this small amount of money I worked tremendously hard for. It will also help me keep my head above water in NYC in the coming months following this loss, so I can continue to prioritize my work as an artist and performer, and devote myself wholeheartedly to releasing my first record this fall.
You can listen to some of my music on SoundCloud , and see video clips from tour, as well as my visual work, on my Instagram . I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read about and consider my situation and hope you will share my message with some friends <3
Paypal: [email redacted]
Venmo: Arielle-Herman-1
Organizer
Arielle Herman
Organizer