Ryan is Super Strong VS. The Coronavirus
I can't think of ANYONE who hasn't been hugely impacted by the Coronavirus, and the speed and force of its impact has truly overwhelmed our global community.
I am a musician, teacher, and podcaster in Los Angeles, CA, and over the course of the last 4 days, I sat in my home and received e-mails, phone calls, and text messages cancelling every bit of work that I had scheduled between March 12-May 1.
This comes at a particularly trying financial time in my own life, and as I sat and deleted commitments from my calendar, I felt overwhelmed and helpless.
Then I started hearing from my friends.
EVERYTHING for EVERYONE has been cancelled.
It became apparent QUICKLY that we are all in this together and I wanted to find some way to make ANY sized dent in the problem, so I took a look at the community around me and realized that my podcast, "Ryan is Super Strong!" has been a consistent presence in my life for 5 years, and has always served to promote artists in my community.
The bones of what I wanted to try to do were already there.
My goal in starting this gofundme campaign is to bring awareness to the MANY musicians, artists, performers, etc who have been on the last 180 episodes of my podcast to share about their careers as community enriching freelance professionals, and HELP them if they have been impacted financially by the Coronavirus.
I will be reaching out to EVERY GUEST who has been on my show, and give those who have been financially affected by Coronavirus cancellations and complications the chance to OPT-IN to equally split ALL of the proceeds that come from this gofundme campaign.
I will keep the names of guests who opt-in or out private as per individual requests, but I will most certainly let each person who wishes to, thank all donors here on the page in the form of video and audio updates after the campaign's completion.
I am kicking off this campaign with a SPECIAL extra episode of my podcast which is being released Saturday, March 14, and can be listened to here:
Apple Podcasts
https://apple.co/39T5gOC
SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/ryanissuperstrong/special-episode-is-the-coronavirus-super-strong
This special episode will talk much more about the affects artists are feeling, as well as give you an opportunity to hear from A BUNCH of past guests from the show!
All in all, this is a silly comedy show where I interview artists who I love.
When all of this Coronavirus news started hitting us so negatively, I knew I wanted to find a way to try to hit back, and I chose to try my best to help this little community that I've built around me of insanely talented and warm-hearted people who I truly believe in and care about.
I am starting our group goal at $5,000, but if we could raise WELL past that initial mark, it would benefit those who have been affected and opt-in to receiving benefits from this campaign in so many ways.
I will run this campaign from March 14-March 29, and at that point, seek to disburse the funds to each opted-in individual via venmo, paypal, zelle, or driving cash to their dang frontdoor(s) in order to get funds in these artists bank accounts as quickly as we can, and before rent is due on the 1st of April.
Thank you so much for reading all of this, and for your kind generosity in advance.
Everyone is affected by this, and I hope that when you donate to this campaign, you can do so in full faith that this money will help ALL OF US.
It will effect all of these artists/entrepreneurs/wonderful human people in ways that we will all be beyond grateful for.
Sincerely,
Ryan Knudsen
Host of "Ryan Is Super Strong!", the weekly podcast
("Ryan is Super Strong!" can be found on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts)
