MusicPortland Announces This Year’s Echo Fund Winners

Nearly $60,000 will be donated to local musicians, including Laryssa Birdseye, Cay Davis and Aaron Nigel Smith.

Laryssa Birdseye (Courtesy of Laryssa Birdseye Music)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

MusicPortland, a grassroots nonprofit that advocates for local music, has announced this year’s Echo Fund winners, a group of independent musicians whose works ranges from hip-hop to jazz to rock and beyond.

A program that supports independent musicians by funding non-performance projects, the Echo Fund will this year award nearly $60,000 to 18 projects selected from 217 applications.

“The landscape of making a living in music has shifted, and no one recognizes that more than musicians,” Meara McLaughlin, executive director of MusicOregon, said in a statement. “The Echo Fund and creative innovations like Portland Music Month are lifelines, sustaining the vibrant and diverse music community that defines Portland.”

Among the biggest names receiving funding are Laryssa Birdseye, the singer-songwriter who debuted with the album So What in 2017 (the money will go toward the vinyl duplication of her work).

Other recipients include Cay Davis (of the BIPOC rock group Cay Is Okay), Maria Maita-Keppeler (a WW Best New Bands victor), and Aaron Nigel Smith (the globally renowned reggae artist). For a full list of winners, see MusicPortland’s website.

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