Next Tuesday, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is hosting its annual HAAM benefit day.
Annually, businesses from Austin support these musicians by allowing them to perform there and donating five-percent of the profits earned that day to HAAM.
“You can go ahead and do the things you would normally do on a Tuesday. You can go shopping, eat out, get your hair cut, go to a car wash, all these things, and support HAAM at the same time,” spokesperson for HAAM, Carolyn Schwarz, said.
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HAAM Benefit
News 8's Andy Langer sits down with a HAAM spokesperson to find out more about their annual benefit day.
 
Musician
News 8 Austin’s Veronica Castelo introduces you to one musician who stands to gain from a successful HAAM Benefit Day.
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Donation boxes will be at all live music performances. Some locations do require a small cover, but you can expect to see artists like Band of Heathens, Bob Schneider, Tony Price, Terry Hendrix and many more. To view the full schedule of performances, click here.
“You’ll have 95 music performances to be able to go out, hear the music and celebrate live music here in Austin and the musicians who make it,” Schwarz said.
HAAM is an organization dedicated to providing health benefits to working Austin musicians.
“It is not easy to be a musician in Austin and I think most people probably don’t realize how little the musicians here in Austin make, so even someone who tours a lot might be making about $15,000 a year,” Schwarz said.
The organization has created multiple health options for those musicians. Some of those options include medical care through the Seton family of hospitals, dental care through St. David’s community health foundation and mental health and addiction recovery through the Simms foundation. Recently, they’ve also added hearing health for musicians as well.
This year, the Topfer Family Foundation will match donations up to $25,000.
The event runs from 6a.m. to well past midnight on Tuesday September 22.
