An exciting musical event brought to thousands of senior living residents across the country, May 2 at 6pm ET
April 28, 2020
During a time when senior living residents are more isolated than ever, we are proud to partner on an initiative to bring them joy. Introducing, the virtual Sunshine Concerts series hosted by Tony Award-winning Broadway actress Laura Benanti!
As COVID-19 hit and impacted nearly every part of our lives, the shutdowns across the nation also put a halt to music and theater performances thousands of students had been preparing for this year. Laura’s viral #SunshineSongs campaign took off on social media, calling on all students to share their performances from home – and the response was overwhelming. Laura called on friend and community activist, Kate Deiter-Maradei, determined to give them an audience and with who better than older adults who could enjoy these wonderful performances as they remain in quarantine.
K4Connect is bringing this curated experience directly to our communities, enabling residents to view the show directly via the K4Community App. And in partnership with Seniorly and Prompt, the show is extended to friends and family – and the entire public! – to all tune in together and join the virtual watch party Saturday, May 2 at 6pm ET.
Read more about the initiative and the viewing details in the press release below:
View Livestream here: https://bit.ly/sunshineconcert1
On the heels of her viral social media campaign, #SunshineSongs, Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti is partnering with K4Connect and Seniorly to bring joy through music to senior living communities, Children’s Hospitals, and beyond! On Saturday, May 2nd at 6:00 PM ET, the Sunshine Songs Concert will present the first intergenerational live viewing experience. In March, Laura created #SunshineSongs, to invite students across the country to share videos of the performances they were not able to give this year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Laura first partnered with her friend Kate Deiter-Maradei to explore a way to distribute the performance videos to senior communities and Children’s Hospitals, as a result creating the Sunshine Concert event which will be live viewing party on Laura’s YouTube page.
COVID-19 has suddenly changed the way we are all living, but for older generations and hospitalized children around the world, the impacts have been particularly significant. In senior living communities and Children’s Hospitals, residents and patients under strict quarantine safety measures are unable to visit with family or friends. Together with the teams at Seniorly and K4Connect, they are hoping to remedy this by bringing a little bit of joy by streaming a variety of performances from #SunshineSongs.
“I was talking to my mom (Linda Benanti, a renowned voice teacher) and she shared how disappointed her students were that their school musicals were canceled due to Covid-19. These shows bring entire towns together in celebration of their talented young people and I wanted to provide a platform for them to be seen and celebrated! The tremendous outpouring of love on social media for #SushineSongs led me to my friend Kate Deiter-Maradei (a community activist) and together we devised a plan to bring #SunshineConcerts to vulnerable communities (our beloved Seniors as well as our young people in Children’s hospitals) that might not be active on Social Media.”
Seniorly will be providing the technical and creative live streaming expertise in collaboration with K4Connect’s distribution. The live stream event will be directed by Ashley Rodbro and produced by Stephanie Cowan. Prompt, a mission-driven education company, is developing the website and providing creative support.