Carnegie Mellon's Independent Musicians Organization (IMO) has served as perhaps the most prominent home for student contemporary music on campus since 2010; we run weekly jam sessions, open mics, Battle of the Bands, Hack-A-Song, an Orientation Week Concert, a Halloween Concert and a Scotty Saturday Concert, and our annual Carnival show, all free and open to every CMU student regardless of major or experience level. This has led us to grow particularly in the recent academic year at an increasingly rapid pace, leading us to collaborate with other organizations such as Activities Board, WRCT Radio Station, Lemon Publication, Music Production Club and Jazz Club, and expanded our reach to become a Pittsburgh community organization for local music as well, partnering with venues such as Haven, Mr. Roboto Project and Bantha Tea Bar. This campaign will help offset the costs of what we have in store for the remainder of our biggest year yet: a 20+ artist Carnival Music Festival, a second year of Battle of the Bands, another external Pittsburgh venue concert, and a critical equipment upgrade for our jam room (as outlined in our comprehensive 30+ page proposal submitted to Gina Casalegno and CMU admin). We are the connective tissue of CMU's non-music-major music scene and the local music scene for young musicians in the greater Pittsburgh area, and this campaign is about giving that community the resources it deserves.
All funds raised during this campaign will be directed toward four needs to see through our high-scale event programming for the remainder of the year and beyond: -IMO at Carnival: Artist booking fees and technical production costs for our annual Carnival showcase, which this year aims to feature 20+ student and Pittsburgh-based bands across multiple days (we’re hoping to compensate all artists, but with our budget of $1,000, that currently is impossible). -Battle of the Bands: AB Tech and venue production costs for our second annual Battle of the Bands, co-hosted with Activities Board, WRCT Radio and Lemon Publication (has been $1,000 at minimum for events in the past, causing us to be discouraged to use AB Tech’s services without adequate funding). -Another external concert: Costs associated with booking and executing a Pittsburgh venue show, continuing IMO's mission of connecting CMU students to the broader Pittsburgh music scene (our most recent external show at Haven cost around $1,800 to book). -Jam room equipment: Substantial equipment upgrades, such as instruments, a proper mixer, and amplifiers to improve the quality of our open-access practice space, which any CMU student can book, as well as looking ahead to our plans to perform more substantial changes in terms of acquiring a new music room in the University Center, entailing a relative fresh start equipment-wise.
