RWQuarantunes x The Pad Project host Zoom concert fundraiser to end period poverty
Hollywood agent and proud USC dad Richard Weitz and his daughter, Demi Weitz, have been raising funds for coronavirus frontline workers for the past six months by hosting private, invite-only virtual concerts over Zoom.
With performances and attendance by Hollywood’s biggest musicians, talents and film A-listers, this house-party style fundraising event has raised over $12 million from donors across the globe. Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Seal, John Legend, Katy Perry, Sam Smith, Charlie Puth, H.E.R., Ashanti and the cast of “Hamilton” are just a few of the 250 artists that have performed at the events.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, Weitz’s project RWQuarantunes partnered with Academy Award-winning producer and USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna Stacey Sher and her daughter Maggie Brown, co-founder of the youth-led nonprofit organization The Pad Project, to raise funds to provide menstrual hygiene products for people unable to access it during this pandemic.
The Pad Project is best known for producing the documentary “Period. End of Sentence,” which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2019. With the saying of the evening, “Periods don’t stop for pandemics,” the event brought together over 300 strong women and allies of women to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child with the aim to raise $300,000 for the cause.
Friends and family of the invitees danced and sang along in their little Zoom grids, as British singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield sang her iconic song “Pocketful of Sunshine” while dedicating it to the essential tampons we carry in our pockets.
Jack Black sang Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” in acapella while emphasizing the importance of uplifting women’s lives. Tony Award winner Lena Hall gave us all goosebumps as she sang her cover of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World.” Mike Garson played his unreleased piano piece, “Lullaby,” that he wrote for his daughters, sending tears down our eyes. Songwriter Madison Love beautifully sang the hits she wrote for Ava Max, “Kings and Queens” and Selena Gomez, “Rare,” which left us wondering why she didn’t sing them herself originally.
The hosts surprised us all with musician Kathy Valentine and The Go-Go’s — the first all-female band — as they recreated their hit song from the ’80s “We Got The Beat”— lifting us all to our feet. The musical spectacle of an evening ended with the awe-inspiring Academy and Grammy award winner Jennifer Hudson leaving us all speechless with her rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” as she addressed the children of the future and potential they hold.
The Weitzs posted links in the Zoom chat box for viewers to donate if they were enjoying the performances and believed in the cause. The space was buzzing with praise for the artists, song dedications to loved ones and so much respect for the organizations involved.
We saw special appearances from famous attendees like actress Zoey Deutch and Poorna Jagannathan, Grammy Award winner Jimmy Jam, R&B singer Macy Gray and special messages from Emmy Award-winning actresses Sarah Paulson and Uzo Aduba. They spoke about the importance of ending period poverty and the need to empower the girl child while raising awareness for their own charitable organizations and charitable work.
Melissa Berton, the executive producer of “Period. End of Sentence,” Sorelle Cohen, director of development for The Pad Project and USC Price School of Public Policy alum and other members continued to showcase the revolutionary work they had done globally and provided resources for how we may get involved and contribute to helping these causes ourselves. The cause saw live donations from notable author Sam Harris and president of FX productions, Eric Shrier. The final donation from Emmy-nominated producer Joe Davola helped hit the evening’s fundraising goal.
There’s something genuinely beautiful about the Quarantunes format. It’s truly making the best of such an unprecedented time. What started as a little birthday surprise for his daughter evolved into a powerful initiative that helped raise essential funds for charities working for vital causes such as cancer research, AIDS and hunger. But also, it reinvented the platform and experience that artists and viewers had lost with the pandemic.
While we stress the importance of social distancing, we tend to forget its impact on our mental health. While we may distance from one another physically, we must come closer emotionally. And what better way to do so than through the unifying power of music.
It goes without saying that our laptop screens will never replace concert halls and that chat boxes will never match the exhilarating experience of screaming on top of our lungs in the pure joy of being immersed in music. But with the little that we have now, RWQuarantunes has managed to create little virtual rooms of happiness. You can’t help but feel absolutely elated by the effort and the dedication of everyone involved in spreading as much love and laughter in this time.
The event and its attendees had one goal, and that was to have fun and help with as much as they can. There’s something so disarming about looking at people wave their hands and dance awkwardly in their kitchens and bedrooms — when performances from such revered artists are interrupted by their barking dogs or innocent children. We’re brought into the homes of each and everyone and with that, we bring them into our hearts…unified by the experience of a magical evening and the desire to be better people.