Concert to benefit KRM amid cuts to federal funding
The concert, which will take place at St. Bridgid Catholic Church at 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on March 22, is open to all. Entry is donation-based with 100 percent of the profits going to KRM. A spokesperson from KRM is set to speak during the show’s intermission.
LOUISVILLE ー A benefit concert will be held this month by a Kentucky-based sextet, les six, to raise money for Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) amid cuts to federal funding for refugee resettlement organizations.
The concert, which will take place at St. Brigid Catholic Church at 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on March 22, is open to all. Entry is donation-based with 100 percent of the profits going to KRM. A spokesperson from KRM is set to speak during the show’s intermission.
The sextet, composed of five woodwinds and a piano, will play 70 to 80 minutes of classical music in what will be their annual spring concert. Denine LeBlanc started les six nearly 10 years ago while she taught piano at the University of Louisville.
While plans for the concert were already in the works for the group, it was over the last few months that LeBlanc looked to turn the show into a fundraiser.
“I think we started seeing the loss of funding, that’s when we started thinking about what we could do,” LeBlanc said.
While LeBlanc said she’s unsure of the political viewpoints of everyone in the sextet, she said they all agreed that KRM is an organization that shouldn’t lose funding.
A Jan. 20 order from Donald Trump suspended the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) until “such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States,” an explanation of the order stated.
Partners of USRAP include agencies such as the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Resettlement Support Centers, along with several other governmental groups and non-governmental organizations.
The ten refugee resettlement agencies that were partnering with the government claimed that their contracts were terminated on Feb. 26, including Church World Service, the parent agency of KRM.
KRM is a non-profit that provides resettlement services to refugees, looking to promote self-sufficiency and integration into the Kentucky community, according to the group’s website.
Services include providing help with job placement, school registration and tutoring, English as a second language and community orientation classes, and information on the medical system and provider referrals, among many others.
“[KRM helps refugees] learn the language, so over time, you can see how the language improves, which, as soon as that happens, the person can be more involved in their community, and they're happier, less anxious, because they can communicate,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc was inspired to use les six’s musical talent to raise money for the organization after seeing many people from her church receive help from KRM. The pianist was also influenced by Music for A Purpose’s benefit concert for KRM held in early February.
Les six performs two repertoires each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. After 10 years of practicing and performing together, LeBlanc said that they have grown to care about each other.
In addition to the sextet having its own sense of community, LeBlanc said that a community has evolved around the music.
“It keeps building, and people seem happy to see each other at the concerts. There is a lot of frivolity afterwards, and then there's some people that go out afterwards,” LeBlanc said.
While the benefit may not raise a large sum of money, LeBanc said, it's an amount that KRM didn't have before, “so it might add a little bit more time to what they do.”
The hope is also that the benefit will raise social awareness for the organization, awakening interest in KRM even in people who are unable to attend the concert.
Les six can be found online at les-six.org and on Facebook at @lessixlou. Read more about the benefit on KRM’s website.
