FAQ
Some FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS are below. For any additional information please contact welcome@whataboutusmusic.com
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Some FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS are below. For any additional information please contact welcome@whataboutusmusic.com
Founder “fact-finding trips” to Israel & Palestine in 2017 and 2018 introduced the team to local organizations and initiatives, all focused on building positive relationships between the Israeli and Palestinian people, despite significant political, social, and cultural challenges.
We met so many inspiring people who have dedicated their lives to putting peace and love ahead of war and hate, and yet their voices are rarely heard, and certainly not on the international stage.
Parallels can be drawn between the conflict in Ireland and the local Israel/Palestine conflict. There was a strong feeling in the team that the progress in Northern Ireland could contribute to helping the Israel/Palestine communities to heal, be a beacon of hope, and in that moment What About Us was born.
Music is the language of love that has no boundaries, no barriers, and no walls. Through music people can connect without the baggage of history, identity, and societal limitations.
The team then set out its ambitions and has established extremely high bars:
– Develop an anti-war protest live stage and music experience that is of the highest professional standard and entertainment value, capable of touring the world and inspiring change – a love story.
– The stage experience needs to challenge the status quo and confront some of the big issues facing the world today such as war, increasing armed conflict, refugees, persecution, and corrupt leaderships.
– In parallel to the launch of the stage and music experience (premiere targeted for 2025), a novel on which the musical is based will be published, a book chronicling the journey of the musical from concept to premiere published and a docufilm following participating young musicians and singers released. These 4 separate though connected initiatives should enable What About Us to make a lot of noise in 2025 and hopefully help to contribute to a better world.
– Helping build a What About Us movement, giving young people a voice, a platform through our website and social media channels.
The first step was to assemble a team with business and creative expertise & ability capable of delivering on the ambitious goals. The founder team includes Stephen Byrne, Eddie Evans, Julie Hamilton, Tom Creed, Finola Harrington, Shoshi Israeli, Des Cullen, Aaron Wilkinson and Siofra O’Donovan.
The 9 original Founders were all the same mindset, a shared belief that the music experience was of its time, the next generation needs it and together we could break new boundaries.
The 9 Founders are volunteers, giving of their time and money for the good of the project.
The Founders have paid all costs, all the expenses to date. All recognize that to produce a live stage and music experience of the standard, we are aiming for, we will need to bring in external funding and build the assets with a commercial focus.
This business is seeking to raise money from commercial sponsors and from Investors who will take an equity stake/a shareholding in the company.
The funding is required to develop an exceptionally talented professional team and pay the professionals appropriately. What About Us will not succeed, will not be able to deliver on our social goals if we are not commercial.
To produce and bring a top-quality musical to the world stage is costly.
The funding raised will be used to pay staff wages, fees to external experts, the making of the docufilm, the staging of the musical, fees to professional musicians & singers, administration costs, legal and finance costs, advertising & marketing; essentially the typical costs to operate a commercial business.
What About Us (Limited), the business, owns all the musical rights, the docufilm and has commercial interests in the novel and the book documenting the journey of the musical from a concept to the stage. All these assets have the potential to generate income for What About Us (Limited)
What About Us (limited) has an unusual ownership structure best described as follows:
– The 9 Founders are being awarded shares for the time/hours they commit to working for What About Us, without pay.
– Artists/musicians/composers working on the creation of the musical will earn shares and/or dividends from profits in What About Us (Limited) and/or be paid for their work.
– The What About Us social projects will be a significant beneficiary of the success of What About Us (Limited). If the stage experience and album releases are successful, then that success will generate a long-term income stream for the social projects which are core to our goals.
– The amount of the shares any of the above stakeholders end up with will be completely dependent on the size of the equity stake investors putting money into What About Us (Limited) will require. This is a straightforward commercial reality.