Ben Folds to livestream benefit concert w/guests this Monday, July 11

BEN FOLDS ANNOUNCES “KEYS FOR KIDS” BENEFIT LIVESTREAM

 SPECIAL EVENT TO SUPPORT AND RAISE AWARENESS

FOR RECENTLY LAUNCHED INITIATIVE

TO PROVIDE YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA

WITH ACCESS TO KEYBOARDS AND MUSIC EDUCATION

ONE-HOUR LIVESTREAM TO FEATURE

AN EXCLUSIVE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY FOLDS,

ALONG WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

INCLUDING NORTH CAROLINA FIRST LADY KRISTIN COOPER

BEN FOLDS – KEYS FOR KIDS BENEFIT LIVESTREAM

TO BE BROADCAST LIVE FROM RALEIGH, NC

ON MONDAY, JULY 11 AT 6:00-7:00 PM (ET)

“I realize that most kids aren’t as lucky as I was to be exposed to a quality music education. That’s why I want to do what I can to help give

all young people who have an interest in learning how to play the piano

a chance to have the same opportunities I was afforded.”

– BEN FOLDS

North Carolina native Ben Folds has announced a very special livestream event benefitting his new charitable initiative, “Keys For Kids,” to be broadcast live from Raleigh, NC’s Osceola Studios on Monday, July 11 at 6:00-7:00 pm (ET). The event – which include a musical performance by Folds, as well as interviews with special guests including North Carolina First Lady Kristin Cooper – will support and raise awareness for “Keys For Kids,” launched in a unique partnership with the North Carolina Arts Foundation and the North Carolina Arts Council to provide school-age young people in the state with access to keyboards and proper music lessons at little or no cost. Tickets to the “Ben Folds – Keys For Kids Benefit Livestream” are available now HERE.

REGISTER FOR BEN FOLDS – KEYS FOR KIDS BENEFIT LIVESTREAM 7/11

Casio recently united with Folds as the official keyboard partner to “Keys For Kids,” donating 35 Casiotone CT-S200 keyboards to the initiative, an especially popular instrument with music educators due to their portability, affordability, and versatility. Casio America, Inc. joins the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Foundation, which are helping to administer the program, along with seven North Carolina nonprofits – Arts+, Authoring Action, Kidznotes, Kinston Community Council for the Arts, McDowell Arts Council Association, Musical Empowerment, and Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge Gallery – that receive financial grants and keyboards to use in their existing music education outreach programs.

Born and raised in Winston-Salem, Folds credits early exposure to music as a child as the impetus and inspiration for his own creative journey as a professional music artist. Folds intends to expand his initiative to embrace other North Carolina nonprofits involved in music education outreach. “Ben Folds – Keys For Kids Benefit Livestream” marks the first in a series of fundraising opportunities in the coming months to support “Keys For Kids,” and is encouraging others who believe in the mission to contribute as well. All donations to the “Keys For Kids” initiative – financial and in-kind – will be tax-deductible. To make a financial or in-kind donation to “Keys For Kids” go to www.benfolds.com/keysforkids.

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About Ben Folds:

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. He’s created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records.

For over a decade he’s performed with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras and currently serves as the first-ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.

Folds released his first book – a collection of interrelated essays, anecdotes, and lessons about art, life, and music – in 2019, which debuted as a New York Times Best Seller, and he hosted a podcast series spinoff of his book entitled “Lightning Bugs: Conversations with Ben Folds.” In addition to solo rock and orchestral touring, he’s also developing a new unscripted tv series with Fred Rogers Productions, continues to appear in various film/tv guest-starring roles, and is working on two new albums.

An outspoken champion for arts education and music therapy funding in our nation’s public schools has served for over five years as an active member of the distinguished Artist Committee of Americans For The Arts (AFTA), and serves on the Board of AFTA’s Arts Action Fund.

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