Sub Rosa Sound is an organization built upon four pillars - community, music, arts, and culture. We aim to support the art and music of underrepresented groups through immersive, multi-disciplinary, multi-genre, and often participatory experiences in unconventional settings, with a focus on locally-run spaces. We provide concerts, a podcast, a radio show, a platform for musicians and artists to receive financial support for their projects through grants and donations, and outreach to communities to deepen their value of the arts.

In our current cultural climate with growing economic disparity, we must not only build bridges within communities, but also across communities.

our inspiration

As musicians working in the Bay Area for almost a decade, we have seen the struggles artists - especially women, LGBTQ, and artists of color - experience to survive. While the Bay Area is home to a wealth of ideas, creativity, and money, these resources – especially financial ones – are not equally available to everyone.

Many musicians and artists working in the Bay Area have talents in multiple mediums - music, sound design, visual arts, videography, photography, dance, theatre, poetry, prose, and more. Most platforms available only allow them to present one aspect of their creative life at a time.

We want to rethink the relationship between artists and audiences, and the experiences that are possible. Existing venues have specific expectations for what sort of performances they are willing to promote, which often creates hard boundaries between artists and audience members. These divisions stifle the possibilities for what artists can create and therefore what audience members can experience. We provide a platform for musicians and artists to curate shows that need not follow a model placing a band on a stage and an audience near the bar as passive spectators.

Our Process

Shows

Our shows present talented and hard-working local artists who we want to spotlight. We provide funding for promotion of the concert, including posters, social media boosts, social media content, event listings, and more. We also manage contact with the venue so the artists can focus on their passion. Then, the artist takes the full door intake (after the venue takes their fees), and Sub Rosa Sound never takes money from the artist.

Our goal is to provide guaranteed pay for all musicians who play shows for us. Artists would be guaranteed a certain amount to play each show, and then receive more if the door take is higher than their guarantee. Thus, we can create a sustainable model which gives fair compensation for the work that musicians and artists do to provide our audiences with a fantastic show. Since Sub Rosa Sound makes no profit, we are supported purely by grants, donations, and sponsors.

podcast

Our podcast provides an inside look into the lives of our local artists and musicians, and address issues that are relevant to the community, including social justice, music education, the state of the music industry, and more. Tune in each week for a new interview.

artist support

We provide support for local artists, especially women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. We aim to help artists fund album recordings, go on tour, and improve their media presence. Through our work, we wish to form a supportive community network which musicians, artists, audio engineers, studios, and venues can tap into to help each other out, and also discover new talent.