The dance music community is capable of great things. Ranging from simple smiles between strangers to profound, life changing experiences – we all have the ability to make a positive impact on someone’s life. Imagine Festival 2015 afforded us an unbelievable opportunity, and we’d like to use the experiences gained and times had at the festival to give back to the EDM community.
For a little background, we were fortunate enough to host the Official Artist Meet and Greet and 808 Audio/thatDROP Giveaway Booth at Imagine 2015, and it allowed us to meet old friends and make new alike in the heart of Georgia’s capitol city.
Brillz signing one of the soon-to-be-sold Imagine Festival Posters.
Featuring The Glitch Mob, Crizzly, Morgan Page, 12th Planet, Brillz, Papadosio, and ill.Gates – fans flocked to the Meet and Greet to get a chance to say what’s up, get autographs, and talk tunes with their favorite artists. 808 Audio supplied free audio gear for festival attendees, and an epic time was had by all (click here for the full review of the weekend’s shenanigans!).
To give back to the community that’s shown us so much love and support, we are auctioning off an autographed Imagine Festival poster, eLite Chroma24 Glove Set from EmazingLights ($130 value!) and official thatDROP custom snapback.
Featuring autographs from the 7 artists at the Meet and Greet, all proceeds from the poster auctions will go to charitable organizations that dedicate themselves to making the music community a brighter place while working with EmazingLight’s Glove4Glove initiative and the Walk and Roll Foundation to aid in their daily magic making.
If you don’t know the Glove4Glove story, the organization works with the Walk and Roll Foundation to donate LED gloves help individuals express themselves and build toward a better future.
You may be skeptical of the true impact that gloving can have on someone’s life, and we realize that it may sound far-fetched, but look no further than these 3 real-life stories from individuals who have had Glove4Glove change their lives.
Here are the stories of Matthew Fernandez, Sari Isaak, and Jeremy Brown – all of whom have had a profound impact through Glove4Glove’s initiative:
Matthew Fernandez
Matthew Fernandez.
Matthew Fernandez is a 16-year-old who suffers from a condition called cerebral palsy. One day, his older brother Mike found him playing with his hands, taking after him in his interest in gloving. Mike was an original founder of Puppet Masters [PM], one of the most historic and well-known gloving crews around.
He began practicing with Matthew, and in just two months, gloving brought Matthew newfound finger strength. His family says he has improved his movement ten-fold, not to mention the impact that giving light shows has had on his social life.
Sari Isaak
Sari Isaak.
At the age of 19, Sari was going through one of the most difficult times of her life. She couldn’t keep food or water down and she was underweight. To make matters worse, her friends didn’t leave the house. She just laid in bed, tortured by her brain and her body.
When her emotions triggered, she entered a state called Hypomania, an anxiety attack with crippling, heartbreaking, depression. After eight months of medical diagnosis and countless prescription drugs, nothing was able to take the pain away, except Gloving.
“One day I came across an EmazingLights video on YouTube while I was browsing away for hours,” Sari said. “I had seen gloving before, but I had no idea that they existed or what they were doing. It was so beautiful. As my strength came back, I slowly began to start playing with my hands. I’ll never forget the first time I did. The pain stopped. The voices stopped. All the fear and darkness just… stopped. It was just me and my hands and the music, and that’s all that mattered.”
Jeremy Brown
Jeremy Brown.
Jeremy is a young man that struggled with depression for his entire life. After two suicide attempts, he found gloving and used it as a coping mechanism for his condition. Gloving has become the primary creative outlet in his life, and it has provided a source of stability that helps him make friends and meet new people. Through gloving, Jeremy discovered the unbelievable feeling of power that comes with throwing light shows, and the intimate personal interactions that are shared between glover and audience. Recently, he reached out to EmazingLights to tell us what gloving has done for him:
“I love giving light shows so much more than anyone will ever enjoy receiving them,” Jeremy said. “I put every ounce of my soul in my light shows. When I give shows to couples I feel their hearts beating as one, me the conductor of that moment they share and will remember forever. When glovers trade light shows we’re trading our souls. We put our souls in those shows.”
With so much love and light in the electronic music community, it’s astounding to see the impact that can be made by all of our decisions and choices in the scene.
From random small acts of kindness to life-changing experiences, we can all make a positive impact in someone’s life. We highly encourage you to check out Glove4Glove and the Walk and Roll Foundation in addition to other organizations that make a difference through art and music like Conscious Alliance, Little Kids Rock, Share Your Cloud, and more.
How can you make a difference?
Bid now for your chance to win the official autographed Imagine Music Festival posters, eLite Chroma24 Glove set from EmazingLights, and custom thatDROP snapback hat below! The auction is now live and will run through Saturday, October 3.
