For Immediate Release
April 20, 2006

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL
BACKS HEALTH ALLIANCE FOR AUSTIN MUSICIANS
WITH DONATION OPTION ON TICKET SALES

(Austin, TX) — Austin City Limits Music Festival and its producer Capital Sports & Entertainment will give this year’s ticket-buyers the option to donate from $1 to as much as $10 to a local nonprofit group, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), the innovative program that provides health care to the city’s uninsured and low-income professional musicians.

While the annual musical party is months away — scheduled for September 15-17 in Zilker Park — the complete lineup for the 2006 Austin City Limits Music Festival, marking the Festival’s fifth anniversary, is set to be announced in mid-May.

“We are proud to point 2006 ACL Music Festival ticket-buyers toward making a donation to Health Alliance for Austin Musicians,” says Charlie Jones, principal and executive producer at CSE. “The Festival is all about music; so is HAAM. That’s what makes this city special and what makes the Festival so great.”

The 1-year-old Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is a coalition of SETON Family of Hospitals providing low-cost primary health care services emphasizing wellness and prevention, St. David’s Community Health Foundation providing free basic and preventive dental care, and SIMS Foundation providing low-cost mental health counseling. For membership and other information: 512.322.5177, www.healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org.

“This is a great opportunity for music lovers to give back to musicians,” says Robin Shivers, Chairman of the Health Alliance Board of Directors. “The Health Alliance keeps musicians healthy so they can continue to play their music for appreciative audiences.”

Another nonprofit benefiting from ticket sales donations to the Festival, KLRU-TV, is creator and home to National Medal of Arts Winner “Austin City Limits,” the TV series that PBS has aired for 31 years. For more information, visit www.klru.org.

The Health Alliance continues to organize the first HAAM Benefit Day, on October 3, when businesses across the city, small and large, will donate at least 5 percent of the day's proceeds to expand the services HAAM provides and the number of members it can serve.

Contacts:
Jill McGuckin, McGuckin Entertainment PR, 512.217.9404; jill@mcguckinpr.com
Carolyn Schwarz, director of services, HAAM, 512.324.8976; cschwarz@healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org
Pam Crowther, SETON communications & media relations, 512.324.3170; pcrowther@seton.org
Emily Erickson, SIMS Foundation, 512.472.1008; simsdev@austin.rr.com

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