Livewire Moves to Live-Streamed Concerts to Support Musicians During COVID-19
Livewire’s Founder
Kent Kolstad started Livewire when he was just 11 years old. He always had a passion for computers, audio, technology, and video and quickly became known as the “the kid that could run sound” in his hometown of Alexandria, MN. After he graduated from Concordia College, he decided to jump into Livewire full-time with his friend Jordan Green. What started as one kid with a passion, is now a well-known live event production company with 24 people on their team.
About Livewire
Livewire, provides live event production for events of any shape, size, and style throughout the country. They have been in business since 1999 and provide technology for live meetings, events, and conferences such as TEDxFargo. They have offices in Fargo, North Dakota but have a presence in cities such as Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, Bismarck, St. Cloud, and Alexandria.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, their company’s live event production schedule was entirely wiped out. They quickly realized that this wouldn’t only interrupt their business but local musicians and artists would be suffering in a similar way.
They quickly brainstormed a solution to support them during this pandemic and are now offering LIVE@Livewire, an online, live-streamed concert from their facility in Downtown Fargo. Not only are they providing a platform for musicians and artists to play on, they open a GoFundMe during the live stream session so the public can donate money. 100% of those funds go towards the musicians playing that evening’s show.
Their first stream on March 17 had over 9,100 unique stream views, with a majority of the viewers watching for over an hour or more. They raised just shy of $1,000 for the musician’s performance that night. To date, they have raised over $1,000 on each of the following shows.
We’ve also been extremely grateful to see businesses step up to support this work by means sponsorship, so that the Livewire team is sustained and engaged throughout the pandemic, as well. — Livewire Team
The makeup of our community and our wider region is absolutely phenomenal in that countless individuals have stepped up to support these musicians in need. Similarly, many of our own corporate and non-profit events clients have helped us ensure our business can continue to operate in the face of three to four months of lost work. We have always been proud to live and work in Fargo, and this only cements that further. — Kent Kolstad
