Take your favorite memories of camp – either as a child or an adult – the dusty, friendly, self-sufficient community that gets created when people stake a place in the wilderness and gather to form a temporary home. Now add to that scene some of the most incredible folk music you’ve ever heard…around every bend, near every tent and in jaunty outdoor theatres with long wooden benches. Spontaneous jam sessions, lilting melodies, and air that just crackles with the energy of song and camaraderie.

Public Domain Foundation went back to its roots this June and together with Kerrville, celebrated their 30^th year with renewed purpose. It seemed only fitting that the two organizations, sharing roots in community song, collaborate in the creating a unique musical event. With the help of Rod Kennedy, the first Bringing Music To Life songwriting contest was conceived with a distinct goal; the building of an encouraging platform for the creation of songs of political and social significance.

As most folks now know, the Public Domain Foundation was started in 1971 through proceeds from "The Wedding Song". By virtue of its fortunate and longstanding success, the Foundation has been able to give more than $1.5 million to various family and children’s organizations worldwide.

We live in challenging times, with much of the complexity and difficulty created by our own shortsighted ‘me first’ mentality. The Music To Life contest, however, proved that commitment to community issues still exists, and we were delighted with the response it provoked. We received over 140 submissions from across the country and Canada. Through a challenging review process, ten finalists were selected by a panel of distinctive judges including Len Chandler, Tom Chapin, Christine Lavin, Tom Paxton, Mary Travers, Cheryl Wheeler, and Peter Yarrow. Those ten selected finalists shared their songs of social and political concern with an audience of hundreds in an outdoor theatre on the grounds of the Kerrville festival. They sang of the ravages of AIDS, the sadness of children in foster care, the challenges of democracy and the hope for peace. Their messages resonated soundly with everyone present and the concert generated tremendous appreciation and support. We were approached by multiple people interested in entering, judging, and promoting future MTL contests.

From the ten finalists three top award winners were chosen. The second runner up, Eileen Hemphill-Haley received a charitable donation of $250 for her song THE BEGINNING OF THE END ; she will allocate her award to the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric Aids Foundation. First runner up was Michael Veitch whose PLEDGING ALLEGIANCE received $500 which will be donated to Charity Community Cafe Association,  ACLU of Vermont, Working on Waste, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Rural Vermont, and the Norah Risley Foundation. Our grand prize winners DAVID ZEE and ASHLEY POUND who co-authored CHILDREN OF CONFLICT received a donation of $1,000 for Seeds of Peace, their chosen organization and David gave the opening performance on Center Stage Saturday night, June 2.

The remaining finalists, who received commemorative awards, were Melissa Javors and Lisa Aschmann / GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE, Sara Thomsen / IS IT FOR FREEDOM?, Bob Chabot / SNOWFALL, Tracy Spring / WALLS COME TUMBLIN’ DOWN, Carla Gover and Mitch Barrett / MONEY’S OUR GOD, Steven Rizzo and Wade Quick / WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE and Spook Handy / VOTE.

Part of Public Domain Foundation’s ongoing commitment is to actively seek connections among all of our finalists’ songs and nonprofit organizations. In this partnership, finalists’ compositions may become a theme or anthem for a benefit event or fundraising campaign, or perhaps integral to the successful launch of a special program. Our idea is to simultaneously generate exposure for the work of these unique artists and a nonprofit’s mission. Because of the time required to make the connections between writer and non-profit agency, we are delaying the next Music To Life Contest until the year 2003.

In the meantime, we encourage those of you who are interested in our work to join our growing mailing list, visit this web site (www.pdfoundation.org) and purchase a copy of this year’s Music To Life Concert CD (all proceeds support Public Domain and its charitable activities) which will be available later this month on the PDF site or through the NEWORLD MULTIMEDIA  store. 

We extend our appreciation to this year’s esteemed contest judges, the tireless Kerrville staff (particularly Rod) and, especially, all of our Music To Life contestants. Their participation was a confirmation of Public Domain Foundation’s belief that artistic expression can serve as an informative and emotional bridge; bringing our world closer together by reminding us of our common human condition.