Radio Milwaukee Unveils “Backline”

88Nine Radio Milwaukee (WYMS-FM 88.9) announced

Wednesday the creation of Backline, a grant and educational initiative in partnership with

business accelerator gener8tor to help Milwaukee musicians succeed, establish Milwaukee’s

reputation as an emerging music city and help Milwaukee companies attract and retain

young employees.

Backline will recruit four Milwaukee area musicians or bands for its first 12-week session

this summer, modeled on gener8tor’s nationally ranked business start-up accelerator.

Selected musicians and groups will be eligible to receive grants of $20,000 for financial

support and initiatives identified through the accelerator process, such as recording,

promotion and touring.

Backline will also produce and host free, quarterly workshops on navigating the music

business, with local and national industry professionals sharing expertise. Backline will post

workshop videos and related educational materials on its website.

A full-time program director is being sought to run Backline, with applications being

accepted through April 13 at https://www.backlinemke.org/careers. Musicians and bands

of any genre can apply for the accelerator from June 4 to June 29 at the Backline website,

http://backlinemke.org.

A kickoff event for interested musicians and sponsors takes place at the 88Nine studios, 220

E. Pittsburgh Ave., from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Thursday April 5.

Visit http://backlinemke.org for more information on the program, to sign up for its email

list and to learn about donor and sponsorship opportunities. Backline is also on Facebook,

Twitter and Instagram.