Since 2014, the Panza Foundation has been giving local bands $2,000 grants to keep the music rocking and rolling. This month, the foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary with a benefit concert.
John Panza once asked a bandmate, Lauren Voss, “What do bands need?”
She gave an answer that few would dispute: “Money.”
So Panza and his wife, Jane Takac Panza, started a small foundation in 2014 to help pay a few bills for local musicians.
Now the Panza Foundation spends $2,000 per year on each of four bands, covering guitars, pedals, repairs, swag, studio time, car repairs, lodgings, and many other needs for making music. Panza also offers the bands contacts and advice on everything from harmonies to health.
The foundation will celebrate its 10th anniversarys and raise money through its annual benefit on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Happy Dog. Like all foundation receipts, 100 percent of the night’s proceeds will go to musicians. The Panzas pay all the nonprofit’s expenses.
A small but helpful niche
Cleveland has a wealth of charities and foundations of many sizes for many causes. Panza, his foundation’s president, likes its modest niche.
“We focus on Northeast Ohio underground independent music,” he says. “That’s all we do. There’s no educational program. We don’t chase grant money. We know what we do best. We raise money and give it to bands.”
The foundation has also paid for stages at festivals and expenses at independent clubs, especially during the pandemic. And it’s the fiscal agent for Cleveland’s Lottery League, which puts on a yearly show at IngenuityFest. The foundation has gotten donations of money and equipment from clubs, other music businesses, even a Pilates studio and a barbershop.
One of the bands getting a grant this year is the duo Free Black! Singer Floco Torres, who performs with Holbrook Riles III, says, “It was a total surprise. It was a nice moment of validation. People are watching what we’re doing. We’re making some noise.”
The grant has helped the band get a mixer and hard drives. Panza also helped it get a gig at Wade Oval Wednesday’s Juneteenth Festival.
The Powers/Rolin Duo used a grant this year to help replace a stolen car used for tours. Napsack used a grant for speakers and studio time.
Napsack’s Sarah Cuturic says, “There are so many good bands in this town, it’s nice to be considered one of them. It’s cool that someone cares enough to make something like this happen.”
Bands need not apply for grants. The foundation’s trustees scout the acts and pick them. They look for bands who haven’t gotten wide recognition yet but are persevering.
“We want lifers,” says Panza. “We want people who see music as something they have to do.”
The bands must be based in Cuyahoga or its contiguous counties. It helps if they play only original songs and, according to a press release, “play well with others” — such as club and studio operators.
It also helps if they play often, near and far. “It’s great playing for your friends,” says Panza, but “it’s important for a band interested in growing to tour.”
The bands’ sizes have ranged from one musician to eight; their genres, from pop to gospel to avant-punk; their instruments, from synthesizer to hammered dulcimer.
The foundation doesn’t consider the musicians’ financial needs. Panza says, “We can assume, if they’re playing music, they’re not independently wealthy.”
It doesn’t investigate their backgrounds, either. “Everything in Cleveland is incestuous, but the music scene is particularly incestuous. Our foundation is very, very aware of the issues between people in bands and clubs and owners.”
The grants stun many recipients. “One band turned us down. We had to ask a second time. They didn’t feel they were worthy.”
Some are wary of freebies in an often predatory field. “A hip-hop artist looked me in the eye and said, ‘Who owns our music?’ ‘You do.’ ‘Who owns our gear?’ ‘You do.’…” The only repayment bands have to make is to play at the foundation’s next benefit.
Panza asks bands tough questions of his own, especially about potential problems like drug abuse. In the end, he’s never rejected any musician or vice versa, but he has given advice about such problems. “We have contacts who can help.”
The grants have helped groups grow. Past recipients Uniity and Biitchseat have gone on to tour the county. Mourning [A] BLKstar has toured Europe and Australia.
Harmonizing over music
The Panza spouses met as students at Parma High School, went on to John Carroll University and settled in Cleveland Heights.
John teaches English at Cuyahoga Community College East. He also plays drums, guitar and synthesizer in two bands: Arms & Armour and Hiram-Maxim. He has a studio called Dark Current Productions in the Twist Drill Building at Lakeside and East 49th Street, an old factory hosting many creatives.
Jane writes and edits for organizations around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She’s the foundation’s vice president and its only trustee not in the music business.
Panza says Cleveland could use more musical support businesses, such as publishers, publicists and labels. Still, “Cleveland has great bands, great clubs.” He says it also has great audiences from Severance Hall to dive bars. “The arts are baked into our DNA here.”
A ticket to the Panza Foundation benefit on Nov. 23 costs $12. The doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the music begins about 8:30 at the Happy Dog, 5801Detroit Ave. The show will feature four acts the foundation is supporting this year: Free Black!, Napsack, the Powers/Robin Duo and Teamonade. Equipment will be raffled and next year’s recipients announced.
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