Charity Profile

HAAM keeps Austin music alive with affordable healthcare for local musicians

HAAM provides access to affordable healthcare for Austin's musicians.

Photo by Jon Shapley

Editor's note: CultureMap is committed to shining a light on Austin-area nonprofits and their impact on our community. So, we're launching the first-ever CultureMap Austin Charity Challenge, highlighting deserving local organizations — one of which will become our charity partner for 2016 based on readers' votes. Get to know one of our eight finalists, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.

What would the Live Music Capital of the World be without its musicians? Local live music, despite enriching its community, has not been known to pay well. While the next big things wait on their big break, one organization seeks to keep them all in good health. One less concern on the mind of the troubadour is how to pay for health insurance, thanks to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM).

Providing relief for low-income working musicians, HAAM offers free or low-cost healthcare, including vision, dental, and even mental healthcare. In the music industry, where drug addiction and depression can strike, HAAM is a unique and necessary resource not only for the health of musicians, but for the health of the community.

HAAM is known around town for events like the Corporate Battle of the Bands, which gets business professionals into the groove, pitting musical hobbyists from big companies like Intel, H-E-B, and Seton Healthcare Family against one another, as celebrity judges choose who really rocks.

This past September, HAAM celebrated 10 years of community care at the HAAM Benefit Day event where it raised more than $450,000. Since its start in 2005, HAAM has provided access to medical care for over 3,500 local musicians, totaling over $30 million in services.

When it comes to supporting local musicians and uplifting the community that makes Austin such a unique and exciting place to live, HAAM is leading the pack.

Vote now for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians — or any of the other worthy local nonprofits — in the CultureMap Charity Challenge running through December 30. A winner will be announced January 5, 2016, and will receive a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

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Charity Partner

Austin Pets Alive! fetches the win in our CultureMap Charity Challenge

Courtesy of Austin Pets Alive!

We asked, you voted: Austin Pets Alive! is the winner of CultureMap Charity Challenge 2016.

In mid-December, we launched our first-ever CultureMap Austin Charity Challenge in order to shine a light on the city’s much-needed nonprofits. Highlighting eight local organizations and their impact on Austin, we released a series of mini-profiles to help you, our readers, decide which of them deserved to be our 2016 charity partner.

The poll has been tallied, and the organization that came out on top was Austin Pets Alive! (APA) with over 50 percent of the vote. By winning the 2016 Charity Challenge, APA will receive a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

APA maintains comprehensive, innovative programs designed to save animals most at risk for euthanasia. Since 2008, APA has saved more than 30,000 pets and found them forever homes.

APA has created programs like The PASS Program (Positive Alternative to Shelter Surrender), which provides assistance to pet owners who may be unable to house their pets, significantly reducing the number of animals that enter the shelter system.

Through developing innovative programs for at-risk animals, APA has helped Austin become and maintain its status as the largest no-kill city in the country. We at CultureMap look forward to this Charity Challenge partnership and helping to further the nonprofit’s important work in our community.

For more information on Austin Pets Alive! and how you can get involved, visit the website.

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