Jeff Hoskins Experiment – handybandcollective.com

The Jeff Hoskins Experiment

The Jeff Hoskins Experiment is simply this: Can we enjoy cool merchandise and at the same time enrich someones life? At just 200 pieces of merch sold, we could absolutely, and incredibly, change the outcome of one awesome individuals existence.

The GIVE and GET mission is simply: Sell merch to provide money for hyper local and hyper effective community support AND double as a way to give PAID training to musicians who want hard skillz in order to better fund their arts career. Last year from December through the beginning of February we sold our Classic Handyband Hoodie and with each purchase we were able to give away a childrens hoodie on the behalf of YOU the customer. Those hoodies went to kids in the Salvation Army family shelters here in town. We ended up selling about 50, and gave away over 70! Those (adorable) childrens hoodies were handed over to the Salvation Army of Austin on the Thursday before Snovid 2021! We wanted this years focus to turn inward towards our own music community.

This Year's Target is a one Mr. Jeff Hoskins. Jeff, is an old school Austinite who has been dead center of Austin's music scene for almost two decades. Jeff also exemplifies a hidden piece of the Live Music Capital of the World "problem" we find ourselves with here in Austin and all over the US. Jeff, like many others, had found a stable income in one of the other facets of the Live Music Industry, as a professional sound engineer. His time playing drums in various bands did not quite pay the bills, so being a live sound engineer was key to Jeff's survival. Jeff eventually landed a dream gig of becoming the lead engineer of the famed Cactus Cafe. Unfortunately, when the Cactus management changed hands during 2020's quarantine, Jeff (a subcontractor) found himself cut out of the employment transition. The Cactus Cafe is consistently touted as one of the best sounding intimate concert spaces in Austin and has had some of Austin's best and brightest on their stage. Jeff Hoskins built the sonic attunement, from scratch, in his 17+ years of being their lead engineer. The kicker of this story is that in the 5 years leading up to the him being laid off he has, tragically, become legally blind. This has obviously complicated his ability to utilize his lifelong career as an live sound engineer. We want to focus our merch drive on helping him move from where he is now to where he wishes he could be.

The Vision

The GIVE and GET mission is simply: Sell merch to provide money for hyper local and hyper effective community support AND double as a way to give PAID training to musicians who want hard skillz in order to better fund their arts career. Last year from December through the beginning of February we sold our Classic Handyband Hoodie and with each purchase we were able to give away a childrens hoodie on the behalf of YOU the customer. Those hoodies went to kids in the Salvation Army family shelters here in town. We ended up selling about 50, and gave away over 70! Those (adorable) childrens hoodies were handed over to the Salvation Army of Austin on the Thursday before Snovid 2021! We wanted this years focus to turn inward towards our own music community.

This Year's Target is a one Mr. Jeff Hoskins. Jeff, is an old school Austinite who has been dead center of Austin's music scene for almost two decades. Jeff also exemplifies a hidden piece of the Live Music Capital of the World "problem" we find ourselves with here in Austin and all over the US. Jeff, like many others, had found a stable income in one of the other facets of the Live Music Industry, as a professional sound engineer. His time playing drums in various bands did not quite pay the bills, so being a live sound engineer was key to Jeff's survival. Jeff eventually landed a dream gig of becoming the lead engineer of the famed Cactus Cafe. Unfortunately, when the Cactus management changed hands during 2020's quarantine, Jeff (a subcontractor) found himself cut out of the employment transition. The Cactus Cafe is consistently touted as one of the best sounding intimate concert spaces in Austin and has had some of Austin's best and brightest on their stage. Jeff Hoskins built the sonic attunement, from scratch, in his 17+ years of being their lead engineer. The kicker of this story is that in the 5 years leading up to the him being laid off he has, tragically, become legally blind. This has obviously complicated his ability to utilize his lifelong career as an live sound engineer. We want to focus our merch drive on helping him move from where he is now to where he wishes he could be.

The MERCH

The GIVE and GET mission is simply: Sell merch to provide money for hyper local and hyper effective community support AND double as a way to give PAID training to musicians who want hard skillz in order to better fund their arts career. Last year from December through the beginning of February we sold our Classic Handyband Hoodie and with each purchase we were able to give away a childrens hoodie on the behalf of YOU the customer. Those hoodies went to kids in the Salvation Army family shelters here in town. We ended up selling about 50, and gave away over 70! Those (adorable) childrens hoodies were handed over to the Salvation Army of Austin on the Thursday before Snovid 2021! We wanted this years focus to turn inward towards our own music community.

This Year's Target is a one Mr. Jeff Hoskins. Jeff, is an old school Austinite who has been dead center of Austin's music scene for almost two decades. Jeff also exemplifies a hidden piece of the Live Music Capital of the World "problem" we find ourselves with here in Austin and all over the US. Jeff, like many others, had found a stable income in one of the other facets of the Live Music Industry, as a professional sound engineer. His time playing drums in various bands did not quite pay the bills, so being a live sound engineer was key to Jeff's survival. Jeff eventually landed a dream gig of becoming the lead engineer of the famed Cactus Cafe. Unfortunately, when the Cactus management changed hands during 2020's quarantine, Jeff (a subcontractor) found himself cut out of the employment transition. The Cactus Cafe is consistently touted as one of the best sounding intimate concert spaces in Austin and has had some of Austin's best and brightest on their stage. Jeff Hoskins built the sonic attunement, from scratch, in his 17+ years of being their lead engineer. The kicker of this story is that in the 5 years leading up to the him being laid off he has, tragically, become legally blind. This has obviously complicated his ability to utilize his lifelong career as an live sound engineer. We want to focus our merch drive on helping him move from where he is now to where he wishes he could be.