The annual Group Shirt Day is approaching – put on a T-shirt and support the musicians! / Script

On August 27, Group Shirt Day will take place in Latvia, inviting residents to publicly honor their favorite musicians and donate funds to support artists in difficulty. Traditionally, on the last Friday of August, everyone is invited to put on a T-shirt with a picture of a favorite band or musician, publishing their photo on social networks together with words of encouragement to the artists. This year, supporting the collection of donations, the original shirt design has been developed by Latvian Radio’s six-channel air personalities – musicians Ingus Ulmanis, Antra Stafecka, Edgars Raginskis, Andrejs Volkovs, rolands če, Roberts Gobziņš.

Shirts for donation will be available on the website lidzskana.lv.

The pioneers of the group shirt day initiative Latvijas Radio 5 – Pieci.lv On August 27, the compositions of musicians whose pictures have been published by listeners on social networks with the theme #GrupuKrekluDiena will be broadcast on the air throughout the day. To take part in this support day, you need to wear a T-shirt with a favorite band or musician and post your photo on social networks, along with words of encouragement, a story or wish for the artists and the theme of the day.

The experience of previous years shows that an increasing number of supporters are involved in the publication of Group Shirt Day photos – almost 800 photos were published last year. Not only individual fans, but also companies and organizations are involved in the day.

On August 23-27, Latvijas Radio 2 will host the “Travel Shirt Game” after 16.00, which will end with a lottery of the original shirt created by the station’s personality, musician Antra Stafecka.

Latvian Radio 6 – “Naba” program on August 27 from 15.00 will listen to daily reviews and conversations with Roberts Gobziņš, “Orange Holidays”, “Chips and Dullais”, “Morning Rod”, “Juuk”.

“Latvian Radio channels, by playing music by local artists, provide satisfaction to listeners and a source of income for musicians, especially during the Covid-19 restrictions. Sometimes, listening to a beautiful song and receiving positive emotions for the whole day, we have no idea that its authors are in trouble. Latvijas Radio organizes the annual Group Shirt Day precisely because of its support – we invite you to express it sincerely both in words and with a donation that will help artists in difficulty. In my opinion, this is one of those support campaigns that gives a lot of positive emotions to its participants, making the day exciting and full of good work, ”said Una Klapkalne, Chairman of the Board of Latvian Radio.

Liena Grīna, the head of the Friction Foundation, points out that the Group Shirt Day has shown the public’s response and willingness to help fellow people in difficulty: ” health status of the musician and gave an opportunity to support other Latvian artists as well. Any of us can get into trouble when the help of our peers is very important. I invite everyone to join the Group Shirt Day promotion! All proceeds from the charity project will go to support musicians in difficulty. ”

The group’s shirt day is also supported by the groups “Sudden Lights”, “Astro’n’out”, “Chips and Dullais”, “Dairy Adventures”, musicians ansis, Intars Busulis and others.

The group shirt day is organized by Latvijas Radio in cooperation with the foundation “Fonds līdzskaņa”.

For Group Shirt Day

The group shirt day initiative in Latvia was launched in 2017 by the youth multimedia platform Latvijas Radio 5 – Pieci.lv, inspired by the Estonian public media pop music radio “Raadio 2”. A similar campaign to support musicians is taking place elsewhere in the world.

In 2019, in addition to playing the musicians’ works on the air, taking into account the photos published by the listeners with group T-shirts, 4005 euros were donated on Group Shirt Day, helping Manta member Raitis Viļumovs and his family, Dodo founder and soloist and vocal teacher Inga Puhova and long-time performer of the Latvian Radio and TV Stage and Light Music Orchestra Valda Rudzite. In 2020, donations of 4,915 euros provided assistance to Gunārs Meijers and other musicians.

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