BuskAid, Waterford's popular Christmastime busking festival, is back for its fifth year – with a series of online events throughout December, in an effort to raise much-needed funds for Tinteán Housing Association. The online events include a special live streamed concert, BuskAid Live, on December 23, celebrating the best of Waterford talent.

Since 2015, the annual festival has raised over €22,000 for local homelessness charities in Waterford at Christmas.

This year's selected charity, Tinteán Housing Association, offers women and families accommodation with support, providing them with the necessary skills and help they need to leave homelessness behind.

"Given the current public health situation and although restrictions are set to be eased in time for Christmas we feel it would be irresponsible of us to ask our incredible volunteers to go out onto the streets, as they have done for the past four years, and be in a situation where they may not be able to effectively socially distance," says BuskAid founder Tadhg Williams. "We’re also aware that some of our buskers have attracted large crowds in the past couple of years especially, which in the past has been utterly fantastic, but this year we have to avoid that. The health of the people of Waterford is our priority and therefore BuskAid will not happen in the traditional format however we have a really innovative and exciting series of online events planned which I’m really looking forward to!”

This year, BuskAid have launched two new challenges. The first is to 'Do 5K for BuskAid', sharing their progress and the BuskAid donation link with their friends online. They're also encouraging people to 'Busk From Your Bedroom' – perform a song in your bedroom, upload it to social media, share the donation link and challenge three friends to do the same.

In addition to these challenges, BuskAid have announced three events for Christmas week:

• On Monday, December 21, they've teamed up with Steven Stubbs and StubVid Media, for a special BuskAid Quizcast live on Facebook.
• On Tuesday, December 22, they're invading the popular Jordan’s Session in the Jordan’s American Bar group page on Facebook – encouraging people to share a song and a virtual drink to raise funds for Tinteán.
• Finally, on December 23, they're presenting their main event, BuskAid Live. Live-streamed from the Waterford In Your Pocket Facebook page, the concert will be a telethon-style celebration of the best of Waterford talent.

"What we really wanted to do was make sure we’re engaging with the community," says volunteer coordinator Anna Jordan. "The beauty of BuskAid has always been that we’re surround by a fantastic group of artists dedicating their time and talents for a special cause, and through that reaching people on every street corner in the town. We want to do the same this year, virtually. It’s been a difficult year but we really wanted to celebrate togetherness and community as best we could.”

For more information, follow BuskAid on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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