SMASH Announces Nikki Barron as New Communications & Outreach Manager

Seattle Music Industry Veteran and Community Organizer Brings 15 Years Experience in Communications to Non-Profit Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare

We are pleased to announce that Nikki Barron has joined the organization as Communications and Outreach Manager.

It was her extensive experience in communications both in the music industry (The Crocodile) and related industries (Mastin Labs, Converge Media), coupled with deep roots in the Seattle music community, that made Barron an ideal candidate for growing SMASH’s membership and donors. Barron has worked within the local music scene as a communications consultant, photographer, videographer, and digital artist for over 15 years, is the founder of PAPERCUT, a zine, and community for women in music and those that experience misogyny in music, and the co-founder of The A.R.M., a grassroots organization working to reclaim arts leadership for artists, shift the culture to value our creative workforce, and rebuild an artistic working class.

“SMASH provides a critically important service for musicians. In order to thrive creatively, artists have to be healthy, both physically and mentally. They deserve access to high-quality health care services and shouldn’t have to be rich or an insurance expert to access it either. Seeing a doctor when it isn’t an emergency feels like a luxury, but it shouldn’t be. I believe SMASH is part of the solution, and I am proud to join their team.” says Barron.

This new position is made possible through a generous capacity-building grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington. The grant funds this new communications position and programmatic growth over a three-year period and will improve SMASH’s ability to do outreach to reach more musicians and communicate about SMASH.

SMASH is honored to be a Trust recipient and work with an organization whose mission is to support the region's economic and cultural base.

ABOUT M.J. MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, provides grants to organizations in five states of the Pacific Northwest—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington—that seek to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. www.murdocktrust.org