The Challenge: How do we protect the most vulnerable people in the nightlife industry from a devastating pandemic and economic collapse?
The Solution: AdHoc co-founded NYC Nightlife United, a non-profit providing direct mutual aid to artists, workers, and venues in NYC nightlife.
Our focus was on directing resources where they would have the most impact, especially in BIPOC and queer communities.
We launched an effective PR and social media strategy that earned international coverage from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Resident Advisor among others. The New York Times spotlighted AdHoc’s Ric Leichtung in their feature “The Services Workers Who Kept New York Alive in its Darkest Months.”
We partnered with contemporary art institution MoMA PS1 on their pioneering music series Warm Up and collaborated on an exclusive merch drop benefitting the non-profit.
We teamed up with brands like Red Bull to help distribute boxes of hot food around the holidays to nightlife workers in need.
AdHoc helped conceptualize and execute The Culture Awards, an event celebrating nightlife workers that attracted corporate giving from Vimeo, Brooklyn Brewery, Heineken, Johnnie Walker, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and GoFundMe.
Together we built a non-profit from scratch and distributed more than $150,000 in grants for the nightlife community.
YEAR
2020-2022
OUR ROLE
Co-Founders, Programming, Social Media & Marketing Services, Non-Profit Administration, and Community Partners.
TEAM/PROJECT CREDITS
Co-founder: Ric Leichtung
Co-founder: Morgan Schaffner
