Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams partnered with The Bird & The Bee’s Inara George and 2017 Grammy® award-winning Producer of the Year Greg Kurstin on the release of “Spark." The song is part of a multimedia campaign developed in partnership with Pablove and production company Riverstreet, and launched for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 100% of the proceeds of the song benefit the Pablove Foundation, a non-profit based in Los Angeles that raises money for pediatric cancer research. Listen to the song, and download it here: https://pablove.bandcamp.com/releases
“Spark” is the score on "Pablove One Another,” a moving documentary short film produced by production company Riverstreet and directed the company’s co-founders Tracy Pion and Michael Blum. The film explores Pablove’s Shutterbug program for children undergoing cancer treatment, and its powerful connection to the cancer research work that Pablove funds.
While working on the film, Pion and Blum sought a music track that would effectively unite the interweaving stories featured in the film, including a few of the Shutterbugs, a teacher, and a scientist whose groundbreaking work is supported by the Foundation. The Bird & The Bee’s “Spark,” paired with the luminous voice of Gracie Abrams, perfectly carries through the message of the Foundation’s impact on the lives of children through creativity and research funding. Written by Inara George and Greg Kurstin, the music production was handled by composer/producer Rob Cairns, who has worked with Riverstreet on numerous projects.
The seven-minute film, now available to view online, first premiered at a Pablove Foundation fundraiser and helped raise over 550,000 in an hour. It was the pivotal moment that sparked the expansion of the campaign though song.
“People wanted to know where they could find this incredible song,” recalls Pion. “We all thought, what if everyone who worked on the track backed a single release to add further fundraising support for Pablove Foundation? The answer was a resounding and unequivocal yes.”
Seventeen-year-old Gracie Abrams said, “Having lost a close friend to cancer when I was 8 years old, I have seen, up close, the extraordinary courage and resilience of the kids and families who face this horrible disease. I’m so grateful to have been offered the opportunity to support, in the smallest way, the loving and compassionate mission of the Pablove Foundation, and its work to lift up the bravest kids on earth.”
Riverstreet is known for its branding and image campaigns, commercials, interstitials, cross-promotions and network specials for such clients as TBS, ABC, E!, NBC, and Disney. With concept development, scripting, design, animation, live action production, editorial and completion services under one unified direction, Riverstreet is also committed to lending its advertising and production expertise to philanthropic causes. Longtime friends of Pablove Foundation founders Jo Ann Thrailkill and Jeff Castelaz, Tracy Pion and Michael Blum are honored to be a part of the team behind this multi-faceted awareness campaign.
“It’s projects like these that we’re most moved by,” notes Blum. “Stories of life and death, of art and science, and of dedicated people working together to make a difference. I can’t wait to do the next.”