Perez Hilton's "One Night In Austin" Raises $46,800 for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation

NEW YORK, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, March 17th, Perez Hilton once again held his heralded "One Night In Austin" event at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. The legendary series, produced by The BMF Media Group, featured performances by some of today's biggest artists including B.o.B., Dev, Timbaland, Kreayshawn, Dragonette, Cher Lloyd, Ed Sheeran, Kat Graham, Kimbra, Rosi Golan, Cris Cab and Miguel. For the first time, this year's fifth "One Night" showcase, the 5th in a row, benefitted a charity - the VH1 Save The Music Foundation and its mission to restore instrumental music education programs in our nation's public schools. 100% of ticket sales were donated to the cause, raising over $46,800, more than enough to completely restore a music program in an elementary or middle school.

"My SXSW party this year was especially great. Good music AND doing good! I couldn't be happier! I've been doing these events in Austin for 5 years now, and I wish I would have turned them into benefits a lot earlier. Thankfully, that light bulb did go off and we were able to raise $46,800 for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, an organization that combines two things I'm very passionate about - music and helping and inspiring young people. Once again, I could not be happier! And I want to thank all of the performers and everyone involved that helped make this Night such a resounding success!"


Since its inception in 1997, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided more than $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.8 million children. Thanks to the generous support of celebrities like Perez Hilton and the VH1 Save The Music Ambassadors, including Katy Perry, Daughtry, Lupe Fiasco, Jordin Sparks, Matthew Morrison, Vanessa Carlton, AJ McLean and Gavin Rossdale, the Foundation is able to generate awareness about the importance of music in a child's education.

"It was an honor to be the beneficiary of Perez Hilton's 'One Night in Austin' this year," said Paul Cothran, Vice President & Executive Director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. "Perez is a very important part of today's media and for him to lend his support to our cause has a tremendous effect on our fundraising. With his help we were able to generate a great deal of awareness for our cause as well as raise enough funds to completely restore an instrumental music education program in a US public school! We can't thank Perez enough for his support."

The evening, which featured a slew of superstar performances and DJ sets, was highlighted by special appearances from such names as Timbaland, B.O.B, Dev, Dragonette and Kat Graham, who took the stage throughout the night. The event also featured a plush Miami Oasis pop-up lounge and a unique screen printing station from FIJI Water. Special guests such as "Top Chef" winner Paul Qui, Cisco Adler and Jenna Bush Hager also stopped by to enjoy the show. View photos from the event here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/zj5hfu (credit: Seth Browarnick).

In conjunction with the event, VH1 launched an initiative at SXSW interactive, donating $1 to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation throughout the month of March for each check in on Foursquare at any music venue across the country. With each check in, participating individuals will receive the exclusive "VH1 Save The Music" badge. Users must follow VH1 on foursquare to unlock the badge and trigger the donation at: https://foursquare.com/vh1. Fans can continue to support the Foundation by checking in at their favorite music venues through the end of the month of April.  

Soon, Perez Hilton will make a surprise visit to the school that is selected to received this generous donation, allowing children to see first hand the impact music can have on someone's life. For more information or to see how you can get involved, please visit www.vh1savethemusic.org or join the VH1 Save The Music community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vh1savethemusic and on Twitter at @vh1savethemusic.

CONTACTS:

VH1 Save The Music Foundation:
Nick Carcaterra
Susan Blond, Inc.
Phone: 212-333-7728 ext.126
Email: [email protected]

Perez Hilton:
Bruce Starr
The BMF Media Group
Phone: 646-455-0033
Email: [email protected]

About The VH1 Save The Music Foundation

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education.  To date, VH1 Save The Music has provided more than $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.8 million children. Get involved and learn more at www.vh1savethemusic.org.

About Perez Hilton:

Cubano and Miami Native Perez Hilton is the Internet's most notorious gossip columnist. The LA Times calls Perez, "like US Weekly, the Star, the Enquirer and Life & Style all rolled into one sweet yet snarky, sagacious yet salacious gay man." Perez was named the #1 Web celebrity for 2007 and 2008 by Forbes Magazine and as one of the 15 most influential Hispanics in the US by People en Espanol.

Since launching in 2004, PerezHilton.com has become one of the leading go-to sites for celebrity news. In February 2008, eMarketer identified perezhilton.com as one of the top 5 websites for college aged women, beating out MySpace! The UK's prestigious Observer newspaper named perezhilton.com (#6) one of the 50 most powerful blogs. In May 2008, Perez kicked off a daily nationally syndicated radio show in 7 of the top 10 markets in North America. Perez has also become a celebrity in his own right. In 2007 he premiered his own show, What Perez Sez on VH1. Appears on television (ABC, CNN, E! News, Dateline, NBC, MTV, Vh1, and Much Music); and has been featured in the L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, Paper Magazine, CBS News, US Weekly and InTouch Weekly and many more. Recently Master P. launched his mobile website at m.perezhilton.com, now his gossip gangsters can be updated anywhere they go!

About The BMF Media Group

The BMF Media Group is an innovative experiential marketing agency with highly inventive cultural engineers. BMF specializes in the areas of brand marketing, event production, music supervision, sponsorships and promotions, and talent management and booking. Through creative marketing strategies, BMF brings brands to life. BMF helps clients introduce their products to influential tastemakers in the interconnected worlds of music, art, fashion, politics and new technologies. Since its inception in 2003, BMF has paired established corporate brands and products with cutting-edge, established and emerging, artists and lifestyle trends.  BMF Media Group has worked with numerous entertainment clients and brands such as Asahi Beer, Belvedere Vodka, BlackBerry, Cafe Bustelo, Carrera Sunglasses, Gerber Group, got2b, GUESS?, Hard Rock Hotels, Motorola, popchips, Rock the Vote, Samsung, SOUL by Ludacris, UV Vodka, and more. Beyond brands and music, BMF also lends its expertise to important humanitarian, social and charitable causes. Working with socially conscious artists and companies, BMF seeks to forge creative cultural initiatives for a new civic and socially-minded generation. For more information on The BMF Media Group, visit www.bmfmedia.com.

About VH1

VH1 connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 99 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, VH1Games and extensive broadband video on VH1.com. Connect with VH1 at VH1.com.

SOURCE VH1