Travis Scott pledges almost $5million to event safety initiative following Astroworld crisis
"I will always honour the victims of the Astroworld tragedy who remain in my heart forever," he's said of the initiative
Travis Scott has announced a new initiative, Project HEAL, following last November's Astroworld crowd crush tragedy.
Described as a "multi-tier, longterm series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts", the initiative will direct funding into four areas, covering a Waymon Webster HBCU scholarship fund, an expansion of the CACT.US Youth Design Center, free mental health resources, and a US Conference of Mayors Task Force of Event Safety.
The website for the initiative says the US Conference of Mayors Task Force of Event Safety will bring together stakeholders from government, public safety, emergency response, health care, event management, music, and technology departments to research ways to make further large-scale events as safe as possible.
"At the conclusion of this research, HEAL, together with the US Conference of Mayors, will assist in the creation of a comprehensive report of recommendations to be presented formally and distributed to key stakeholders for adoption, including every Mayor of every town and city which hosts large-scale events," reads the website. "HEAL will work towards advocating that this report serves as the new safety and security blueprint for all festivals and large-scale events."
Scott is pledging almost $5million to Project HEAL on its launch, while a portion of proceeds from his upcoming product involvements will also go towards the initiative.
"Over the past few months I've been taking the time and space to grieve, reflect, and do my part to heal my community. Most importantly, I want to use my resources and platform moving forward towards actionable change," Scott wrote on Instagram.
"My team and I created Project HEAL to take much needed action towards supporting real solutions that make all events the safest spaces they can possibly be. I will always honour the victims of the Astroworld tragedy who remain in my heart forever.
"Giving back and creating opportunities for the youth is something I’ve always done and will continue to do as long as I have the chance. This program will be a catalyst to real change and I can’t wait to introduce the rest of the technology and ideas we’ve been working on."
The Astroworld tragedy, which happened on 5th November last year while Scott was performing his headline set on the first night of the event, led to the deaths of 10 people from compression asphyxia. Hundreds of others were also injured.
Read DJ Mag's recent feature investigating what is being done to stop further crowd crushes from happening at music events, here.
Find out more about Project HEAL via the initiative's website.
