Mimi Farina and Bread & Roses

Mimi Fariña
and
Bread & Roses

Mimi Fariña founded the nonprofit Bread & Roses in 1974 to bring hope and healing through live music to isolated audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2024, the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary – a testament to Mimi's lasting legacy – by putting the spotlight on the thousands of people and hundreds of social service institutions it continues to serve with free, high-quality entertainment. Mimi was inspired to name the organization Bread & Roses by a poem written by James Oppenheim in 1912, “Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses.” She strongly believed we all need art and beauty, the roses in life, as well as the bread... Her enduring values continue to guide the organization today. As Mimi often said, all we really have to do is show up and play, and the healing happens...

During 2024, Bread & Roses honored its remarkable history of presenting live music programs for isolated audiences. The organization reached an all-time high of over 600 annual concerts in 2019 and, post-pandemic, continues to present around 500 concerts a year. The shows take place at varied institutional settings, including assisted living facilities for seniors, hospitals for veterans, recovery centers for adults, and special needs schools for children.

You can support the organization by visiting:

breadandroses.org/donate

It is also possible to purchase a special CD of recordings from a series of concerts Mimi and Banana performed in Germany in the 1980s:

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger (Banana from the Youngbloods) Live in Germany to benefit Bread & Roses
(Produced by Michael Kleff and Banana in 2017)

A contribution may also be made for a signed, limited edition giclée of Mimi by the artist, her sister Joan Baez.

To make a donation for these special items, please visit:

donatenow.networkforgood.org/brpmerchandise

Proceeds support its ongoing program of live music for isolated audiences.

More information is available about the CD on Bread & Roses website blog:

breadandroses.org/post/benefit-cd-for-bread-roses-presents-features-mimi-fari%C3%B1a-with-lowell-levinger

More information is available about the giclée on the additional website blog here:

breadandroses.org/post/exclusive-offering-mimi-fari%C3%B1a-prints-of-portrait-by-joan-baez

Please visit breadandroses.org or email info@breadandroses.org with any questions.

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