(Goethe Institute via DC City Blog) – Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 7:00pm — at Washington, DC’s Goethe Institute, non-profit documentary production company Helpman Productions will present an acoustic music event and screening from their in-production film, “Musicwood.”  Beer and wine will be served! And a donated high-end Gibson acoustic guitar will be raffled off. Prufrock recording artist Down Dexter will delight and amaze with a live acoustic performance.

“Musicwood” is a film about the overlogging of guitar woods in Alaska; if logging continues at the current rate, it could mean the end of the acoustic guitar as we know it. If logging practices don’t change, some estimates say they will log the last Sitka Spruce (used for acoustic guitar soundboards) in less than 5 years.

So a coalition of the world’s top guitar-makers (Martin, Taylor, Fender, Gibson) have banded together and have begun negotiations with the largest logging company in SE Alaska in the hope that they can persuade them to harvest sustainably. But it’s a tough job. The logging company is Native American owned and operated, so the situation is incredibly complex. Especially when the  Government is clear cutting, right beside them in the Tongass forest.

The documentary has begun production and Helpman seeks funding to complete the film. At the Goethe Institute fundraiser, footage from the film will be screened, there will be a short presentation, Q&A (and drinks!) and there will be a raffle for a donated, high-end, acoustic guitar.

Logging companies must change the way they work — without the habitat provided by forests, countless species will face extinction. We know that without the forests’ trees to absorb carbon dioxide and transform it into oxygen our carbon emissions will skyrocket.

This fundraiser is a chance to participate in a real way in changing our world, helping to save our environment, our forests and the acoustic guitar.

Helpman Productions is a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to producing documentaries that focus on areas of social, political or environmental
responsibility. By making these films, Helpman brings these issues to a larger audience, puts pressure on companies and groups to change, and helps to make a real difference in the world and its communities.

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