Last Updated on April 19, 2024 by YGK News Staff
A sold out show at the Isabel Bader Centre celebrated the release of the RKY Summer Camp Album on Friday night.
The album, a compilation of a variety of Kingston albums, is a benefit album that is supporting the Campership Fund of the Kingston area RKY Camp.
On Friday, April 12 the Bader Centre welcomed a sold out benefit show with a number of performers from the album.
It’s a project led by Aaron Holmberg, a Kingston area audio engineer and producer, and the Bader Centre’s Technical Director.
Holmberg approached RKY camp with the idea of producing a benefit album in 2019, but the project was delayed by COVID and ultimately came together this year with 18 cover songs and a total of 68 different musicians contributing to the project.
It’s a summer camp themed album with Holmberg trying to select songs that lean into that theme, though some artists brought their own to the table that fit the concept.
In an interview with Kingston Live alongside one of the album’s collaborators and a Friday performer, Savannah Shea, Holmberg says he built a connection with RKY camp, where he spent 7 years as a camper and then a councillor.
His fond memories of the camp are what led him to want to create something that could support it, and help some kids have access to it.
“It’s some of the best memories of my life, it still is,” Holmberg said.
“The Campership Fund is what supports the family that can’t afford the full pop to go… I just wanted to get some kids to camp.”
RKY Camp’s website says 1 in 10 attendees of the camp are supported by the campership fund, with over $87,000 dispersed in 2023.
Holmberg said he’s working on getting vinyl records out of the album, but physical and digital albums are available for purchase, with proceeds going to RKY Camp.
