Sustained artistic work: helps support artist collaboration, rehearsal time, and creative development across the festival.

Free public programming: ensures concerts, children’s events, and community performances remain accessible and welcoming.

Organizational strength: strengthens the planning, coordination, and production work that allows Crossroads to operate at a high artistic standard.

Examples: A Friend of Crossroads may help sustain artist residencies, children’s concerts, recording preparation, or community-based events—providing flexible support where it is most needed during festival week.

The Crossroads Moving Company: supports the rental truck that someone has to drive across eastern Nebraska hauling music stands, cables, lighting, and the thousand small things that make live music possible.

Design that makes sense: helps fund the festival’s graphic design—so audiences can actually find the concerts, understand the programs, and know what they’re walking into before they arrive.

The unsung heroes fund: covers essential behind-the-scenes coordination—from printing signage to last-minute equipment runs—so the festival feels seamless instead of chaotic.

Examples: A $1,000 Friends of Crossroads gift might cover the rental truck that moves equipment between venues, the graphic design that keeps the schedule readable, or the practical production details that quietly hold the entire week together.

A drum set with dignity: covers drum rental—so our many drummers don’t have to roll their eyes when someone suggests “we can just grab one from a basement real quick.”

Fuel for the Lincoln–Omaha shuffle: covers the gas we burn going back and forth between cities—because apparently Nebraska is wider than it looks on Google Maps.

Gaffer tape & prayers: funds the small-but-critical supplies—extra cables, batteries, music clips, and yes, gaffer tape—that quietly prevent a concert from turning into live troubleshooting theater.

Examples: A $500 gift can cover drum rental, travel costs between Lincoln and Omaha, or the essential “gaffer tape & prayers” items that keep performances running smoothly when real life tries to intervene.

Feed the artists: pays for meals during festival week—because you do not want to hear hungry musicians play.

Instrument survival fund: helps cover the inevitable repairs that appear when you’re performing in 100-degree heat with 100% humidity.

Childcare & sanity support: helps cover the practical realities of artists with families—babysitting, schedule juggling, and the invisible logistics that allow them to show up fully on stage.

Examples: A $250 gift can provide meals for musicians during an intense rehearsal day, cover an unexpected instrument repair, or support the practical needs that allow artists to focus on performing instead of problem-solving.

Midwestern hospitality: puts a roof over the head of one musician for one night—because it wouldn’t be true Nebraskan hospitality if we made them sleep outside.

Hydration station: covers enough Gatorade and lemonade to keep all the musicians upright and functioning during one outdoor concert.

Print it so people show up: helps cover the cost of posters and simple signage—because even in 2026, not everyone finds concerts through Instagram.

Examples: A $100 gift might cover one night of lodging for a musician, provide hydration for an outdoor performance, or fund printed materials that help audiences actually find the concert.

The ticket that isn’t: covers what one ticket to an orchestral extravaganza like ours might cost—except at Crossroads, every concert is free.

Memory storage: buys enough SSD space to house the hundreds of gigabytes of video, audio, and photography we capture each year (turns out art takes up space).

Music stand army: helps rent or maintain the rows of music stands and chairs that keep those musicians happy.

Examples: A $50 gift can offset the cost of making concerts free to the public, support digital storage for festival media, or help provide the practical equipment that allows musicians to take the stage.

Parking pass peace of mind: covers parking for one musician throughout the week—because circling the block 14 times is not a warm-up exercise.

Good coffee, not regret: buys the good coffee for rehearsal breaks (we respect the music too much to serve the cheap stuff).

Small tools, big difference: helps cover the essential “odd-but-necessary” items—tabla drum heads, bandura strings, quena cases, and yes, duduk reeds—so the instruments (and the artists) can actually do their job.

Examples: A $25 gift might cover a musician’s parking for the week, supply quality coffee during long rehearsals, or help purchase the specialized items our artists rely on—tabla heads, bandura strings, quena cases, and duduk reeds.