“Gifts of Gratitude” Project Honors Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead

The Jerry Garcia Foundation celebrates the music legend’s birthday with a worldwide social media initiative, bronze sculpture image unveiling and improvisational jazz collaboration. 

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — This year, in honor of what would have been music legend Jerry Garcia’s 81st birthday on Aug. 1, the Jerry Garcia Foundation, with a little help from its friends, is combining creativity and technology to initiate the “Gifts of Gratitude” project. The project invites fans to share affirmations of general gratefulness and appreciation, collected as submissions from across the globe. The foundation is collaborating with technology partners Neverworld Grid and Starchive to produce this Jerry Garcia Archive project. 

The project invites fans of the virtuoso’s music to share a word of gratitude with the Jerry Garcia Foundation via its Facebook page or via the Jerry Garcia Archive website. The submissions will be collected and placed on the branches of a 3D virtual “Gratitude Tree” near the Jerry Garcia Archive Art Garden in the Neverworld metaverse. The “Gratitude Tree” can be seen here.  

A teleportal was placed in the welcome area of the Neverworld Grid to bring visitors to the blooming “Gratitude Tree” created by Govega Sachertorte. The tree is in a beautiful garden on a small island surrounded by walking paths and greenery designed by digital artist Nexus Storm. 

 The “Gifts of Gratitude” initiative is intended to serve as an ongoing project to acknowledge and honor the importance of gratitude. 

 “All are invited to join in this project,” said Keelin Garcia, Jerry’s daughter and co-founder of the Jerry Garcia Foundation. “The ‘Gifts of Gratitude Project’ is a simple way goodness can be shared throughout the world in honor of my father.”

 “My husband shared so much love and beauty through his artistic contributions. In his honor, we hope this community project brings a little joy to others,” expressed Manasha Garcia.

 In addition, an original sculpture created by artist Colleen Rudolf will be unveiled to the public in the Jerry Garcia Archive Museum. A soundscape of improvisational music will be provided by jazz artists Tony Saunders and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells. The music will be presented near the “Gratitude Tree.” Tony and Jair-Rohm are members of the foundation’s advisory board, along with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.  

The Neverworld Grid is a virtual online open simulator metaverse built by 3D content creators. The Jerry Garcia Archive Museum and Art Garden reside in this beautiful virtual world. Starchive provides the software platform to the Jerry Garcia Archive and serves as the digital organizational partner. Neverworld and Starchive are instrumental in allowing the Jerry Garcia Archive to serve as a vehicle of education and inspiration for the greater community. 

For more information, please visit the Jerry Garcia Foundation website. 

The Jerry Garcia Foundation  
The Jerry Garcia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports environmental, artistic and humanitarian causes through the beauty of music and art.  Jerry’s daughter, Keelin, and his wife, Manasha, established the foundation in 2015 in honor of the musician, artist and visionary. 

The Jerry Garcia Archive 
The official Jerry Garcia Archive provides a digital library of historical information about the beloved virtuoso. The collectively assembled archive serves as an educational vehicle for the greater community by preserving Jerry Garcia’s artistic contributions for future generations. 

Neverworld Grid 
Founded in 2015, Neverworld Grid is a virtual online open simulator metaverse. Digital artist Govega Sachertorte founded Neverworld, a community built by 3D content creators. 

Starchive  
Formerly known as Digital ReLab, Starchive is a digital asset management platform developed by Peter Agelasto, who created software to organize and access different file types functionally and efficiently. Richard Averitt joined his efforts in 2014, and Starchive was born. 

SOURCE Jerry Garcia Foundation