Help Musicians Juhi and Nic Recover after LA Wildfire Loss
Donation protected
Juhi Bansal and Nic Gerpe lost their house and everything they have on the planet except for each other in the Eaton wildfire in Altadena, California, on January 8, 2025.
Juhi and Nic are a wife and husband musician team - she a composer and he a pianist - both brilliant educators in their fields, both kind and generous to their friends and colleagues. I believe in the musician community. We work hard to support our own with what little we have. Please join me in doing whatever you can to help them find a way forward. When my friends started a fund for me to help my community in the USVI after the devastation of the 2017 hurricanes, every donation - no matter how small - felt like a hug; a reassurance that someday things would get better.
Last April, I flew to Altadena to visit Juhi and work with her on her song cycle Songs of Love, Loss, and Exile. She and I engaged in intense work for two full days, deepening our understanding of the songs, and also of each other as humans and artists, in her living room that is now reduced to ashes. I will always have the visceral memory of laughing together, crying together (those songs are heavy!), singing in that space; moving sound waves through the air in ever more specific ways, safe within the walls of her cozy house. She sent me home to Wisconsin with my carry-on stuffed full of lemons from the tree in her front yard and my heart full of the joy that comes from true connection with another human and meaningful collaboration with another artist. Juhi is a gift.
Juhi is one of the composers who has contributed to my 40@40 Project song commissioning initiative. Her song is the first track on my Grammy-nominated album and was the lead radio single. Please enjoy the singular artistry and genius of Juhi Bansal:
NOT QUITE STARS
"The time will come, as it has done and passed
Where songs our eyes sing to one another
Must turn kissing mouths to other things."
- Julie Baber, from Not Quite Stars
Please consider donating whatever you can.
My name is Laura Strickling and I am a friend of Juhi and Nic's, building this GoFundMe to support them as they rebuild their lives in the wake of the Eaton Fire. They need to replace literally everything they owned, from toothbrushes, clothing, their beautiful grand piano (an important work tool for them both), to every dish in their cabinet. Not to mention finding a new dwelling with cabinets in which to put new dishes. Look around your house and just imagine the EVERYTHING and you will begin to understand the enormity of the task and the expenses in front of them. Please help as you can.
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Strickling
Organizer
Altadena, CA
Juhi Bansal
Beneficiary