CONTENTS
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
talent
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 3
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donations to help Central Oregon’s creative artists — musicians, visual artists, performers
and creative workers — by offering grants and a platform to bring attention to local
amazing talent. This is a crowdfunding effort with a first-round fundraising goal of $40,000.
To make a tax-deductible donation or apply for a grant, go to bendbulletin.com/talent
Bend singer-songwriter Viani finds her joy
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
T
he timing of Bend singer-songwriter
Alicia Viani’s self-titled debut album
couldn’t have been worse: April 2020,
right at the start of the COVID-19 pan-
demic.
“It’s such a huge labor of love to create an
album, especially a debut,” said Viani, this
week’s featured Central Oregon Creative
Artists Relief Effort (CO CAREs) performer.
“It was disappointing to have the momen-
tum interrupted.”
Still, despite this setback, Viani, 40, car-
ried on throughout the pandemic. She per-
formed in online, livestream concerts for
charity, and eventually played some socially
distanced outdoor shows.
There was a silver lining to playing her
new songs online, rather than with a live au-
dience, Viani said. She describes herself as
a “shy performer” who can get anxious on
stage, so the livestream shows helped her
hone her performance skills, she said.
“I felt like I was just playing for myself
and my friends, which helped me drop in
into what I was doing and why I was doing
it,” Viani said. “I was less hooked by perfor-
mance anxiety like, ‘what are people think-
ing,’ and all that nonsense.”
Viani said she did about four livestream
shows during the worst parts of the pan-
demic. For one of those, in March 2020,
all proceeds went to local nonprofit Thrive
Central Oregon to help low-income families
with COVID-19 needs, she said.
Luckily, a lack of touring income wasn’t a
concern for Viani, who has a full-time job as
a clinical therapist.
Singer-songwriter
Alicia Viani is this
week’s featured CO
CAREs artist.
Submitted photo
“It was less devastating because it wasn’t
my career — I did (music) because it was a
creative outlet,” she said.
But eventually, by the winter of 2021, Vi-
ani was already back to doing live shows.
But they were in COVID-safe settings —
outdoors at Silver Moon Brewing’s patio, or
in garages at homes in Bend and Tumalo.
In February, Viani and her duo partner/
bassist Mark Karwan played a private gig at
a Bend home for an anniversary. The duo
serenaded the engaged couple from the
home’s patio in the cold — don’t worry, they
had their own fire pit — while the couple
danced, she said.
“It was a great experience,” Viani said.
“Events like that remind me that music is
connective and it brings joy.”
Now, Viani and her band have a series of
live, in-person shows lined up — including
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a July Fourth concert at the On Tap food
cart pod. And she said her livestream shows
have taught her how to feel more comfort-
able on stage.
“When I started performing live again, I
just felt so much joy in myself,” she said. “A
lot of my performance anxiety evaporated,
because I was reminded of the purpose of
(playing music).”
Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com
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