Waterwheel Interview with touring manager Matt Beck


The WaterWheel Foundation was created by


Phish in 1997 to oversee the band's various charitable activities. From its debut through the current tour, the pri-


mary mission WaterWheel's Touring Division has been to raise funds for a pre-selected non-profit in each com- munity that Phish visits while on tour. The net proceeds raised at each show - fan donations plus the sale of Wa- terWheel logo merchandise and items autographed by the band - are donated to the organization tabling at the show, after deducting overhead costs. The WaterWheel Foundation choses non-profits


from a large sphere of needs including social services, primarily those benefitting women and children; environ- mental, with a focus on clean water and land conser- vation; as well as food banks, urban gardening and the like.


To date, WaterWheel has donated over $550,000


to more then 325 groups. Additionally, Waterwheel merchandise can be


purchased on the road and viaPhish Dry Goods To contact WaterWheel email ww@phish.com


or write to WaterWheel, PO Box 4400, Burlingtonn VT 05406-4400


HH: What is Waterwheel’s mission? MB: What we do is we help out local charities where Phish plays. We get a list of the tour and select charities ahead of time that are doing grassroots social or envi- ronmental work and invite them to come out and raise awareness at our table. We also raise funds through the sales of autographed posters and merchandise.


HH: This is one of the coolest things that has come from Phish. We appreciate you so much. MB: Thank you. We have been very fortunate to be able to do this work. The band has been very gracious and


42 Healthy Hippie Magazine | September October 2010 they support us and we are so thankful for that.


HH: So how did Waterwheel get started? MB: We were born out of Greenpeace. In 1997 they decided to cease all touring operations due to budget constraints and at that point Green Peace had been with Phish at shows when they were opening for Santana. The band was sad and they didn’t want to see the grassroots charity efforts leave the scene so we all came up with the idea that we could start our own non-profit to help local charities. The timing coincided with Phish Food which was a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream flavor where profits were


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