Dare 2 Dream to Cure Juvenile Diabetes

Blues Traveler & Platform One Entertainment

Benefit Partnership for Cures

Chicago, IL — One of Chicago’s hottest fanfare events, Dare 2 Dream, will kick off its eighth benefit event on Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at the House of Blues in Chicago. Rock icons and featured band, Blues Traveler, will perform to support juvenile diabetes research. A portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit Partnership for Cures, a Chicago-based non-profit organization, and their efforts in helping to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), juvenile diabetes or type 1 diabetes in American children and adolescents is on the increase.  Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system.  One child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each and every hour.  Not only will they be insulin-dependent for life, but devastating life-limiting and life-shortening complications, such as blindness, amputation, heart disease and stroke, and kidney failure are an ever-present threat. Insulin is not a cure for the disease—it is merely life support.

Partnership for Cures and its funding partners Friends United for Juvenile Diabetes Research and the Miller Diabetes Fund are funding research that could speed safe and effective new treatments to patients with juvenile (type I) diabetes. They are currently supporting several major research projects at prestigious institutions in North America that could change the way that juvenile diabetes is treated, giving countless children and adults hope for a simple and effective cure. Some of these research projects are breaking new ground in medical science because a live patient with long standing juvenile diabetes would get a combination of new and old medications that could stop or reduce the juvenile diabetes.

Blues Traveler will be headlining this Dare 2 Dream event. It's not every band that’s still staking out new musical territory and embracing fresh challenges more than 23 years into their career, but that’s the case with Blues Traveler.  Having long ago graduated from the jam-band underground to mainstream stardom, the iconoclastic combo has consistently stuck to its guns and played by its own rules. Blues Traveler spawned one of the biggest hits of 1990s - the Grammy-winning “Run-Around” – which became the longest-charting radio single in Billboard history and along with the hit single “Hook” drove the album Four to sell over 5 million copies. The Grammy Award winning band has produced nine studio albums, six of which are certified Gold or Platinum, and combined have sold more than 10 million units worldwide.  Along the way, the band has played more than 2000 live shows in front of more than three million people and continues to tour nationally all over the country. They are thrilled to be performing for Dare 2 Dream in Chicago this April to support an important Chicago cause.

“We are very excited to be teaming up with Dare 2 Dream for our return to Chicago in support of such an important cause,” states Blues Traveler.  “Juvenile Diabetes is a serious problem in this country and one that unfortunately is often overlooked so we are thrilled at the chance to raise awareness and money for this cause and help Partnership for Cures continue with their mission.”

Platform One Entertainment continues to demonstrate its commitment to developing and delivering momentous events to significantly contribute to prominent causes and charities. In the past two years, Platform One has already generated noteworthy visibility and funding for The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, The Common Ground Foundation, The Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Working in the Schools and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Partnerships with artists including Kings of Leon, Common, Cypress Hill, Talib Kweli, Gavin Rossdale, Gov’t Mule and several others have made Dare 2 Dream a continued success.

“I’m extremely proud and honored to partner with the incredible Blues Traveler to help foster major awareness and raise important funding for Partnership For Cures at research facilities for juvenile diabetes, all while continuing our pursuit to harness the power of music and entertainment to benefit important causes,” states Platform One Entertainment President, Jeff Sodikoff.

Tickets on sale now!

Sponsorship opportunities available. Please contact jsodikoff@platform-1.com for more information.