A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to fund the creation of a documentary that celebrates the late Chicago DJ Ron Hardy’s pioneering contributions to house music history.
I Was There: The Rise of House Music in Chicago will track the impact of Ron Hardy before his untimely death in 1992 at the of 33 after battling with AIDS. Made with the blessing of his nephew Bill Hardy, the film focuses on the culmination of social issues in Chicago — racism, Reagaonmics, the AIDS crisis, and general civil unrest — that made the city ripe for the genre’s evolution, in addition to the musical innovation that Hardy was a part of.
The documentary team of director Vito Nicholas, producer Elena Winterer and associate producer KC Wray have shot interviews with key scene figures like Jamie 3:26 and Robert Owens, with more planned pending the success of the newly launched Kickstarter.
In addition to more filming and production costs, the £50,000 fundraising goal will go towards paying the appropriate music and film licences, “which will go back into the Chicago community”, the Kickstarter description reads. “Paying the proper dues and respect that is long overdue for this pioneering chapter in music history they have written.”