Alice Nyquist

[KHTS] – The Master’s College student Alice Nyquist was researching a project when she began to notice something.

There were a lot of musicians that were looking to make a positive impact with their music, but there wasn’t necessarily a hub to connect them to the causes they looked to help.

And that’s how Peace Beats was born.

Nyquist, a 20-year-old TMC senior who’s originally from Colorado, began the project in the summer of 2012.

“There wasn’t a central place to go for musicians who were looking to use their music to make a difference,” Nyquist said. “Our goal is to connect musicians with people who want to make a difference, so they can use their music to try and change the world.”

Last winter, the organization sought out nonprofit status, and next month, Peace Beats plans to host a show at Railroad Cafe.

The show will headline several area artists, including Abi Ann, Di Lee and Taylor Rae.

Her experience with her nonprofit has been an encouraging one, Nyquist said.

“As I’ve been doing this, I’ve been meeting more and more musicians who want to make a difference,” she said, noting the artists scheduled to play Pink Coffee are not just from the area, they also have already experienced a measure of success.

“It’s all acoustic, it’s all singer-songwriters and they call come from Los Angeles or the surrounding areas and it’s all going to be a very relaxed hometown feel,” she said. “One of the things that I’m really excited about is that even though they’re all local, they’re all really up-and-coming artists.”

Pink Coffee is scheduled to take place 3-6 p.m. Oct. 5, at the popular Newhall cafe.

It was planned to coordinate with the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Deaths due to breast cancer have decreased in recent years due to earlier detection and better medical services, according to the American Cancer Society statistics.

However, one-in-eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime.

For more information regarding Pink Coffee, the partnering organizations and how to get involved, visit facebook.com/DrinkPinkCoffee.