We recently connected with Lily Rapoza and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lily, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As a child, I’d tell anyone who would listen that I was going to be a famous singer and actress. It was something I assumed every kid wanted until I was told otherwise. I was shocked. Who doesn’t want to be on TV? My dream only grew as I turned to songwriting in the wake of two serious chronic illness diagnoses. I was a healthy child and then I wasn’t. Public school, sports, and friends were no longer things I had access to due to my health. Writing was my only outlet. It meant so much to me to find a way to express myself, and I threw my whole heart into it. As I grew older I only wrote more, and I decided to learn audio engineering in college as a way to support my creative efforts. I always wanted to be in music. It was my illness that pushed me to commit.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Lily Rapoza, and I am the creator/owner of Songbird Collective. I moved back home last year (2024) with a bachelors degree in audio engineering and songwriting from Belmont University, and noticed that there weren’t any places in town for songwriters to truly be heard. Just about everything involving live music around here features mainly cover songs, and an audience that is more concerned with their food and drink than with the performance in front of them. Living in Nashville TN for the past five years spoiled me. There are countless places for artists to be heard in the city of music. I felt a need for that here. So I partnered with Coffee Obsession in my home town of Falmouth, Cape Cod, to create a listening room for music lovers to enjoy and music creators to connect. Each show features 3 songwriters and their 30 minute sets of original music. A selection of artist and Songbird Collective merchandise (tote bags, t shirts, stickers, patches, posters by @momasock on Instagram) is available for purchase, as well as drinks and treats from Coffee Obsession baristas. We also have an in-house photographer (@hannybphotography on Instagram) who provides our artists with high quality photos, perfect for social media outreach. This is a grassroots operation, and takes the hard work of volunteers and creatives of all kinds to succeed every time.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Prioritize small local events like these. Put them in your calendar. Buy tickets and merchandise. Communities are built and strengthened in person, so come out and invite others. Word of mouth is like gold in small towns. Mention the event to a friend. Even something brief and small can make a huge difference. If you want to support folks but can’t make it to the event, buy a ticket and give it to someone. Artists don’t make money from streaming services like Spotify, so most of their income comes from selling tickets and merchandise.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal is to build an engaged, listening audience for the songwriters who perform at the show. I want folks to fall in love with our artists through our event and listen to their music in their free time, go to their shows, buy their merchandise, and support their journeys. I want to create a community that thrives on genuine, in-person interaction, because we need that more than ever today. I feel lucky, because the show has been really successful so far. Audience members and songwriters alike come up to me as they’re leaving to tell me how grateful they are for events like this. They tell me they’d love to play again, love to come to the next show, love what I’m doing. I couldn’t be happier with the feedback I’ve received. I’ve also had some incredibly generous donations, including a stage (built by hand) and 2 brand new jbl IRX speakers. Falmouth is showing me that they need events like this, and I’m just getting started.

Contact Info:

• Website: Coming soon!
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itssongbirdcollective?igsh=MTVuYmE4MjYyd3Azdw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: Coming Soon!

Image Credits

Hannah Burroughs