Concert promoter fulfils dreams to assist alma mater
Published:Monday | October 27, 2025 | 12:07 AM
Chief executive officer of Jam Rock Events, Eton Pearcy, always had a dream to give back to his alma mater, Windward Road Primary School. Pearcy, who benefited from meals provided by the school, says that the time has come to return the favour. With funds raised from a recent concert headlined by Sizzla, Pearcy and his team are hoping to jumpstart the Partial Incentives Breakfast programme, come January.
“Being a past student of Windward Road Primary, it felt like a no-brainer to start there. What we aim to do at Jam Rock events is make this programme sustainable. Anyone can jumpstart an initiative but we want to make sure that, even after us, there’s something that allows people to fall in place and continue what we started,” he said. “I remember when I was a youngster going to school, sometimes it was the social intervention programmes that helped me and so I understand the importance and would love to do that for as many students as I can.”
Pearcy, who was speaking at the initiative’s launch at Janga’s Sound Bar recently, shared that already more than one million dollars has been raised to get the project underway. He said he believes it is imperative, as a key player in the entertainment industry especially, to give back in ways that far exceed the music.
“There are a lot of people who are the curators of our culture that don’t look like us and, when that’s the case, benefits don’t flow back into the communities that birthed the genre and feed the country that fuels the culture. That’s my main reason for doing this. I wanted to tie everything I do back to the country and communities that built me,” Pearcy said, lauding reggae artiste Sizzla for his unwavering support of the project.
“Sizzla is one of the calmest, most humble human beings I have dealt with in the industry. He didn’t charge any money to come to Colorado. He was so interested in the project, he didn’t request a fee. We had a capacity of 1,000 people and we had a sold-out show, so massive thanks to Sizzla for his support,” Pearcy said. “Everybody who was a part of this project understood the mission and, even when we had to compensate them, it wasn’t what they would usually charge and we really appreciate that.”
In attendance at the launch was Member of Parliament for Kingston East and Port Royal, Phillip Paulwell, whose constituency is home to Windward Road Primary. He shared that the need in several communities across his constituency is great and while he extends himself to the best of his ability, it is often inadequate.
“One of the things that Eton said to me, which was music to my ears, was that, in his efforts to do this great charity work, he wasn’t seeking to raise funds from the school community or the community of East Kingston and Port Royal, because he understands the socio-economic environment in that community. He said that what he is seeking to do is raise funds from people who can really make meaningful contributions,” Paulwell said.
Tamikee Walsh, a guidance counsellor at the Windward Road Primary School, and her colleague, Nkoya McLeod, said productivity at the institution will undoubtedly increase once the programme gets underway.
The Partial Incentives Breakfast Programme has earned the support and endorsement of the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange, which will be the accountability and transparency agency handling the funds generated from donations to the programme.