The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts’ (LARA) 9th OUTmusic Awards were scheduled for production January 19, 2015, but the ceremony was postponed due to the fact that OUTmusic Inc., the 501c3 non-profit organization was the victim of a substantial financial fraud crime. Jan. 1, 2016, Diedra Meredith, CEO of OUTmusic Inc. posted an update addressing the nominees, members and supporters of the non-profit organization to explain as much as she could about what occurred:
“Unfortunately, we had to abruptly postpone our production of the 9th OUTmusic Awards due to the fact that our organization is the victim of Financial Fraud Crime which caused significant and astronomical damages we were not able to recover from as fast as we wanted to. Hence, we were not able to deliver the production of the 9th OUTmusic Awards months later as we were planning. I wanted to share this information with you sooner, but because this was a crime against our organization, I was advised to not disclose any details to ensure the best possibility for justice to prevail in our favor. I have taken the necessary steps with the proper authorities and have been working with some generous business, media, and creative industry professionals who stepped up to offer their support in our endeavor to recover.”
The organization took much needed time to re-structure and re-organize in efforts to recover from the devastating hit the organization has endured. Moving forward, the organization will post an online digital presentation to announce the winners of the 9th OUTmusic. Following the online presentation, the Academy will mail Nomination and Winner certificates to recipients.
The organization is in planning stages for the next live production of the OUTmusic Awards. The Academy plans to present a specially produced segment during the production of the 10th OUTmusic Awards to present the winners of the 9th OUTmusic Awards with their OMA trophies onstage.
The online digital presentation will be posted Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016 at 8 p.m. CST on OUTmusicAwards.com. During the online presentation each category will be posted via our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as each category is announced.
