BRITs 2018 partners with mental health charity, Mind, to promote mental health in schools, the music industry and the workplace
· £200,000 raised by this year’s BRIT Awards 2018 to go to Mind, to support the pilot of a ‘whole school approach’ to mental health in secondary schools
· An additional £25,000 to go to The BRIT School and Music Support respectively
· Announcement follows on from ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’ (14-20 May)
· Funds to be distributed through The BRIT Trust (BPI/BRIT Awards’ charitable arm) – supporting its mission to promote education and wellbeing through music. Over £20 million donated since 1989.
THE BRIT Awards with Mastercard is delighted to announce that £250,000 raised by this year’s BRITs 2018 will be donated to three charities that promote music education and mental wellbeing.
Under the leadership of BRITs chair, Jason Iley, The BRITs 2018 have partnered with mental health charity, Mind, to support and educate on the importance of mental wellbeing in schools.
Mind will, as the official BRITs charity partner, receive £200,000 as a contribution towards their pilot ‘whole school approach’ to mental health programme.
This seeks to integrate mental health and wellbeing within the culture of secondary schools so that it can reach pupils, staff, parents, and the wider community. The partnership will also help to promote the importance of mental health and wellbeing across the music and performing arts sectors and encourage every part of the industry to prioritise tackling stigma by committing to Time to Change – a campaign run jointly by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.
Alongside the grant to Mind, £25,000 will be donated to The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology – the free Croydon-based creative arts school which the music industry helped to set up over 25 years ago and continues to help fund to this day.
This amount is in addition to other BRIT Trust grants regularly made to the school, but is earmarked to support dedicated mental wellbeing and special needs work. Finally, a further £25,000 will go to Music Support – the new music industry addictions and mental health charity established by industry veterans Matt Thomas and Andy Franks, which has Robbie Williams as its patron.
Jason Iley, chair BRIT Awards and chair and CEO, Sony Music UK & Ireland, said: “Mind do wonderful life-saving and life-enhancing work in the field of mental health, so I’m delighted that The BRITs can make a contribution to their vital campaign in schools. I am thrilled that this money has been invested into such worthy causes.”
Geoff Taylor, chief executive BPI and BRIT Awards, said: “One in four people are now estimated to experience mental health problems, so The BRIT Awards’ donation to Mind, aimed at promoting mental wellbeing in schools and in the workplace, could not be better timed.
“I am delighted that we can also support the important work of The BRIT School and Music Support to encourage mental wellbeing. This is a further demonstration of the value of music and the profound role it can play in inspiring social change and improving people’s lives.”
Paul Farmer, chief executive. Mind, said: “We are so grateful to The BRIT Awards 2018 for this generous donation which will help us to establish our Whole School Approach to mental health pilot in secondary schools. It will enable us to trial some exciting and innovative new ways of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils, teachers, parents and everyone involved in school life.
“Three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health problem but many don’t seek help. We know that early and effective support makes all the difference. Without the right help, at the right time, mental health problems can have a long lasting impact and stop young people achieving their dreams and aspirations. This investment will be the first step in a programme that has the potential to change the lives of thousands of children.”
Previous recipients of funds raised through The BRIT Awards include Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and War Child.
The BRIT Awards announced in March this year that its activities in 2017 had generated over £one million for its BRIT Trust charitable arm, which, since its foundation in 1989, has distributed over £20 million to charities that promote education and wellbeing through music.
Alongside The BRIT School, Nordoff-Robbins and Music Support, these include charities such as Key4life, which draws on passion for music to help rehabilitate young offenders, Drugscope, and the East London Arts and Music (ELAM) School.
ENDS
Enquiries:
Press/Online – DawBell
Kate Etteridge – 020 3327 7111 / 07786 548 850 / kate.etteridge@dawbell.com
Gennaro Castaldo, BPI/BRIT Trust – 020 7803 1326 / 07801 194 139 / gennaro.castaldo@bpi.co.uk
Alison Kerry, Mind – 020 8522 1743 / a.kerry@mind.org.uk
Notes to editors:
About The BRIT Awards – British Record Industry Trust
The BRIT Awards are organised by the BPI – the record labels’ association that promotes British music. The BPI’s membership is made up of over 400 independent labels as well as the UK’s three major record companies – collectively they account for around 85 per cent of the music consumed in the UK and around one in eight of all the artist albums sold around the world.
The BRIT Awards has helped to raise more than £20m for The BRIT Trust charity, whose main beneficiaries are the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology
www.brit.croydon.sch.uk, Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk and other selected charities which match the mission criteria.
Over 8,000 young people have been given free education and the opportunity to enter the BRIT School since its opening in 1991 and more than 10,000 children and adults have been helped by the extraordinary music therapy work carried out by Nordoff-Robbins.
About The BRIT Trust
Established in 1989 and entirely funded by the recorded music industry – principally through The BRIT Awards, The Trust’s mission is to give young people of all backgrounds a chance to express their musical creativity regardless of race, class, gender or ability. The trust exists to promote education and wellbeing through music and to date has donated over £20 million to a range of progressive causes and charities, including The BRIT School, East London Arts and Music (ELAM), and Nordoff Robbins music therapy. It also supports the work of addictions and mental health charity Music Support and Key4Life, which seeks to direct young men who are in prison, or at risk of going there, away from a life of crime by drawing on their passion for music. www.brittrust.co.uk
About Mind
We’re Mind, the mental health charity. We provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. We campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. We won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect. www.mind.org.uk
· Please note that Mind is not an acronym and should be set in title case.
· Mind has a confidential information and support line, Mind Infoline, available on 0300 123 3393 (lines open 9am-6pm Mon-Fri).
· Contact Mind’s Media Team for interviews or further information on 020 8522 1743. For out of hours support, call 07850 788 514 or email media@mind.org.uk
· To access a range of free images to accompany mental health news stories, visit www.time-to-change.org.uk/getthepicture. These images have been developed by Time to Change is led by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and is funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund.
About The BRIT School
The BRIT School provides free education and vocational training for performing arts, media, art and design and technology for 14-19 year-olds. Their list of alumni includes Adele, Kate Tempest, Loyle Carner, Cush Jumbo, Kate Nash, Tom Holland and Katy B.
The BRIT School is a non-fee-paying State School and students are selected on aptitude and commitment to the arts regardless of background, additional educational needs, diversity and income. We continue to reflect the diverse demographic of talent that represents Britain today and will launch careers of talented young people who face financial hardship and would not otherwise afford a comparable arts training. 28 per cent of students are from a BAME background and ten per cent of students are eligible for Free School Meals (FSMs). Students who have completed two or four years of education at The BRIT School (internal students only) can apply for The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Bridge Company after Year 13. www.brit.croydon.sch.uk
About Music Support
We are a registered charity providing help and support for individuals in any area of the UK music industry suffering from alcoholism, addiction, emotional or mental health issues. www.musicsupport.org
Music Support was jointly-founded by Matt Thomas, Andy Franks, Mark Richardson and Johan Sorensen to help individuals in any area of the UK music industry who may be suffering from a range of mental health, behavioural or emotional issues or addictions. Set up in May 2016, the charity provides a 24/7 telephone helpline staffed by trained volunteers who have personal experience of the issues within the industry and can give counselling and advice and are also able to direct pathways to specialist clinicians. 24 HR Helpline 0800 030 6789 Registered Charity Number 1170231
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind:
“As this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week comes to a close, it’s a chance to reflect on the huge number of people and organisations that have been actively engaging in conversations about mental health. Whether it’s online, in the workplace, in schools or in the home, more people than ever before are showing their support for an issue that affects one in four of us.
“The music industry in particular has this year embraced mental health. Some of the activities that caught my eye this week included Sony Music’s commitment to offer staff mental wellbeing days. A welcome move that should help to encourage a better work life balance.
“Another was the Mental Health Minute, which for the first time in history saw all radio stations across the UK broadcast the same content, a one-minute message about mental health supported by everyone from the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry to Dame Judi Dench and Lady Gaga.
“But the most exciting development for Mind is today’s news that the BRIT Awards with Mastercard will be supporting us to pilot some groundbreaking work in secondary schools. This funding will help Mind to trial some innovative ways of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of thousands of pupils, teachers, parents and everyone involved in school life.
“One in ten young people has a diagnosable mental health problem – that’s around three in every class of 30 pupils. However, many children and young people don’t seek help and sometimes when they do, they can be turned away. The scale and urgency of this complex situation can’t be addressed in isolation, and can’t solely be met by the NHS. It needs all of us to work together on a solution.
“Our network of local Minds have years of experience of working in secondary schools – supporting children and young people to reduce levels of anxiety and depression, to boost their confidence, and increase awareness of mental health. They will be at the forefront of delivering this pilot scheme.
Mind’s aim is to help young people to cope more easily with the challenges of everyday life, help them to manage stress, and to build supportive relationships with their peers. We know too that teachers and parents are eager to learn about mental health, to be armed with advice and information and to feel more confident about having important conversations. By working with everyone in the school community we can make a real difference.
“Beyond the school gates, Mind is also keen to work in partnership with the BRITs to promote the importance of mental health and wellbeing right across the music industry and the performing arts world. The music business is a notoriously challenging work environment. Working long or irregular hours, long periods of separation from family, dealing with the unstable nature of the industry and living life in the public eye can all lead to stress, depression and anxiety. A survey by Help Musicians UK found that 67 per cent of musicians had experienced depression or other psychological problems.
“As the music industry starts to prioritise mental health, this is the beginning of an important journey that could have an impact right across society. With so much momentum, let’s hope that next year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will be even more impactful and wide reaching than this one.”
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