For exercise, Stephen Brown leaves his home early in the mornings to collect trash around the Briarwood community. During every trip, he would walk past the dilapidated building between a run-down gas station and Alpha Investments. He lived in the neighborhood for six years, and it was always vacant.

Over the pandemic, the property grew worse in appearance as trash and grocery-store carts decorated the property. People slept under the awnings. Last summer, he spotted a “For Lease” sign in front of the building, and out of curiosity, he called the owners for a walk-through.

Turns out, the Alpha Investments owners, an elderly couple, also own the building and a few other properties across the metro area. At one point, the building was an abortion clinic and later a daycare.

Stephen Brown signed the lease for the Briarwood Arts Center on Sept. 10, 2022. After nearly a year, the center has seen visitors from across the state including cities like Brandon, Clinton, Grenada and Kosciusko. Photo courtesy Acacia Clark

Brown invited the bulk of his family to the walk-through, hoping they could use the space as a family compound due to their various businesses. The building owners had been using the building for storage, so old refrigerators and ovens sat throughout the space. The insulation and tiles were falling from the ceiling, and mold and rust were present in certain areas.

Nevertheless, as Brown stepped from room to room, he looked past all the wear and tear, and the gears in his head started to turn. He visualized putting a small studio equipped with recording devices in one room, turning another into an arts and painting room, and setting up a pop-up shop in the next space.

After talking it over, Brown and other members of his family signed a lease for the building in September. However, one by one, cosigners began to drop out of the lease, citing reasons such as financial constraints or bad timing. Eventually, Brown was the last name on the lease, though he said he would have never signed for the building had he known he would have to manage it alone.

Following some self-reflection and prayer, Stephen Brown accepted his fate and soon afterward opened the Briarwood Arts Center. Approaching its one-year anniversary, the center provides art education and workspace for creatives to hone their technical skills and to develop greater business acumen. The community center also hosts workshops, mentorship programs, events and other offerings.

Attendees color the inside copies of Kenya Clark’s new coloring book while partaking in merlot, non-alcoholic beverages and snacks at the Color & Sip event at the Briarwood Arts Center on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Photo courtesy Acacia Clark

Briarwood Arts Center is an idea factory open to members of the community who have ideas, but do not necessarily have the space to explore them, Brown explained. At the center, getting started is as simple as picking a date and coming in to work toward progress.

“It’s not that experts are not welcome here, but this space is kind of designed for folks who are still trying to figure it out,” he said. “(The Briarwood Arts Center is) for those who have a genuine curiosity about something, but are afraid to dip their toe in the water because they’re like, ‘What if I don’t get it right?’ But we’re like, ‘Come here and screw up!’”

‘I Am Because We Are’

Stephen Brown splits his time between his full-time job at the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Briarwood Arts Center. After his usual shift at the museum, he drives to the center to teach a music-production workshop, and then he records the Vibe Controls podcast in the music-production lab. Once he has finished, Brown will plan for the next program, which could be an ACT-prep class or the mentoring program, all while simultaneously being a full-time dad and music producer.

“It’s like all the stuff kind of overlaps,” he said.

The center offers various spaces for creativity such as Cole’s House #2. Named after Brown’s dog who was tragically murdered, the small music-production lab is where Brown teaches lessons on songwriting, music production, recording basics and the music business.

A craft kitchen houses sewing machines, embroidering machines, vinyl cutters, T-shirt presses and candle-making equipment. Volunteers, nicknamed the Craft Cartel, can also teach classes in the room.

“Instead of us just trying to shove programming down their throat, we want to know what it is they want, and then we basically go find somebody to teach it,” Brown said.

Stephen Brown works full-time at the Mississippi Museum of Art while balancing being a father, operator of the Briarwood Arts Center and a music producer under the moniker, 5th Child. Photo courtesy Stephen Brown

The building includes a remote office for people who work remotely, but do not want to lease a long-term office space. The office has its own keyboard and mouse, Wi-Fi, and wireless printing. The boardroom in the back of the building is used for small group meetings like firearm-safety classes and gatherings of a local anime club.

Additionally, a branding lab has a backdrop for photoshoots or professional headshots. “There’s a photography studio called 242 Creative, and they’ve done a headshot gathering here where they just posted up with all their lights and filters and stuff and invited people to come and get headshots done,” Brown explained.

The e-learning center is for SAT and ACT prep, financial-aid advice, college planning, career coaching, and GED and GRE prep. The center has an art studio, a room for vendors to do a pop-up shop, and the Ubuntu room.

“Ubuntu means ‘I am because we are’; this is our general community meeting space,” Brown said. “This is where we have our youth-mentorship programs, photography workshops, financial-literacy workshops, mural painting, hip-hop cardio, Afro-Caribbean dance classes, the krumping dance class called Groove Moves and Vibe Sessions.”

Looking For Community

Bernadette Milnick lived in Tennessee before she retired and relocated to Jackson after her son, who lives in the capital city, asked her to move. She arrived last year in August, having no friends in the community for the first few months. One day while she was in her kitchen, she overheard a news story on her TV about the Briarwood Arts Center.

She paused her task and thought that maybe she would be able to find a sense of community there. She mentioned it in a conversation with her son, who coincidentally knew the owner.

“Mom, that’s my friend, Stephen Brown,” the son said at the time. “Oh, OK,” Milnick responded. “Call him,” her son continued. “He would love for you to come by and see him.”

So, she visited the Briarwood Arts Center and met with Brown. “I really like him,” she told the Mississippi Free Press.

By volunteering with the center, the Jackson transplant says she has finally found the feeling of community she had wanted. Milnick mainly helps at the front desk and occasionally hosts meetings, though she hopes to teach craft classes in the future.

Jackson Police Department Precinct 3 Commander Christian Vance started the Firm Foundations with his childhood friends and father as a way to help guide and mentor Jackson’s young men. Photo by Malcolm Morrow

Milnick has been helping to plan the art center’s first “birthday” on Sept. 10, along with other volunteers like Braden Luckett, who has a platform called Urban World that he uses to support local artists throughout the state.

Luckett has other clients across the South in states like Georgia and Texas, but he said he feels called to do work in Jackson. “Music has always been a part of my life,” he told the Mississippi Free Press inside the Briarwood Arts Center lobby. “It’s just right now, I feel like I’m supposed to help build here.”

Through personal conversations with Brown, Luckett has determined that people can often get too caught up in needing other people to create opportunities for them instead of simply going out and pursuing their dreams on their own.

“Sometimes, you just do it yourself,” Luckett said. “(Brown has) talked about toxic self-reliance because you don’t want to feel like you can’t depend on anyone. If you want your dreams to come true, just go do it.”

‘Firm Foundations’

The smell of Little Caesar’s pizza wafted through the room on the day this reporter visited the center before Jackson Police Department Precinct 3 Commander Christian Vance rounded the corner carrying the stack of orange boxes. The Firm Foundations, a nonprofit that mentors boys between the ages of 7 and 15, was hosting its youth-mentorship night. School had just started back, so the meeting was not as packed as it normally would be, but it proceeded as usual.

Inside the meeting room, foundation founder Christian Vance stood at the white board, initiating a game of hangman with the five youths in attendance. The category was candy and a few boys took some guesses at what the candy could be while Stephen Brown was having a discussion with another mentee about being a sibling.

A mentee stands at the whiteboard playing hangman with the rest of The Firm Foundations’ mentees inside the Briarwood Arts Center on Aug. 9, 2023. Photo by Malcolm Morrow

When Vance was 27-years-old, he wanted to find other avenues to positively affect his community, so he got together with his other childhood friends and his father to create The Firm Foundations. The program ran out of the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation for five years before the pandemic slowed the program down, he said.

“Steven, who is the greatest human being that you’ll ever meet in your life, called me, and he’s like, ‘Dude, I got this thing going on,’ and it was automatic: ‘Dawg, I got you,’” Vance told the Mississippi Free Press.

The nonprofit founder also coaches basketball through the police academy, so some of his mentees are also his players. He gets to maintain regular contact with his mentees through these various avenues. It’s all about consistency, Vance said.

“A lot of these things are symptoms and not the disease,” the JDP officer explained. “A lot of times the disease is low quality of life. And we attack the low quality. That’s the root. If we can attack the low quality of life, then we’ll start seeing the fruit on the tree again.”

Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are,” is the motto at Briarwood Arts Center, and the phrase hangs on the walls of the room used for the mentorship program, dance classes and other events. Photo courtesy Acacia Clark

Many of Vance’s mentees do not have fathers around, so he endeavors to act as a positive male figure in their absence. As to what his mentees get from the program, he believes they may not see their own growth just yet.

“We talk about adversity, goals, feelings, And a lot of times, I’ll come up with a topic, and we’ll just talk through it. What is adversity? What does adversity do? How does it make you feel? What are the choices it gives you? What determines the choices you make?” the founder listed.

And at times, the conversations can get so personal and vulnerable that kids will burst into tears, mentors as well. Vance said he will never give up on Jackson. His hope and prayer is that if he does not see the city become what he believes it is supposed to be, he will at least help raise and guide the next generation of youth who will live and prosper here.

“The role of a man in society is to be a repairer of the breach,” Vance said. “And that means not only am I fixing this thing that’s broken, I’m taking you through safely while I fix this thing that’s broken. And then when I fix this broken thing, I’ll find another problem to solve.”

‘Just Do The Work’

Stephen Brown said the hardest challenge that comes with running the Briarwood Arts Center can be toxic self-reliance, which can lead to burnout. “Toxic self-reliance is, ‘Man, I’m the only one who cares about this neighborhood. If I don’t pick this up, nobody’s gonna pick it up … Nobody else cares about this neighborhood, and I’m the only one who has to do it,’” he explained.

Dealing with the habit of self-reliance has been a personal struggle for the music producer, who is learning to better lean on other community members to assist him with registration, mentorship and other things. He is learning to be a better leader, he said.

“It’s an ongoing process, but thankfully I have people that have grace with me and that understand that that’s something I’m overcoming—(people who) know if they have to snatch it outta my hands to help me for the greater purpose of BAC and the greater purpose of the community, then I have to get outta my own way,” Brown said.

Most of the programming and events at the Briarwood Arts Center take place in the evenings or on weekends to make it easier for people to attend. Photo courtesy Acacia Clark

From his first year operating the center, Brown has learned to document everything, to not overthink as much and to not take things personally—that last point being of extreme importance as he struggles to get the Briarwood community to buy into the center. People within the immediate neighborhood rarely show up to anything, he said.

The center does, however, draw in people from Grenada, Brandon, Clinton, South Jackson, Ridgeland, Madison, Kosciusko and various other cities and zip codes across the state. The center has been on the news and people in the community know him as the man that picks up trash on the street with his trash grabber, yet he still struggles to bring them to the center.

“I don’t allow myself to take it personally. I don’t worry about who is showing up. We’re not called to be impressive. We’re called to be obedient,” Brown said. “Just do the work and leave it. Eventually, in the grand scheme of things, I have to find a better way to market what we’re doing to the Briarwood community.”

His short-term goal is to own the building instead of leasing it. Acquiring the building should take around $65,000, which the music producer does not readily have on hand at this moment.

Though experts are welcome, Stephen Brown said the Briarwood Arts Center is primarily designed for people who have a genuine curiosity for art, but who are afraid to dip their toes in the water. Photo courtesy Acacia Clark

“We are registered as a 501(c)(3) as the Briarwood Arts Foundation,” Brown said. “We got all the building permits, fire inspections. We’ve been doing everything the right way. We just wanted to show people for a full year this is what we can do with no funding. Now imagine if you were to give us some operating funds.”

Despite the center being self-funded, it has more money in its account now than it did when it first opened. In year two, Brown hopes to apply for more grants and funding now that he has shown that his business model indeed works.

“What we would want is some group of people in Shady Oaks to say, ‘Hey, there’s an abandoned building here in our neighborhood, too. Let’s get together and buy it and start the Shady Oaks Center,” he explained.

To learn more about Briarwood Arts Center, visit briarwoodartscenter.com. To keep up with the various programs and events at the center, follow their Instagram and Facebook pages. To donate or sign up for volunteer opportunities at the center, click here. 

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The Space Coast Health Foundation plans to use a $625,000 state grant to beef up mental health services in Brevard County.

Most of the money will be used to cover the cost of mental health clinicians to provide service to local residents, and address the needs of people who do not have access to such services, either because of difficulty in getting an appointment with a private provider or a lack of health insurance.

Space Coast Health Foundation officials say the initiative — called “Thrive Within: A Journey to Resilience” ― is an early-intervention pilot program aimed at stopping burgeoning mental health issues from escalating. State data show that the rate of suicides in the county is significantly higher than the statewide average.

Adam Bird, chairman of the Space Coast Health Foundation board, said the initiative is one that he hopes will reverse the trend of increasing mental health issues in the community.

“We’ve long understood that mental health is a key component to overall health, but it’s an issue that for too long has been kept stigmatized, in the corner where few of us talk about it, much less seek remedies,” Bird said, adding that it is “a growing concern.”

Adam Bird, chairman of the Space Coast Health Foundation board, said he hopes the “Thrive Within: A Journey to Resilience” initiative will help reverse the trend of increasing mental health issues in the community.

The goal of the project is to expand access to mental health prevention and early intervention services for children, adolescents and adults throughout the community, as well as to provide outpatient mental health and substance abuse counseling to uninsured residents of Brevard. Health Foundation officials say offering these services will help reduce the need for the much more expensive higher levels of care, such as crisis intervention, inpatient care and residential treatment.

Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield and Rep. Tyler Sirois spearheaded efforts to get the $625,000 appropriation into the 2023-24 state budget.

The legislators, Space Coast Health Foundation officials and other community partners announced details of the program Monday.

Dr. Lori Parsons, director of Space Coast Health Foundation Lifetime Counseling Center, said the main goal of the new initiative is to address mental health issues early, “and work on solutions on the front end, so we’re not faced with a tragic situation on the other end.”

Mayfield said behavioral health issues are “a growing concern, and reaching crisis level.”

Bird noted these disturbing findings from the latest Community Health Needs Assessment, a study commissioned by Space Coast Health Foundation every three years:

• Space Coast residents who said they were receiving mental health treatment jumped from 13% in 2019 to nearly 24% in 2022.

• The percentage of those interviewed who said they were unable to access needed mental health services rose from 9.2% in 2019 to 15.3% in 2022.

Florida budget appropriations: Brevard projects that made Florida’s 2023-24 budget — and what got vetoed

Separately, Florida Department of Health data shows that there were 19.4 suicides per 100,000 people in Brevard in 2021, significantly higher than the statewide rate of 13.8 per 100,000.

Bird said the program’s aims include helping those who participate “improve their resiliency and enhance positive outcomes for those needing mental health assistance.”

Amphitheater project gets grant: Funding in place for Merritt Island amphitheater at Veterans Center complex

Details on individual program components, including how to sign up for them, will be announced in the coming weeks on the Space Coast Health Foundation website (https://www.schfbrevard.org/).

Dr. Lori Parsons, director of the foundation’s Lifetime Counseling Center, said the programs will include a 30-day mental wellness challenge called “The Daily Thrive,” a special event for families, support groups and a phone help line.

Parsons said the main goal of the new initiative “is to address these issues early, and work on solutions on the front end, so we’re not faced with a tragic situation on the other end.”

Sometimes, Parsons said, the general public doesn’t understand how serious these issues are.

“As front-line mental health workers, our dedicated team at Lifetime Counseling Center and others in the field of mental health, see daily the anxiety and anguish that many others don’t see,” Parsons said.

Mental health issues also can lead to alcohol or drug abuse, Parsons added.

Janice Kershaw, president and chief executive officer of the Brevard Schools Foundation, said the Health Foundation will be working with her organization and the school district itself on coordinating efforts within the school system to build mental health resiliency among students.

Separately, Kershaw said, there also will be book study initiatives in sixth- and ninth-grade classes aimed at helping teach students about overcoming obstacles and building resiliency.

Mayfield and Sirois said, while state funding for the new program is for a single year, they hopes the Florida Legislature extends funding, dependent on its success in the first year.

Sirois sees it as a component of a multipronged effort in Florida to address mental health issues, adding that Brevard’s program could become a model for the rest of the state and “make a meaningful impact” in reducing the problem.

Residents interested in finding out more about new Space Coast Health Foundation initiative can contact Wayne T. Price at 321-241-6600 or Wayne.Price@SCHFBrevard.org.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard’s mental health issues focus of new Health Foundation program

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A safe space can be thought of as a physical or virtual environment in which people can express themselves, their opinions, and/or their identities while remaining comfortable, supported, and free from critical judgment or harm.

The concept of safe space took root in the LGBTQ+ community but then became appealing to a wide range of groups including racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, religious minorities, and survivors of trauma.

Safe spaces can have guidelines that emphasize respect and confidentiality. Access to a safe space can be very important for mental health, as it can foster a sense of belonging and provide emotional support for people who otherwise might face ongoing prejudice or discrimination in their lives.

As our society has become more supportive of safe spaces, the concept has been expanded to include members of political groups of different persuasions, students at different levels of education, and other individuals who have sought shelter from societal pressures.

Some people have expressed the expectation that they will virtually always feel safe, and become upset when encountering a situation in which they feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, this viewpoint leads people to expect that others must change to maintain the integrity of a safe environment. This also can cause situations wherein people may become afraid to voice their opinions for fear of offending someone.

Some of the problems of safe spaces include that they can serve as echo chambers in which people only hear opinions like their own. Lack of exposure to opposing viewpoints precludes learning necessitated by the need to clarify one’s personal beliefs in the face of a disagreement, and personal growth opportunities, e.g., becoming more resilient.

Many people have observed that growth does not occur within a comfort zone. For instance, in psychology, we recognize that to overcome anxiety we need to step out of our comfort zone where we avoid our anxiety triggers, such as by challenging ourselves by gradually increasing exposure to our triggers.

For these reasons, I believe it’s important to find a balance between the strength we can garner from being in a safe space, and the personal growth we can attain from embracing situations outside of our safe space that make us uncomfortable.

Challenged About my Religion

As an example, I would like to share a personal experience from when I was in college in the 1970s. As a Jewish sophomore, I was living in a dorm in which eight of my nine suitemates were evangelical Christians. Many of the people in my suite became my friends, and I admired them for the equanimity that grew from their religious beliefs. However, I was challenged when they asked me why I did not want to accept Jesus, and why I chose to be Jewish.

One of the problems for me was that I had never thought of Judaism as a choice, but rather as part of my identity within a Jewish family. Further, having been raised as a non-religious Jew, I didn’t have enough background to say why I might accept or reject other religious beliefs.

If my friends’ questioning had occurred today I fear it would have been labeled as offensive and antisemitic, and perhaps shut down. However, back then I was not offended. The question was not intended to harm me but rather reflected my friends’ views that bringing Jesus into one’s life is how people are saved. I think my friends were concerned for me and expressed their care with their questioning. I think that many important discussions today could be had if all of us thought more charitably of each other.

Since I didn’t know much about my own religion, I called my father, and asked him to explain how Judaism addresses the questions I had been discussing with my Christian friends, such as what is our purpose in life, are we guided by God, and how do we know what choices are right? I learned that Jewish and Christian beliefs overlap a great deal, but that one of the main differences is that Jews do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

I was still sorting through my newfound religious thoughts when I went with my friends to the beach, near our college campus in San Diego. That day, I decided to fast for the first time in my life on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which started that evening. I took my last bite of food as I watched the sunset against a reddish horizon, and then headed back to the dorms. There, I decided to leaf through the New Testament (which, of course, is not a Jewish part of the Bible) and came across two verses that spoke to me.

Romans 11:28-29: “From the standpoint of the gospel, they [the Jews] are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

During the following year, as I became stronger in my Jewish faith when my Christian friends asked me why I chose to remain Jewish, I would show them the verses from Romans and explain that the New Testament appears to endorse the value of Jewish people, given God’s choice. At the end of the year, one of my friends said to me in all sincerity, “Thank you for teaching me that Jews are important in this world.”

Again, if my friend’s comment was made today, people might cringe at his apparent lack of sophistication and even label it as a microaggression. An added complication today is that many comments are made on social media, and thus it becomes more difficult to ascertain the intention behind a blunt comment. I think my friend was grateful for having learned from my experiences, and I was grateful for how my friends’ questioning prompted my spiritual growth.

How to Handle Discomfort

As occurred in my case, when I ventured out of my safe home space into the college dorm atmosphere, I was confronted with challenging, somewhat uncomfortable questioning. How can we handle such situations in a constructive manner?

1. As illustrated by my experiences, give the person who challenges you the benefit of the doubt. Assume they mean well. If they do not mean well it will become apparent in due course, at which point the best course of action may be to distance from them, including returning to a safe space.
2. Use positive self-talk to remind yourself that you have a right to your own opinion, identity, and self-expression, even if others disagree with you. No one has the power to make you feel bad about yourself without your permission, i.e., letting their words affect you negatively.
3. In general, avoid direct confrontation when responding to a challenging statement. Saying, “Your comment makes me feel unsafe,” implies that the challenger is doing something wrong, and makes it likely that they will become defensive and less willing to consider alternative viewpoints. Rather state, “Your comment doesn’t fit within my worldview. Would you like to hear my thoughts about this?” Or, “I wonder if there is a middle ground between your thoughts and mine?” Sharp rebukes should be considered carefully and used sparingly in infrequent situations when the challenger rejects constructive dialogue, and their statements clearly reflect ill-intent.
4. Remain calm, even if a comment seems offensive. If you become angry this likely will lead to a confrontation, which would be unlikely to change anyone’s mind, and may escalate a tense situation. You can use self-calming techniques, such as slow, deep breathing, or calming imagery.
5. Make a genuine effort to understand the reasons for a challenger’s point of view. Even if you continue to disagree after an in-depth discussion with them, both of you are more likely to walk away from the discussion with respect for one another, which may lead to rapprochement in the future.

By handling challenging situations well you can develop an inner safe space that does not require any adjustment by the outer world.

Takeaway

Making use of safe spaces coupled with frequent venturing away from them provides the best opportunities for personal growth.

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The growth of audio streaming has led to an overlap between the music business and the practice of mindfulness and meditation which presents an opportunity that a growing number of businesses are seizing.

A few examples: Streaming service Deezer has launched Zen by Deezer, a wellbeing app that features music and sounds, guided Yoga sessions, breathing exercises and meditation classes. The company revealed earlier this year that it is using AI to generate music and sounds for the app.

Fruits Music, the label-turned-playlist company formerly known as Strange Fruits, announced plans last year to release an app for meditation sounds and bedtime stories, which it dubbed Sleep Fruits.

Plus, Universal Music Group (UMG) recently entered into “a first-of-its-kind strategic relationship” with generative AI sound wellness startup Endel to create what they call “AI-powered, artist-driven functional music”.

According to Endel, so-called functional music (e.g. music for sleep, running, relaxation etc) “represents one of the largest sub-categories of music listening worldwide, encompassing an estimated 15 billion streams a month across all music platforms”.

Even major musicians have gotten in on the act; in 2019, Moby gave meditation app Calm a month-long exclusive on his album Long Ambients 2.

Now Ticketmaster owner and live events promoter Live Nation has launched a mindfulness app Dubbed Mindful Nation, which it claims in a press release “seamlessly incorporates music into the practice of meditation”.

Live Nation, which casts the app as part of its commitment to supporting mental health and wellness across the music and entertainment industries, says Mindful Nation offers more than 1,000 classes with “special sonic beats” curated by prominent producers and independent artists such as Janax Pacha, Mose Musica and Chris IDH.

The app is available through the Apple Store, and the premium Mindful Nation Plus costs $4.99.

The classes are searchable by trainer, ‘vibe’ or class duration, and include daily and on-demand sessions for mind, sleep and “day-to-day life,” Live Nation says, as well as music playlists featuring artists from around the world and in a variety of genres.

British artist Noel Gallagher of Oasis has also given his support to the new meditation app.

“[W]riting music and albums is one kind of meditation, you have to go into a particular state to do it,” Gallagher is quoted in the press release is saying.

“Music is the gateway to finding that higher place of peace and this platform will allow for more people to access mediation in a way that makes sense to them. [Mindful Nation is] really cool.”

“Music is the gateway to finding that higher place of peace and this platform will allow for more people to access mediation in a way that makes sense to them.”

Noel Gallagher

Mindful Nation began primarily as a B2B platform that delivered live sessions in an effort to elevate corporate culture, and was developed by Niamh McCarthy, a former artist manager who worked for Madonna and U2’s management team at Maverick.

“After experiencing burnout on the road, she spent the next chapter of her life studying meditation, breathwork, and yoga,” Live Nation explained.

“McCarthy has made it her mission to bring mindfulness and meditation to the music business and now sees a massive breakthrough with the easy-to-use and intuitive Mindful Nation app.”

“The Mindful Nation app brings together meditation and music in a unique way.”

Michael Rapino, Live Nation

“Music is transcendent and has the power to connect and support,” McCarthy said in a statement. “The artists on Mindful Nation are vehicles to that higher source which we are bringing into people’s everyday lives through our meditation classes.”

She added: “We are all totally overstimulated by the extraordinary amount of data and connectivity that exists in today’s world that we are not equipped to deal with. The classes on the Mindful Nation app are like a timeless album, never out of date. Users can keep going back to these resources again and again to support themselves through the highs and lows of life.”

Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino is named in the press release as Mindful Nation’s principal investor, and Hamish Stephenson, Founder and Creative Director of sports and entertainment agency FALSE 9, is its Chief Creative Officer.

“The Mindful Nation app brings together meditation and music in a unique way,” Rapino said. “We first launched Mindful Nation as a program for our employees, and it’s great to see Niamh now bringing the benefits of mindfulness to touring artists and crew across our industry, as well as music fans.”

Another of the product’s boosters is magician and illusionist David Blaine.

“Niamh has created a wonderful way to be reminded daily of those simple things that are most important,” Blaine said.

“Music is transcendent and has the power to connect and support. The artists on Mindful Nation are vehicles to that higher source which we are bringing into people’s everyday lives through our meditation classes.”

Niamh McCarthy, Mindful Nation

The meditation market presents a large opportunity for business in the music and audio field.

According to a report released last Thursday (June 29) by The Business Research Company, the global meditation market is set to grow to be a $6.6-billion business in 2023, up from $5.4 billion in 2022. By 2027, it’s expected to be worth $14.6 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%.

The market for meditation apps alone was worth $522.2 million in 2022, and is set to grow to $7.59 billion by 2031, according to InsightAce Analytic. That represents a CAGR of 31% over the next eight years.

“There has been a prominent increase in the usage of these mindfulness meditation apps by people of all ages and gender, which is, in turn, driving the growth of the global market for mindfulness meditation apps,” the business intelligence company said in a report.

“The growing trend among millennials toward a healthy lifestyle has increased the demand for mindfulness meditation apps.”

 Music Business Worldwide

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Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

Courtesy Relative Space

Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

The new rock musical “Relative Space” is showcasing female talent from Utah through its writing, producing and performing, and it will be on stage in Utah County before, creators hope, moving on to Broadway.

Two years ago, producer Jeremy Long, who had never even thought of producing a musical, began the production in Utah where his family had connections in the industry. He said he did not create this musical for his daughter Kjersti Long, who sings each of the 10 songs in the musical, to star in — he wanted the music to be utilized by whoever would fit the role the best.

Melissa Larson, playwright, said Kjersti Long’s songs tell of miscommunication, pain and hopelessness with glimpses of light and hope.

Jeremy Long said, too often, musicals portray a light at the end of the tunnel with mental illness, but he believes it is an incorrect portrayal. It leaves people waiting for the rare, cinematic happy ending.

“The way to look at it is there are glimpses of light throughout this dark journey that you’re going through, and those glimpses are beautiful, and they’re worth going through this. It sucks that you have to go through this, but there is light along the way. And it’s worth it to see those glimmers of hope and light and keep living because they’re there and they’re gorgeous. And that’s more real, and that’s part of our story,” Jeremy Long said.

Courtesy Relative Space

Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

“Relative Space” addresses the darkness of mental health and the damage that miscommunication and shame can have, but Larson and Long hope it will speak to the audience in a way that breaks through the miscommunication in their own families and shakes the stigma of mental illness by talking about it.

“We don’t give them the room and the race to get the healing and the help that they need. So that is what we are trying to do with the show, is raise awareness and let people learn a little compassion. Be a little open, open your heart to people in this situation,” Larson said.

“Relative Space” is segmented, unlike other musicals where the performers act, sing and dance, show organizers said. Instead, they chose the best actors, best vocalists and best dancers for each section of the musical.

Kjersti Long sings each song but is not the lead daughter on stage because the music is performed separately from the acting. To Jeremy Long, it’s a play and rock concert at the same time.

“The music supports what’s happening on stage and what’s happening on stage supports what’s happening musically, and you could do them both separately, but they are stronger together,” Larson added.

Courtesy Relative Space

Cast members rehearse “Relative Space” in this undated photo. The show will be performed at Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove.

“Relative Space” follows the relationship between a mother dealing with depression and a daughter dealing with anxiety — both of whom struggle to communicate. Thus, the music becomes a vessel for their communication, Larson added.

Attendees, Jeremy Long said, should keep in mind that songs in the show were written by a teenage girl experiencing everything the music conveys for the first time.

Kjersti Long wrote “The Disguise,” she said, to express the darkness and heaviness that came from miscommunication with her mental illness. As a parent, Jeremy Long was grateful she shared her feelings, and wanted to share that feeling with others through “Relative Space”

“She wants everybody else to know that it’s okay too,” he said.

Although the music is all from Kjersti and Jeremy lives, the plot is not about Kjersti Long and her mother’s relationship, Larson stressed. Larson was given the music and built a play around it, interpreting songs in her own way.

Larson realized later that many aspects of the play unintentionally align with Kjersti’s life — like the daughter using art as an outlet just as Kjersti Long did.

Everyone involved worked to create a genuine story, one that doesn’t gloss over the darkness or heaviness that can loom over conversations about mental health. The story gets a happy ending, though, because that is what the world wants.

“It’s life. I needed this to be real life. I told Larson, ‘Do not pull punches. We are going to deal with this stuff. It’s going to wreck people, potentially, and that’s okay. We’re going to approach this in a real way.’ And I think we did that while still creating hope,” Jeremy Long said. “Art has a way of bringing out emotions in people that maybe they have kept deep down for a long time.”

He believes the show can bring out the emotions of Utah residents specifically that have been locked away due to stigma surrounding mental health. Some attendees will deal with their emotions, some will be uncomfortable and some will walk out — Jeremy Long said — but regardless, the emotions are expected to surface.

This is Larson’s hope as well. She expects the audience to watch the mother and daughter miscommunicate, hear the music convey the character’s inner monologues and say to themselves, ‘why aren’t they just talking to each other?’ Her goal for the musical is for people to think what is happening on stage is real — she wants them to see their own lives on stage.

A VIP staging of the musical will be held at the Liahona Theater for the Community in Pleasant Grove on Thursday with additional screening this Friday and Saturday and from June 29 until July 1. Tickets can be purchased at https://relativespacemusical.com/.

The show is recommended for ages 12 and older and the website includes a list of potential triggers including suicide, depression and other mental illnesses.

Jeremy Long said they expect people to walk out during certain parts of the show because they are portraying a mental health journey without removing the brutality and realness they expect to parallel many of the audience members’ lives.

He added he expects certain parts of the show to be cut out on further stagings, so this is a chance for Utah residents to see the musical in its raw form.

“I think Utah people will come and they’ll see it and they’ll see themselves in it, but also, we’ll go do this in Denver and Kansas City and New York and the exact same thing will happen.” Jeremy Long said. “This will be the bane of this generation, is mental health. We touch on a different aspect of mental health than has ever been done in theater.”

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I NOTICED that the trimmings and the trappings are being taken down at Queen’s and the players have left the stage to go to their respective corners. Unfortunately the theatre on the hill remains closed as we await the rewriting of the six-county play and the outcome of the local elections. 

The good news as we wait is another son of Belfast will be returning this coming week from San Fancisco to his native soil. He is non other than my Buddhi and Bruddha, Zen master Ryushin Paul Haller. He will be here to open our new Zen centre at the corner of Cromac street and Donegal Pass. He will, as always on his visits home, be delivering talks and workshops on all things Zen. 

This is an exciting time for me as Paul has been my Zen teacher for the past 25 years and I always find myself energised for his arrival. If you are looking for Zen, Paul is Zen personified. Especially for someone like me, someone who was baptised in fear, someone who drank to medicate the fear and the feelings that fear produces. 

On meeting Paul all those years ago, and through the practice of Zen as my Step 11, I have found a new way to live and learned to breathe one breath at a time. I’ve also learned to mind my own business and here’s a Zen story that taught me that simple practice.

Once upon a time, in a small village nestled in the mountains, there was a wise Zen master. People would come from far and wide to seek his guidance and teachings. One day, a curious young man (rather like myself, I think) approached the Zen master and asked him how he could live a peaceful life.

The Zen master looked at the young man and said: “Mind your own business and you will find peace.”

The young man was confused. “What do you mean, master?” he asked.

The Zen master smiled and said: “Imagine a river flowing down the mountain. The river doesn’t concern itself with what is happening on the shore. It simply flows past, minding its own business. It is not troubled by the rocks, trees or animals that it encounters. It just keeps flowing, peacefully and naturally.”

The young man nodded, understanding the metaphor. “So, I should just focus on my own life and not worry about others?”

The Zen master replied: “Exactly. When you mind your own business, you are not distracted by the affairs of others. You can focus on your own path and find peace within yourself. You can let go of judgement, envy and resentment, and simply be in the present moment.”

The young man thanked the Zen master for his wisdom and left, feeling inspired. As he walked through the village, he noticed that many of the people he encountered were always busy gossiping, comparing themselves to others, and worrying about what others thought of them.

But the young man remembered the Zen master’s words and decided to follow his advice. He focused on his own path and let go of the distractions around him. He discovered that when he stopped worrying about what others were doing, he had more energy and time to devote to his own goals and passions.

Over time, the young man became known for his peaceful and contented demeanour. He was no longer caught up in the drama of others, and he radiated a calm and serene presence.

People began to ask him how he had achieved such inner peace, and he shared the Zen master’s teachings with them. Soon, the whole village began to practice minding their own business, and they too found peace and contentment.

And so, the village lived in harmony, each person focusing on their own path, and the whole community benefiting from their individual growth and progress. The wise Zen master smiled from his mountain home, knowing that his teachings had once again brought peace and wisdom to the world.

So there we have it – we know what to do and we know how to do it.

Do you have something to say on this issue? If so, submit a letter for publication to Conor McParland at c.mcparland@belfastmedia.com or write to Editor Anthony Neeson at Andersonstown News/North Belfast News, Teach Basil, 2 Hannahstown Hill, Belfast BT17 0LT

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