The Music Cities Awards are presented by Saxony - State of the Arts. This is a global competition designed to acknowledge and reward the most outstanding applications of music for economic, social, environmental and cultural development in cities and places all around the world.
As the announcement of the nominees (on August 3rd) and the awards ceremony (October 18th as part of the Huntsville Music Cities Convention) are getting closer, we're excited to share the amazing and inspiring group of applicants for each of the contest categories.
Scroll down to discover this year's applicants for "Best Initiative Using Music to Improve Health & Wellbeing”, a group of candidates that will surely inspire for the innovative ways in which they use music at its intersection with health and wellbeing.
Music Health (U.S.A.): Music Health is on a mission to integrate precision music with ease into healthcare, wellness and fitness companies. They believe that better brain health and wellbeing can be achieved by leveraging the role that music plays in activating neurons in the brain. Music Health builds the tools to make it easy for anyone to manage their own mental and physical health with music. They are starting by supporting those living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, with a larger vision of helping the over one billion people around the world who are experiencing poor brain health.
Kirklees Year of Music 2023 - Hoot & Creative Minds (Great Britain): The Kirklees Year of Music health and wellbeing programme is a collaborative and joined up approach to support and pilot multiple initiatives using music to enhance the wellbeing of individuals in the community. Local government, health services, creative mental health organisations and grassroots community groups have joined forces and funds to channel the power of music for the benefit of people across the district.
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra Soul Strings (U.S.A): The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra's mission is to transform people and communities through music. They are dedicated to maintaining live orchestral music as an integral part of the cultural and educational life of the New Orleans area, the entire state of Louisiana, and the Gulf South region. Soul Strings is a music-informed therapy program with a licensed music therapist and an LPO String Quartet held that provides music-informed therapy sessions weekly for developmentally disabled adults and children.
Vuela Música (Spain): Music to humanise. "Vuela Música" was born in 2018 in order to offer a Music Therapy service in the Region, responding to the physical, social, cognitive and musical needs of people from the beginning to the end of life. They intend to contribute to improving society, promoting the role of music as a tool for social action and humanization.
They promote people's health, well-being, quality of life and autonomy, using music to achieve therapeutic goals based on the needs of an individual or group.
Make Music Matter - Healing in Harmony program (Canada): Make Music Matter uses the musical process as a therapeutic tool to help empower marginalised individuals and communities. The creation of a tangible product – a written, recorded, and professionally produced and mastered song – allows Healing in Harmony artists to take charge of their own healing journey, and take meaningful steps towards long-term recovery.
Meaningful moments – live music in the ICU (Denmark): The intensive care unit (ICU) Nord 2 at Aarhus University Hospital is constantly working on improving the environment around the intensive care patient to improve survival and strengthen the patient's recovery. As part of a rehabilitation programme funded by the Novo Nordic Foundation, the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg works purposely with artistic citizenship as an educational strategy - a world-facing approach, where musicians contribute to society with high-artistic quality combined with empathy and sensibility targeting the needs among for instance patients in the healthcare environment.
Amber Health (U.S.A.): Amber Health provides comprehensive, evidence-based mental health services for all sectors of the music industry, highlighting the human experience of those who work in it. Built and delivered by those with insider experience, the team consists of licensed professionals: mental health clinicians, wellness providers, certified trainers, nutritionists and other health experts, all who have spent extensive time within the music industry and understand its unique environment.
Russ Jones (U.S.A.): Russ Jones is an artist that plays live music to online audiences almost everyday, with the purpose of creating music that supports people's mental and emotional health, helping them start the day in a positive way.
MUSACOR LLC (U.S.A.): MUSACOR is project directed to musicians who want to design and implement music programs in their communities, including healthcare settings, that support stress reduction, creative expression, and emotion regulation. Regarding music health and wellbeing, MUSACOR financially supports a music therapist providing weekly drum circle sessions for unaccompanied minors at two shelter sites in the Pittsburgh area. MUSACOR also provides instruments, music, and other materials to support the shelter's classroom music program, and a live musician for two monthly yoga sessions, amongst many activities more.
Tonic Music for Mental Health (Great Britain): Tonic Music for Mental Health is a registered charity delivering good mental health and recovery through music. In 2021, the Tonic Rider programme was launched with the aim of promoting good mental health in the music industry. As part of the core programme, its team of mental health professionals with experience working in music, provides training courses, supports groups and teaches workshops exclusively for working musicians and music industry professionals.
Sound of Soul Recording Studio and Multimedia Institute by CED Society (India): CED Society is a multifaceted, non-profit outreach center supporting disabled and disadvantaged women, located in Dehradun, India. In 2018, CED Society launched the Sound of Soul Recording Studio and Multimedia Institute, a professional recording studio dedicated to empower disabled and disadvantaged women through musical and artistic expression.
Sound Mind Music Festival for Mental Health (U.S.A.): Sound Mind Live's mission is to foster community, dialogue, and action around mental health through the power of music. Sound Mind, a 501c3 nonprofit, brings together a coalition of mental health and music organisations with musicians and music lovers to build a supportive community. Sound Mind events create a shared space where music and an open, inclusive conversation around mental health coexist for all stratums of society.
“Hearing Our Voices in Song: Story-to-Song Virtual Workshop” & “"Tell Your Story"/Participatory Songwriting for "Experiences with Displacement" Panel Session at the 2023 Migration Summit by Guiding Song (U.S.A.): Guiding Song is an initiative that invites people to write music from their stories, using a participatory, collaborative method of songwriting called Story-to-Song (STS).
BLOOM by Bristol Beacon (Great Britain): Bristol Beacon is a music charity, venue and award-winning music education hub, based in Bristol, UK. BLOOM is a music group that uses music and sound in a playful and safe way for parents experiencing perinatal mental
health difficulties, and their babies (under age 2). Participants have reported significant improvements in mental wellbeing, increased confidence and attachment with their babies. Increasingly participants are being referred to the session by antenatal clinical professionals, including NHS midwives.
The Music Cities Awards Ceremony will take place on October 18th as part of the Huntsville Music Cities Convention. The last Early Bird Price tickets for the event will be available until the end of July. Head here to get yours.
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