Park City Song Summit Combines Music and Mental Health

The Park Metropolis Track Summit, descending upon the Utah metropolis of its namesake September 7-10 of this yr, is a gathering for open-hearted troubadours, music followers, folks processing recoveries and traumas, and extra. It’s an occasion of radical honesty at its core, one which redefines what it means to be a musician and why so many artists wrestle with psychological well being points, addictions, and traumas that (for a large number of causes) go undiagnosed.

“I need this occasion to debate and convey normalcy and readability to points that for too lengthy have been swept beneath the carpet or spoken about in hushed voices,” occasion founder Ben Anderson says.

Due to the occasion’s distinctive perspective, Anderson discovered it crucial to construction it in a special, considerate method. As a substitute of bands taking turns taking part in set after set, the Park Metropolis Track Summit is constructed round quite a lot of totally different applications. For instance, there are Summit Labs, which host artists in dialog with each other to debate matters that usually go ignored within the music trade.

In a single Summit Lab, Jason Isbell, Margo Value, Warren Haynes and Newport People’s Jay Candy will take a deep dive into the teachings of John Prine — issues like “social equality, humor, and protecting your soul intact whereas navigating the music trade.” Followers should buy tickets to every Summit Lab, which additionally embody a dwell taping of Andrew Chicken’s Reside from The Nice Room. The pioneering YouTube sequence showcases the artistic course of throughout a large spectrum of arts, with the occasion’s episode that includes Fred Armisen.

For followers trying to rock out, there are many concert events which are must-see occasions, like Father John Misty on Thursday with help from Bonny Gentle Horseman and Rising Appalachia. And since the Park Metropolis Track Summit has a concentrate on restoration (the charismatic founder himself is 15 years sober), the occasion offers a supportive setting that features sober inexperienced room house, guided yoga and meditations, day by day 12-step conferences and craft mocktails.

“There’s a method for all concertgoers to coexist if we put intention to the method and pay attention,” Anderson says. “Some promoters and producers are very supportive, however I would really like it if extra of them would see the artist as an entire individual and help them that method.”

The occasion is as a lot a gathering floor for artists as it’s your typical festival-going expertise. It permits artists to elucidate their processes and dive into the trivia of their work in a wholly distinctive method. Alongside these intimate discussions, the occasion will host Songwriting Rounds, which permits the viewers to “hear the story behind their favourite songs from award-winning songwriters.”

The occasion has additionally paired with quite a lot of organizations that help its core mission. One such group, The Phoenix, matches in as an ideal help system for the Summit.

“The Phoenix is proud to companion with Stand Collectively Music to deliver our programming to Park Metropolis Track Summit,” Scott Strode, Founder and Nationwide Government Director of The Phoenix, stated. “We imagine that The Phoenix and Park Metropolis Track Summit share a singular objective: remodeling the world via the facility of group. Our crew is thrilled to hitch PCSS as an on-site activation companion this yr, serving to facilitate the artistic journey of artists and attendees via quite a lot of psychological well being and wellness actions.”

The Park Metropolis Track Summit is above all, a method for artists to precise themselves as human beings. Anderson believes that the viewers isn’t capable of see the souls inside artists typically sufficient, which might result in a scarcity of empathy. The Summit permits for artists to precise themselves each via their work and their personalities.

“We are able to maybe perceive and respect their music extra, however extra importantly, perceive and respect who they’re as people, their challenges, their successes, their failures,” Anderson says of his hopes for the occasion. “If our attendees can perceive the humanity that goes into music, we’d all be somewhat extra conscious of each other and have the ability to coexist higher on this planet.”