Musicians Making a Difference (MMAD) make their mark on the young community with their annual fundraiser.
We all know and have experienced the transformative nature of music – whether it’s the community aspect of gathering people together for magical moments of euphoria, rallying together to raise much-needed funds and awareness for humanitarian causes through performance, the therapeutic nature of singing, songwriting and instrument playing, or simply the sonic road trip that a song can take you on. Everyone has a way in which music has moved them or made a difference in their lives.
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One Australian charity is actively using music as a device for difference. Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD) is a pivotal program in delivering support to young people through the means of music. Across nearly two decades MMAD have provided online and frontline support to young people in need across a national reach, including a whopping 150 young people on the frontline each week across Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland communities, 40,000 people annually during outreach initiatives, and one million young people through online initiatives. Support comes in the form of community outreach, a music soup kitchen, a street support group, creative youth mentoring camps and courses, youth wellbeing platforms, leadership development, educational content development, a national youth campaign and through social enterprises. The overall outcome is to engage, inspire, educate and empower young people through the power of music and mentoring.
One of the young people directly impacted by MMAD’s unparalleled support is Central Coast musician Kalani Artis.
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“I got caught up doing the wrong things as a kid, experimenting/running a muck which led to repercussions. I was diagnosed with psychosis at 14 and evidently didn’t leave my house for 2 years because I was too paranoid to leave. Luckily I had a guitar gifted to me – I was obsessed. I was introduced to MMAD through a councillor at the time which gave me confidence to go and start booking gigs,” Artis explains.
“I went through a few of MMAD’s programs and did some volunteering when I was a kid and have they have always had such a sense of love and compassion for other people’s journeys, so after I went off and did my own thing for a few years and having that life experience, I couldn’t turn down coming back and repping my second home.”
A graduate of the program, Artis is returning as an ambassador for national Musicians Making A Difference Day. Celebrated on Friday 25 October, the campaign is open for donations to assist in raising funds for the MMAD HQ to keep a second home for youth in need. As part of the campaign, Universal Music Australia (UMA) have partnered with MMAD for a tenth year to deliver the Rise Up program to provide mentoring to dozens of young people including Kalani Artis, creating campaigns and songs that shine a light on the charity.
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“This opportunity with Universal Music isn’t only a once in a lifetime chance to prove myself and show what I can do, but to have a voice and help my people at MMAD through this year’s MMAD Day campaign. There have been a lot of moving parts to this project and I am absolutely blown away by the efforts and love from everyone at the label. I have met some amazing people/friends/CELEBS,” he exclaims.
“I couldn’t be luckier to be working with the pinnacle of music, there’s no way I could have done all this myself. Ultimately I’m here to prove myself to these guys and learn from it all to eventually be a full time part of their team and have them put me on a BIG OLD TOUR!”
The result is a single titled ‘Feels Like Home’. Leaning into the campaign’s overall message of ‘Sounds like Home’, the song pays homage to the efforts of MMAD and the safe space that they provided to Artis during his struggles.
“This song is very special because it can apply to everyone and anyone /everything and anything. The ultimate message behind the song is what sounds/feels like home to you. We wanted to create a song that could bring comfort and joy to people’s days/situations, and, of course, refer a lot to the amazing guys at MMAD,” says Artis.
“This song has really brought me back to my roots of songwriting (one man one guitar) type vibes which is where I started out.”
‘Feels Like Home’ by Kalani Artis drops on 18 October. To find out more about MMAD or to donate to their worth campaign, head to https://www.mmad.org.au/donate
