Project Healthy Minds Launches PSA and First Music Visual NFTs to Benefit a Mental Health Cause
After a grueling year of isolation and breakdowns, how does an up-and-coming artist break out in a way that not only satisfies their need to connect with fans but also creates a tangible benefit for a worthy cause?
If you’re the alt-pop duo of Ruby Carr and Natalia Panzarella – better known as Epic recording artists Bahari – you team up with VAST, the next gen platform that helps creators build their network and net worth, and lend your emotional song 'BIPOLAR' to a new Public Service Announcement for Project Healthy Minds, the national nonprofit confronting one of the defining issues of our generation: the mental health crisis.
The 'BIPOLAR' PSA will launch during a special Bahari event that will include a roundtable discussion about mental health issues and a 4 song performance they put together specifically for Project Healthy Minds, to be live streamed exclusively on Stellar on Thursday, July 8th. It sends the message that it’s “okay to not be okay,” and that in these difficult-to-navigate times, talking to a mental health professional can make a world of difference. To get an advance look at the PSA, click here.
“When we heard about what Project Healthy Minds is doing, we saw the immediate connection between ‘BIPOLAR’ and the crisis in mental health care that they’re addressing,” said Carr and Panzarella. “As artists, we feel a responsibility to fans everywhere to use our music to help them sort out issues in their lives. If this PSA helps anyone take the steps to getting treatment, it will have been all worthwhile.”
Bahari and VAST’s initiative for Project Healthy Minds includes an auction of AI-fueled NFT’s culled from the “BIPOLAR” music video itself; the auction takes place the day after the livestream launch event, Friday, July 9th, on MakersPlace. This marks one of the first integrated music and visual NFT offerings designed to benefit mental health.
MakersPlace will offer four 1/1 “BIPOLAR” NFT’s for auction; included in the drop is a full-length, one-of-a-kind AI music video created just for this initiative. In this version, the portions of the video’s storyline that depict manic mood swings between its pair of on-screen couples has been dramatized with an evocative overlay of effects and graphics generated entirely in AI for VAST by artists and developers at the cutting edge creative production company Seyhan Lee, who worked in close collaboration with leading digital artist Lulu xXX. Twenty percent of the net proceeds from the NFT’s will be donated to Project Healthy Minds.
Driving the Bahari “BIPOLAR” initiative is veteran talent manager William Derella, who’s managed such artists as The Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, John Legend, Sean Paul, Natasha Bedingfield, Prince Royce, The Pretty Reckless, and Michael Jurkovac, the Executive Producer and Director whose company, TheBridge.co, has connected artists like Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, Charlie Puth, Snoop Dogg, The Black Eyed Peas, Andra Day, and Gwen Stefani with such marketers as Levi’s, Fiat Chrysler, Genesis Motor Company, ESPN, Molson Coors, Western Union, the NFL and many more.
“Working with Bahari and VAST on this project has been a gratifying experience for all of us,” said Derella. “Ruby and Natalia personally understand the challenges that so many have faced, and continue to face, as we emerge from the pandemic. The key to living is giving, and helping people connect to mental health resources for individuals from all walks of life is at the heart of Project Healthy Mind’s mission.”
“Project Healthy Minds is excited by the prospects for sharing our story with Bahari’s many fans and are grateful for the group’s support,” said Phillip Schermer, founder and CEO of Project Healthy Minds. “Our goal when we work with creative artists is to lower the barrier to getting the kind of treatment that can improve the lives of so many Americans today, and with the help of Ruby, Natalia, William, Mike, and the team at VAST, we’re going to be able to expand our reach and help more people.”
