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Grace Clark Performs her Senior Project Live at “Music for the Mind”

McClatchy, applaud and grab some tissues for Grace Clark’s (‘18) concert, “Music for the Mind.” The concert was held on February 23rd in the Black Box Theater at 7pm. The night began with Grace Clark’s speech about her inspiration, music, and her senior project. Her main inspiration was her mother, who was a songwriter, musician, and singer. Her mother introduced her to other inspirations like Sara Bareilles and Marc Broussard. Grace also explained that she wrote her first song at nine years old.

Later in life, Grace was also inspired by her teachers and classes. She is involved in many types of activism, including feminism, civil rights, environmentalism, among others.

“Seeing people my age speak out and lead a movement for progress makes me think that I can participate,” according to Clark. Clark intended her concert to be open to the community and to McClatchy students.

Clark credits her inspiration for the mental health side of her project to her Mother. Her Mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar depression, and took her own life a year ago.

“I saw how much pain that stigma causes.” Clark explains. The concert was to raise awareness on the stigma and funds for mental health advocacy.

Grace’s “Music for the Mind” project included her writing and recording 5 new songs. All of her songs are available on her released EP, 17. The EP costs $5, with 100% of the profits going to the Steinberg Institute, a Sacramento-based group devoted to mental health advocacy. Later, Deborah Anderluh, a member from the Steinberg institute, talked about the group’s history and their appreciation for CKM. They were impressed with the senior projects they’d seen.

Each song has its story and inspiration. When you close your eyes, Clark’s lyrics paint a story along with the music. Again, tissues are a must when listening closely. After she finished, everyone headed over to the counter, where Clark was signing EPs. Of course, there was a line.

The audience was primarily upperclassmen, from Clark’s closest friends to classmates.

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McClatchy Student’s Senior Project Combines Music with Mental Health Advocacy

Students who have attended local music events may be familiar with McClatchy senior Grace Clark. After coming in first at the Teens Create Dreams Talent Show this October and performing at McClatchy’s student showcase this December, Clark is now focusing her talents on her music-themed senior project.

 

“My senior project is combining my passion for music with my desire to have some sort of impact in my community. The cause that means the most to me right now and that I’m combining with music is mental health advocacy,” said Clark.

 

Clark is currently running a Go-Fund-Me campaign to raise money for her upcoming EP, which will feature five of her original songs. The money raised will go towards recording and producing the EP at a local project studio, distributing it on streaming platforms, and making physical copies.

 

All of the money raised from EP sales will be donated to the Steinberg Institute for Mental Health Advocacy, an organization founded by Mayor Darrell Steinberg that lobbies to increase the effectiveness of mental health policy-making in California.  

 

“The way we treat the mentally ill in this country is unacceptable,” said Clark, citing everything from social stigma to the lack of adequate care and facilities as examples. “They don’t get the care they need, let alone the care they deserve.”

 

Since its inception in January of 2015, the Steinberg Institute has helped implement policies including housing and care for homeless people with mental illness, promoting prevention and early intervention programs, expanding suicide prevention programs at public schools, and advocating for law enforcement reform in order to decriminalize mental illness. Their goal is to create a system in which “brain illness is addressed with the same urgency and sweep as physical illness,” (steinberginstitute.org).

 

Clark also chose to focus her senior project on this cause because of personal experiences with mental health. “My mom struggled with mental illness for a really long time, so it’s a cause that’s very close to home,” said Clark. “I want to be able to contribute in any way that I can.”

 

Clark is hoping to raise enough money for the EP by the end of December so she can record it over winter break. The record will be produced over the month of January and released on February 9th, 2018. If all goes as planned, there will be an on-campus release party on February 9th as well. All of the money raised from the event, plus all of the EP sales, will go to the Steinberg Institute for Mental Health.

 

Anyone who wishes to support Clark’s project can donate to her Go-Fund-Me at https://www.gofundme.com/ep-for-mental-health-advocacy.