Seattle alt-rock band launches campaign to drive awareness of youth mental health issues

SEATTLE - May 1, 2019 - PRLog -- Seattle alt-rock band, Gypsy Temple (https://www.gypsytemplemusic.com/) is kicking off their "Hold Your Crown" campaign to create hope and community for youth living with mental illness at a ceremony to light Seattle's Great Wheel on May 1, 2019. The band is partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI- WA) to launch May Mental Health Month.

Sponsored by We Work for Health Washington (https://www.weworkforhealth.org/in_our_states/Washington), the Great Wheel's 500,000 LED lights will dazzle the skyline of the Emerald City in green for four days starting with a celebration at Seattle's Waterfront Park at 7:00pm on May 1, 2019. The lighting will be followed by a brief speaker program and a performance by Gypsy Temple including their new song, "Up Becomes Down."

Gypsy Temple front man and lead songwriter, Cameron Lavi Jones, says the band decided to use their growing platform following their successful "Make your Voice Heard Loud and Vote" initiative in the weeks leading up to the 2018 mid-term elections to push the message behind "Up Becomes Down." A line from the song inspired the name of the band's ongoing campaign: "Whenever up becomes down, I will always be there holding your crown."

"I wrote the song because I wanted to remind the people around me who were going through their own mental health challenges that even though life isn't always butterflies and dandelions, they aren't alone on their journey and that there is help," he said.

Lavi Jones said the "Hold Your Crown" campaign is about making sure that we are all supporting each other and promoting healthy and empowering ways to overcome mental health struggles.  Is about youth speaking to youth and letting them know they are not alone. Lavi Jones says the band is particularly supportive of NAMI's "Stomp out the Stigma" initiative.

The ongoing "Hold Your Crown" campaign will operate under the umbrella of fiscal sponsor, Allied Arts Foundation, and is supported by a board of advisors including Muguette Guenneguez, Executive Director of NAMI Seattle, Michele Meaker Pin, Executive Director of NAMI Eastside,  Megan Silvestri, Senior Program Coordinator for the Stability Network, Charles Anstett, Psychiatrist, MSN, ARNP & mental health expert, Senator Lisa Wellman, Democratic Senator and Chair of Early Learning and K-12 Education, Washington State Senate, Jordan Callahan, youth social media advisor and Tony Doupe, Chair of the Shoreline Community College Film Department.

The band will also be performing at 1.30pm NAMI Eastside's annual Youth Mental Health Conference this Saturday, May 4 at Sammamish Presbyterian Church.

"NAMI Washington is proud to light the Seattle Great Wheel green to kick-off May Mental Health Month for the third consecutive year," said Lauren Simonds, Executive Director of NAMI Washington.  "We see it as a celebration of mental health and the eradication of stigma. We are grateful to partner with Gypsy Temple and their Hold Your Crown project on these efforts."

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ABOUT GYPSY TEMPLE

Gypsy Temple is a multi-racial alt-rock band composed of local college students. The band's leader Cameron Miles Lavi-Jones MC'd the Event and his band performed at the March for Our Lives rally with Dave Matthews and Brandi Carlile in Seattle earlier year. Gypsy Temple is committed to assuring that youth have a voice in our state and our country.

https://www.gypsytemplemusic.com

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