Home / Arts and Entertainment / Touring's Toll: New Fund Supports Musicians' Mental Health
Touring's Toll: New Fund Supports Musicians' Mental Health
14 Sep
Summary
- New fund offers mental health support for smaller touring bands and crews.
- Radiohead's drummer shares personal struggles with tour-related anxiety.
- The Pay It Forward Fund provides £272,000 for mental health practitioners.
Musicians and touring crews on smaller tours will now have access to crucial mental health support through the newly launched Pay It Forward Fund. This initiative, spearheaded by Tamsin Embleton and the Music Industry Therapist Collective, aims to replicate the support larger tours receive, addressing the unique pressures faced by emerging artists.
The fund's inception follows reflections from Radiohead's drummer, who detailed his own past experiences with intense anxiety and performance difficulties during the band's early, demanding tours. He recounts feeling overwhelmed and experiencing a significant drop in his drumming ability due to the isolation and pressure of constant travel and performance.
This new project has secured £272,000 to finance 150 tour teams of practitioners over three years. The program will offer occupational health, mental health education, and pastoral care, filling a gap for those unable to afford or access such services on smaller-scale tours. The goal is for this support to become a standard part of touring life.
