Group supports young artists to bolster mental health
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ALPENA -- If $3,000 could help save lives, it would be money well spent, a group of young creatives in Alpena decided recently.
Last week, the directors of the Sunset Project announced three $1,000 grants to support the creative endeavors of young people in Alpena.
The project's founders, creative people themselves and inspired by the life of a friend they lost to suicide, raised the funds because they believe bolstering creative expression builds the resilience that can help prevent other tragic self-inflicted death.
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide was the second leading cause of death for Michigan people aged 1- to 24 in 2020.
A few grants to help people pursue their artistic visions can't reverse that number, but they can add to a growing acceptance of differences that Sunset Project co-founder and Executive Director Gavin MacDonald sees in Alpena.
That acceptance, visible in the form of giant murals appearing on downtown walls and other recent art installations and events, can give young people the encouragement they need to be emotionally strong, MacDonald said.
"When you feel supported in your creative endeavors, you also feel better about yourself," MacDonald said.
After a several-month application period in spring, during which people aged 14 to 23 could submit essays and videos explaining how they would use grant money, Sunset Project organizers awarded three grants to Alpena residents Alison Hosinski, Nick Lusardi, and Connor Caplis.
The grantees have interest in a wide variety of art forms, recognizing that creativity reaches beyond painting, drawing, and other traditional definitions of art, MacDonald said.
Caplis requested the funds to purchase an amplifier for The Scholastic News, his band composed of high school students and a recent high school graduate.
Hosinski plans to use the grant money to create a phone app to benefit the foster community.
Lusardi, who produces both commissioned and personal videos, said the $1,000 grant purchased a computer that will enable him to create documentary and other films of a quality to be competitive with other people in the industry.
A high school senior, Lusardi said he sees many other students battling stresses and pressures.
"It's a tough time to be alive for everybody," Lusardi said.
He knows other teens with strong artistic skills who, fearing the world will reject the works they create, shy away from the artistic activities that could support their mental health.
The community can support those artistic young people, and their emotional health, by championing such efforts as the recent additions of murals downtown and new sculptures around Alpena, he said.
"The more you see art in the community, the more willing you are to try your own," Lusardi said. "It makes it seem possible."
Sunset Project organizers will continue to offer the Sawyer J. Boyd Creatives Grant, named for their friend and fellow Alpena High School graduate.
Boyd, who his friends call exceptionally creative, lost his life to suicide in 2016.
The Sunset Project grants, which the group will offer again next year, aren't really about the kids, MacDonald said.
They're about encouraging the community to continue to take the kind of steps they believe could have saved their friend's life, "with a little extra help, a little extra bump."
For information about a Sept. 24 suicide prevention walk in Alpena, find the walk on Facebook or visit The Alpena News at 130 Park Place in Alpena for a registration form.
If you are experiencing emotional distress and need to talk to someone, call 988.