The Overcast’s annual Albedo Grant gives a local, community-bettering endeavour a pot of cash to help them do their thing. The emphasis is on start-ups or an organization facing a specific financial barrier to growth. This year’s pot is $12,500, courtesy of sponsors/jurors Dean MacDonald, John O’Dea, and Phil Keeping’s family. We will reveal this year’s top 5 contenders, one a day all week long, before announcing the winner as May’s cover story. 

Who is Amelia Curran / What is It’s Mental What?

Amelia Curran is a Juno and ECMA award-winning songwriter. But you already knew that. What you might not know is she’s been lending her star power to one of our province’s most dire causes: the dismal state of mental healthcare in NL.

It’s Mental began in 2014 with the production of “This Video,” by Amelia Curran and Roger Maunder, which has 140,000 hits on YouTube. It has since grown into what you’ll find at www.itsmental.ca.

 

“While mental healthcare reform is a long road, our goals are clear and based on the simple human right to become well again if we are sick. More than an anti­stigma campaign, we are striving to help people understand that they can change the world.”

What is the “The Great T-Shirt Campaign?”

Steve Earle

Yes, that’s the one and only Steve Earle rocking his T-shirt. Amelia brings the message of It’s Mental on the road with her as she tours.

It’s Mental applied to secure a boost to a specific endeavour: their Great T-­Shirt Campaign, “which means giving away these things for FREE and asking people to saturate social media wearing it. The idea is VISIBILITY.”

“Welcome to the great T­-shirt army; proof that you are not alone and there is strength in numbers. More than a corporate campaign, this is people. Beyond the campaign, I have speaking engagements across the country, sort of spattered along the calendar between now and December 2016.”

Curran is also producing a documentary with Pope Productions and CBC Doc Zone that’s due for completion September 2016.

What Will They Use the $12,500 For?

“Quite simply, I want to spend $12,500 on T­-shirts. What’s in our way is small orders with our small budgets. Volume costs more than what we have, and right now, there are thousands of people online waiting for me to say, Go! The T­-shirt campaign is the beginning of a magical thing, wherein one doesn’t have to donate or volunteer ­ just raise your hand, gentle and assured, and be part of something amazing. For this to work we need to get it out there all at once. We’re together, but we’re not loud enough.”