Takedown Festival, being held at Portsmouth Guildhall on April 8, will be teaming up with Tonic Rider to provide mental health support for artists, crew and staff at this year’s festival.
The collaboration will see Takedown become the first festival to offer such mental health charity resources backstage when it takes over Portsmouth Guildhall on April 8.
The Tonic Rider team, who consist of mental health professionals with a background in the music industry, will be positioned in the green room offering information about their programme, and free resources, along with one-to-one support in a private space, if and when required. This will form part of Tonic Rider’s expansion of the programme in 2023, which includes backstage support at festivals and gigs across the UK.
Tonic Rider is a programme created by the registered charity, Tonic Music for Mental Health (‘Tonic’), with the aim of promoting good mental health in the music industry. The programme was launched in 2021 and consists of online training courses, support groups, taught workshops and one-to-one sessions exclusively for anyone working in the music industry.
Alongside the backstage support, Tonic will also provide their Never Mind the Stigma stand offering information and support to attendees at the festival.
Jeordie Shenton, Tonic Rider Coordinator said “We are delighted to be offering mental health support to artists, crew and staff working at a music festival for the first time, and even more so, that it will be at Takedown Festival in Tonic’s hometown of Portsmouth. Throughout 2023 we will be expanding our programme of backstage support and we are thankful to the Takedown team for providing this opportunity.”
After a seven year hiatus, the much-loved Takedown Festival has moved from its Southampton University roots to the larger venue, Portsmouth Guildhall, with an outdoor stage also being created to guarantee a full day of festival fun for Takedowners.
The electrifying line-up that will see over 30 bands perform across 5 stages, also includes heavy hitters of the rock and metal worlds Sleep Token, Skindred (pictured top), Loathe, Jamie Lenman, Punk Rock Factory, InMe, Palm Reader, Our Hollow Our Home, As December Falls, CLTDRP, Fearless Vampire Killers, The Bottom Line, Seething Akira, Ithaca, Confessions of a Traitor and Dendera with many more acts still to be announced.
For more information visit: Tonic Rider: tonicmusic.co.uk Takedown Festival: takedownfestival.com
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