Raising Awareness for Mental Health Through the Arts: Project Green Showcase
Project Green, Dean College’s student club that advocates for mental health and addiction awareness, will be holding their fourth annual Project Green Showcase this Saturday, November 20, 2021. The Project Green Showcase provides a creative outlet for individuals to share stories and experiences related to mental health through dance and music, raising awareness and encouraging people to have open conversations around the topic of mental health.
To learn more about the showcase, we spoke with the president of Project Green, Meg Arrington ’22, who is currently earning a bachelor’s degree in Dance and an associate degree in Business Management.
Q: For anyone new to Project Green, can you explain more about the club, the showcase and what the audience can expect?
Meg: “We advocate for students who may not have a voice and we want to disperse proper resources to students in the event of a crisis or to prevent one. Our advisor is MaryAnn Silvestri. She is the Director of Counseling Services, and we work very closely with her to create the necessary access for students. This is our fourth time running our showcase. Unfortunately, last year we were not able to hold a show, but the club members worked with Hannah Ranco ’22 and the other executive board members to create a very powerful video instead. The club was started by a Dance major who had lost a friend to addiction. She did not want to see anyone else go through that loss, so she created the showcase and then the club followed. As a Dance major, she wanted to express her feelings through her art form, and she wanted to give others the space to participate as well. Since then, we have expanded the showcase from just dance to other art forms as well.”
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the showcase?
Meg: “This year we are proud to include poetry and creative writing as well as some painting and drawing in an art gallery outside of the performance space. This is our first time incorporating a gallery, so we are very excited to build a space for artists of other mediums to feel welcomed and understood as well. This year we will also be raffling off three baskets to audience members.”
Q: What impact do you hope the Project Green Showcase has?
Meg: “I hope the Project Green Showcase allows students to feel less alone. A lot of people experience symptoms of anxiety and depression and the isolating mindset that goes along with those disorders. The goal of the entire club is to break the stigma behind mental health. We are here to facilitate the conversation and we will not be shying away from the taboo subjects. The art is a way to present these ideas in a more digestible way, but these discussions are taking place in our club every week. We hope to see the audience full to continue our mission and hold that safe space where everyone is welcome to share their feelings and experiences.”
The Project Green Showcase will take place on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. in the Guidrey Center. The proceeds of the Project Green Showcase will be donated to Dean College Counseling Services to be utilized for campus mental health initiatives and various charity donations.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit Today@Dean or the Dean College Events Calendar.