HBO Partners With Social Impact Organization Kindred For Mental Health Event
Written by Dino-Ray Ramos for Deadline. Check out the original article here
As the conversation behind mental health and its role in pop culture and social media come to the forefront, HBO and the newly launched social impact organization Kindred have partnered to launch series of purpose-driven events starting with the Kindred Mental Health Quest, Mind | Matters. The event will take place June 24-26 at the Ranch in Laguna Beach.
The event will feature over 75 influential content creators and nonprofits as they meet to tackle mental health stigmas through conversations, live workshops and a series of panels.
The roster of guests include Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp, Gary Gulmanfrom HBO’s upcoming comedy special Gary Gulman:The Great Depresh executive produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Michael Bonfiglio, Justin Cunningham, co-founder of Chance the Rapper’s SocialWorks as well as musician Michael Angelakos, Kindred co-founder and CEO Ian Schafer, The Ad Council’s Lina Renzina, mental health advocate Larissa May and more.
“Over the years, HBO has seen the impact storytelling can have on addressing important cultural issues like mental health. HBO originals like The Sopranos and In Treatment, documentaries like One Nation Under Stress, and our upcoming comedy special, The Great Depresh with Gary Gulman all bring mental health to the forefront and make a difficult topic easier to talk about,” said Sabrina Caluori, EVP, Digital and Social Media at HBO. “We’re very excited to partner with Kindred on their first Quest as they bring creators, brands and nonprofits together to continue making it easier to have difficult but necessary conversations.”
Topics to be focused on during the event include using comedy to de-stigmatize conversations about mental health, the science behind mental health and mental illness, grief, social media’s impact on mental health and language around the mental health conversation.
This event marks the first of Kindred’s Quests which includes a lineup of events that will hone in on mental health, criminal justice reform, gun violence, diversity & inclusion, sexual harassment & assault, climate change & sustainability and voting rights. This will lead to Kindred 2020, their first annual flagship event that will be held in San Diego, May 11-13, 2020.