On October 6, 2107, LIFE Center Stage through our Bridging Realities initiative, held our first Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Concert in partnership with Community Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Morris, Morris County Stigma-Free, Morris County and Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey – It was a huge success!
The event was filled with uplifting performances by The Inspire Project, Carolyn Messina and the 6 winners of the Knock Out Opioid Abuse songwriter’s scholarship contest. Over 4-work sessions, the winners worked with Lorraine Ferro, our teaching artist and multi-platinum songwriter to create 3 co-written anthems that captured each of the participants’ differing points of view of the opioid epidemic. All of the winners, showed such bravery in sharing their touching personal stories and incredible songs with us. Loren O’Donnell and Cj Dimarsico’s co-written song and Rise Up was incredibly powerful. Find Your Way, co-written by Jon Stewart and Barbara Lemasters was also empowering. Anna Toby R. and Anna Zibit performed their remarkable song, Invisible, it left us singing “Look at Me Now” for the last week!
We are so proud of each of the contest winners, they all worked so hard on their anthem songs and did a tremendous job in engaging the community, raising awareness and bringing hope to those affected by the opioid epidemic.
After the anthem songs were performed, audience members were invited to vote for their favorite – Invisible by Anna Toby R. and Anna Zibit won the Grand Prize and was selected as the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Anthem song of the year. Invisible will be professionally recorded at Silk City Grooves.
Congratulation Anna T. and Anna Z!!! We are looking forward to getting you into the studio and seeing where you go from here!
Special thanks goes out to our sponsors, Community Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Morris, Morris County Stigma-Free, Morris County and Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and CARES, our speakers, Barbara Kauffman of Community Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Morris and Angela Conover of Partnership for a Drug-Free NJ, our teaching artist – Lorraine Ferro, Carolyn Messina for her performance, sound and live stream, The Inspire Project for performing, and Kimberly DeCicco photographer and so much more, without which this contest would never have been realized.
This is only the beginning of long-term projects using the arts to lessen the impact upon those feeling stigmatized and isolated. To learn more about LIFE Center Stage’s Bridging Realities initiative, contact Vicky Mulligan, Vicky@LifeCenterStage.com 973-985-7548