Tunefoolery to Perform at the Opening of the Movie “The Soloist”

BOSTON — Tunefoolery, a Department of Mental Health (DMH) program, will perform at the opening of “The Soloist” at the Kendall Movie Theatre in Kendall Square, Cambridge, on April 24. Tunefoolery is a musical group composed of and run by people receiving mental health services that play and perform music to establish identities based on musical achievement rather than mental illness.

“The Soloist,” starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, tells a story of friendship that developed between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a talented musician who became homeless and had paranoid schizophrenia. Thanks to Mr. Lopez, Mr. Ayers has had the opportunity to play on quality instruments and with musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

This is also Tunefoolery’s story. People who have been struggling with mental illness for many years and who have given up playing music are welcomed into a community of musicians to play with and given opportunities to perform for an audience.

Tunefoolery helps its musicians to move away from the mental health patient role and embrace new identities as professional musicians and performers. This transformation is essential for people with long-term psychiatric illnesses who often get the message that they are not “well” enough to be creative contributors to our communities.

The Tunefoolery musicians, who perform as solo acts or in small ensembles, play 75 to 90 times a year at mental health treatment programs, hospitals, nursing homes and anywhere else where music can bring joy and inspiration. Tunefoolery also offers its musicians music lessons, workshops and a yearly three-day retreat in the Berkshires. Another inspiring project is the Education Outreach program where musicians visit schools and other institutions educating children and adults about psychiatric disabilities, focusing on people’s strength rather than on the negative effects of mental illness.

About the Department of Mental Health

DMH is one of the 17 state agencies that comprise the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. DMH provides services to adults, children and adolescents with long-term or serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance; provides early and ongoing treatment for mental illness; and conducts research into the causes of and treatments for mental illness. Through state operated inpatient facilities and community mental health centers and through community services and programs provided by nearly 200 mental health providers, DMH directly serves 21,000 citizens, including about 3,500 children and adolescents, with severe and persistent mental illness and serious emotional disturbance.

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