Grammy-nominated artist The Kid LAROI has announced the launch of his new foundation, the LAROI Foundation with national mental health service, headspace, as a founding partner.
In a statement, The LAROI Foundation said it has a mission to empower youth to follow their dreams, partnering with organisations to engage and positively impact young people everywhere regardless of circumstances.
LAROI, whose real name is Charlton Howard was born and raised in Sydney and said it was important to "give back to the community that helped me when I was growing up".
“I’m grateful I got the chance to build my confidence and share my voice through music, and it’s important every young person has an opportunity for their voice to be heard," he said.
“Spaces like headspace, where you can go and talk to someone on those days you’re not feeling great, make a huge difference.”
headspace said it was proud to partner with the LAROI Foundation to work towards supporting young people to live happy and healthy lives.
To mark the foundation's launch, LAROI invited a team of four creatives from a national call out to design a limited edition t-shirt.
The artists included Jay Van Nus, a proud Bibbulmun Noongar and Chilean transgender artist and Siena Bhuiyan, a Anaiwan and Bengali woman.
The artists explored themes of community, self-care and positive uplifting messages, before translating these concepts into the final t-shirt artwork.
The t-shirt will be available online and at LAROI's gigs across the country for his The First Time tour with funds raised to support headspace’s work online, in schools and universities, and at over 160 centres across Australia.
The CEO of headspace, Jason Trethowan, said the partnership with The LAROI Foundation was the coming together of two organisations that care deeply for the health and wellbeing of young people.
“Through his music The Kid LAROI has built a connection with so many of the young people that headspace is also proud to support during tough times,” Trethowan said.
“Connecting with one another through creativity and conversation is an essential part of good mental health, and we’re excited to work alongside LAROI to bring that message to even young people.
Director of The LAROI Foundation, Shannon Dunn, said the organisations are already working on future collaboration opportunities.
“We’re dreaming up a range of music and arts projects that will give young people more opportunities to develop and share their talents," Dunn said.
“It’s important that through our partnership with headspace we encourage young people to seek out opportunities for connection and remove stigma around getting the support you need if you are going through tough times.”
