Coastella Music Festival is looking to shine a light on men’s mental health awareness this year by supporting local Kāpiti charity Whirlwind.

The charity, co-founded and managed by Kāpiti locals Ryan Edwards and counselor Martin Sloman, aims to enable men to positively embrace their mental health through the sharing of stories. Coastella Music Festival will donate the proceeds from the recyclable Globelet cup returns to the charity in an attempt to support their work and help raise the profile of what they do. Members of Whirlwind will also be joining the huge community of volunteers who help enable the festival to run.

The partnership came about because Ryan Edwards, played as part of the Coastella line-up 2016, and will play again this year in the 10 foot shipping container converted into a stage known as ‘Tiny Town’.

“We chose Whirlwind because of the passion and commitment that Ryan Edwards has for the cause and we really wanted to support a local charity,” says Festival Director Gerry Paul.

Edwards is delighted with the partnership as he feels staying local is an important part of Whirlwind’s identity as a charity.

“We made a conscious decision to stay with our heart being local and because of that, we’ve become well recognised as a charity doing important work in Kāpiti,” says Edwards. “I love that Gerry and Paul are being very local-orientated and I feel there’s a natural synergy between what Whirlwind and Coastella are doing in the area.”

As well as playing Tiny Town, Edwards will be speaking as part of the Coastella PechaKucha event. Festival-goers can take time out to hear 6 inspiring speakers break out rapid PechaKucha presentations on music, creativity and life.  Each presenter speaks to 20 images for 20 seconds per image. Alongside Edwards, presenters include Libby Hakaria (Maoriland Film Festival), Brendon King (VR specialist based in Kāpiti) and Anthonie Tonnon (musician) before moving into a set by Tonnon, a recent addition to the Coastella line-up after his single 'Two Free Hands' spent a number of weeks at the top of NZ alt radio charts.

Coastella Music Festival brings light, music and inspiration to the Kāpiti Coast, and is hoping their involvement with Whirlwind will get people talking about an issue that affects so many in New Zealand.