WAUWATOSA — Ben Mulwana has been singing for as long as he could remember but it wasn’t until 2019 that he started writing his own music.
“I started writing from a place of needing help,” he said. "At the time I was going through a situation where I needed people to be there for me, for people to be supportive."
So, when he was asked to lend his talent at Just Living’s 14th annual Labor of Love music festival, which promotes suicide prevention and mental health awareness, it was the natural choice.
“Everything about that screams something you want to be a part of, so it was a very easy yes for me,” he explained. “There’s songs that I have that talk about understanding the struggle of other people and understanding your own struggle and being there for the people that need you the most.”
On top of live music, at Hart Park in Wauwatosa on Saturday the festival offered food, resource booths and raffles with all event proceeds going to suicide prevention research and mental health programs.
Just Living President Robert Stevens said the non-profit's goal with the annual festival is to inspire people to have important conversations and thinks music is a great way to do it.
“A lot of artists communicate these feelings we have around mental health in a way that we can listen to, that is a little uncomfortable when it’s just conversation,” Stevens said. “We make this a family-friendly event so that people can understand even from a young age we can start talking about feelings and start having open dialogue.”
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