Community Grief Support Summer Series
My work as Creative Directer with Hospice of the Conejo
The Community Grief Support Summer Series was created in response to the tremendous amount of loss we have experienced as individuals and as a community over the past two years. We partnered with several community organizations including Art Trek, Rose Family Funeral Home, and the Thousand Oaks Library.
Threshold Music Program
A musical project for the pandemic, created in collaboration with concert violinist Gulia Gurvevich and Hospice of the Conejo.
When the pandemic hit, I was getting ready to work on another project in partnership with a grief support network and the community of people who had been affected by the Borderline shooting. Suddenly, and like so many artists, my creative projects were put on indefinite hold.
Also during this time, in addition to the devastation of COVID, people in nursing homes and on hospice were suffering from total isolation, while so many musicians and artists like me were out of work. I saw an opportunity to serve two communities at once.
Through some fundraising and a grant from the city of Thousand Oaks, we were able to bring world-class musicians into nursing homes and hospice communities isolated by the shutdown. The result was an incredibly powerful and intimate collection of musical performances.
Striking a Chord for Hospice Patients
“Mason created the ‘Threshold Music Program’ where [world class musicians] like Gurevich come and play for terminally ill and memory patients on the threshold of life. "Music is a common language," Mason said."
“You look at the limitations and try to make something beautiful out of that.”
“Patients are not getting visits. This is a way of bringing that outside world in. Actually, it’s better than the outside world because it’s something very few people get to experience.”
-Susan Murata, Executive Director, HOC
Love & Loss Story Nights
Various locations.
"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I constantly find myself walking around in the daytime and falling into at night." -Edna St. Vincent Millay
These gatherings came out of the Love & Loss Project and the healing power of simply talking and sharing stories about a loved one who has passed.
So often, after we lose someone we love, we also lose the opportunity to share the treasured stories that made up their presence in our lives. It can be hard to share those stories for many reasons, but the joy and love we experienced when they were here is the reason we grieve.
Expressing both that grief and that love is important.
When people come to these events they are encouraged to bring pictures or memorabilia that hold a story or significant meaning. By the end of the night, friendships have been made with both the people embodied and those who are there in spirit/memory/love.
