Radiohead’s Philip Selway Among Backers of Touring Mental Health Fund

The Music Industry Therapist Collective CIC (MITC) has launched the Pay It Forward Fund, a free occupational health program for artists and crew on small- and mid-scale tours.

Why it matters:

• Touring professionals face an elevated risk of stress, anxiety, burnout, clinical depression and suicidality, conditions that can be exacerbated on smaller tours with leaner teams and more challenging travel and work conditions.

• While a growing number of larger tours offer welfare or pastoral support for members of the touring party, smaller tours rarely have the budget for such resources.

• The campaign’s broader aim is to make occupational health on tour part of normal professional practice, rather than something available only on larger tours.

How the new program helps:

• The Pay It Forward Fund makes specialist mental health support accessible to smaller touring teams.

• An initial £272,000 ($370,000) has been raised to support 50 tour teams annually over a three-year pilot period.

• MITC’s Tour Health packages include confidential conversations with qualified mental health practitioners familiar with the touring industry called Tour Check-Ins. They’re available 24/7 online and in several languages.

• Each package also includes a 90-minute occupational health consultation with MITC’s Touring Welfare Officer Sascha Heeney, who supported Dua Lipa’s ‘Radical Optimism’ tour team; Healthy Touring workshops; and access to MITC’s audiobook Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual.

Industry support:

• Contributors to the fund include Radiohead’s Philip Selway, AEG, Live Nation, d&b audiotechnik, Fly By Nite, Lockton, The Team, Universal Pixels, and Live Free 999, the charitable foundation established by Carmela Wallace, mother of the late Juice WRLD.

How to apply:

• A first round of applications is open to eligible tour teams globally for tours that begin between October and December 2026.

• It closes on September 30.

What they said:

• Tamsin Embleton, Founder of MITC: “The Pay It Forward Fund is about making specialist support accessible to tours working within tight budgets, but it’s also about moving beyond the idea that support should only be sought when crisis hits. We want to help forward-thinking teams develop the skills to manage pressure, recognize when something is beginning to take a toll, and intervene effectively before things start to snowball.”