Tiny Changes one year on: Tiny Gigs fundraiser, youth mental health services, and remembering Scott Hutchison

Tiny Changes, set up by Scott's family after his death by suicide in May 2018, has raised over £300,000 in its first year for mental health services.

It will hold Tiny Gigs, a virtual music festival on 20th and 21st June, where Tiny Changes and musicians will live stream from their own homes via the Tiny Changes Facebook page.

The event will contribute to the Tiny Changes Emergency Covid-19 fund.

Grant Hutchison, founding Trustee of Tiny Changes and brother of Scott, said: "Musicians are really struggling now and the industry is in a dire state. Tiny Gigs seemed like a good way to support some of those people, who are maybe feeling isolated or out of the loop.

"Right at the start of lockdown I'd noticed musicians and artists had been doing Instagram live performances.

Read more: Frightened Rabbit's Grant Hutchison on life-changing loss of brother Scott and new cider future

"I watched a few of them and thought they were really good, just to see artists that I liked doing that but feeling like being isolated, but with people and could comment and communicating with people.

"I had thought it was a good idea and put something out there. My friend and Tiny Changes employee Sandra Gordon ended up taking it on and run with it.

"We have balanced the acts with new and established artists, good gender divide and people Scott and I knew and played with."

Viewers are able to donate what they want through the charities' JustGiving page.

Funds will go directly to Tiny Changes to help with the Emergency-Covid Relief Fund, launched to aid those struggling with their mental health during the crisis.

"It is so hard to know what the landscape is going to look like after this" said Grant.

"People always want to go to live music, so it won't be for a lack of wanting. It's the anxiety around it. People are becoming accustomed to this new way of living and life so after this is over, people socialising and being in big groups again, it might cause anxiety for people.

"Last week we introduced an Emergency Covid Fund because we felt like we can't ignore what's happening right now.

"Initially we didn't think we would have to get involved in it, but the longer it went on it was evident that people will need help with their mental health during and after this.

"Especially children and younger people - there are people who don't undersatnd what's going on, and adolescents who have found their whole lives turned upside down.

"I struggle with that as a thirty-five year old man, let alone someone who is fifteen or 16 going along with everything to do with that too."

Applications closed last week, and many, Grant says, are about connectivity.

Grant said: "Many of the applications have been asking for help with connectivity. For many people their social lives have disappeared, or moved online.

"For those from more financially deprived backgrounds, it can be difficult to engage when resources such as tablets aren't available.

Grant added that the pandemic has especially affected musicians, who have found most of their income wiped with the closure of music venues.

"At a time when so many of us might be feeling disconnected and isolated from the world let’s all get together in a virtual field and enjoy some togetherness with a bunch of amazing musicians.

"Instead of feeling like we’re missing out on seeing friends, going to gigs and singing along together let’s make the most of being able to sit and watch a music festival from our own couch in our pants.

"What started as a wee idea after seeing a bunch of artists perform for folk online has been turned in to a reality by a few wonderful folk at Tiny Changes."

Speaking about the Tiny Changes one year on, Grant said:

Read more: Capaldi's Chewbacca mask auctioned for Tiny Changes charity

"It was so great so many people supported Tiny Changes in its first year, but it's a double edged sword because it's sad too, that it's needed so much.

"It would be great in years to come if it wasn't needed as much, because they are getting it from within themselves or from the Government.

"It's become clear that many people, social services and people struggling, have no idea what to do or how to handle it children and teens struggling with their mental health.

"Any approach needs to be more progressive, preventative rather than symptomatic.

"What I see a lot of is copying and pasting what's been done with adults mental health, shoehorning that into kids and adolescents lives, and that doesn't work. I don't think many people even really know what to do."

Tiny Changes was formed in the wake of Scott's death. One year on, he is still held at it's heart.

"It was almost a compulsion that the family and I wanted to do something. Mum, me and Neil all had different ideas of what we wanted to happen and it obviously caused clashes.

" One of the hardest things was the feeling that we want to have Scott at the heart of the charity but the charity is something that is positive and for good and it's trying to keep that balance of it exists because Scott took his own life, but you don't want that to be a focus on people.

"We want the years that he lived to be at the heart of it. That was a difficult thing to get right, and balance. I feel like we've eventually got there now."

Tiny Gigs will be taking place via Facebook Live Here. Donate here.