Kevin Lyman & Talinda Bennington All Set To Present 320 Festival Online; Chris Martin Of Coldplay And Kiiara Added To Lineup

The inaugural 320 Festival, created by Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and 320 Changes Direction co-founder Talinda Bennington, was supposed to take place at Los Angeles’ LA Live on May 9 until COVID-19 put a stop to in-person events. But 320 Festival’s mission of bringing awareness to the importance of mental health is too important – especially now as we cope with the anxiety of a global pandemic and economic crisis – and so the fest was quickly transformed into an online event with three days of educational panels, workshops, musical performances and more. 

Kiiara, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and Badflower are a few of the latest artists added to the lineup, which includes Lindsey Stirling, Art Alexakis of Everclear, Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October, Echosmith, Elohim and more. The festival also includes special guest appearances by Brandon Novak, Cassadee Pope, Dan Estrin of HOobastank, Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade, Duff McKagan of Guns N Roses, Frank Turner, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and more. 

The virtual May 8-10 event, which is put on in partnership with KNEKT.TV and is free for all to join, can be streamed via 320 Festival’s Facebook and Youtube, as well as the KNEKT.TV Network on Roku and Apple TV. 

320 Festival features more than 40 nonprofit partners providing resources, with educational sessions on topics such as Being an Activist and a Creative: How to Channel Both of Your Passions to Impact Your Community, Mental Health in the Workplace, Social Media: The Age of Anxiety, and Music’s Effect on Mental Health and Addiction. Each day of the event begins with Mindfulness Daybreak Sessions featuring breathwork, yoga and movement. 

Bennington spoke to Pollstar last year about co-founding 320 Changes Direction following the 2017 death of her husband, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, and the work the initiative is doing to address the needs of those who are suffering with mental health concerns and addiction. The mental health initiative is named in honor of Chester, whose birthday was March 20. At the time the May 2019 interview was published she also hinted at a new festival she was  working on with Lyman.

Pollstar checked in with Bennington and Lyman again this week to learn more about 320 Festival and taking the event online. 

Bennington explained that she was inspired by the organizations that 320 Changes Direction was working with and wanted to find a way to connect the resources with the public and to bring them together. 

“What better to do that than to have a music festival?” Bennington says. “I  imagined this really awesome outdoor fest, with music and nonprofits, really delivering mental health awareness, everything they had to offer in a nonclinical way. And who better to work with than the founder of Warped Tour?”

Being a part of 320 Festival was a natural fit for Kevin Lyman Group CEO Kevin Lyman because philanthropy and education have always been at the core of his work. In addition to hosting nonprofits throughout Warped Tour’s run and hosting an annual service day during the tour, Lyman founded the non-profit fundraising organization Unite the United Foundation in 2005 and has became a professor at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in fall 2018, teaching courses that cover live event production and philanthropy in music.  

On March 9 Bennington and Lyman officially announced details for 320 Festival, the same day they hosted a kick-off event 320 Conversations on March 9 at University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium, which featured mental health experts and thought leaders discussing their personal experiences and challenges, along with a performance from Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October (who has been candid about his own journey with mental health). A few days later the school was shut down because of the pandemic and by the end of March Lyman says the call came that the festival, like most events, couldn’t take place. 

“The first reaction is ‘Oh wow, great. We’re another victim of this,’” Lyman says. “But it’s never been my style to just give up. This wouldn’t be a great learning experience. And we owe it to Chester’s legacy. And I called Talinda about turning the festival into a virtual event.”

By expanding the event to three days, now the schedule doesn’t overlap and attendees won’t have to pick and choose which panels or performances to enjoy. Altogether, 320 Festival features 21 hours of programming. 320 Festival is expecting a large crowd of virtual attendees after the 320 Conversations attracted 200,000 views between livestreaming and fans later watching the videos.  

Lyman notes that he’s been getting praise from people about how great the event is happening now and shining a light on mental health. 

“This was scheduled a year ago. This was not like we came up with this and decided to do it during this COVID lockdown. Sometimes timing is fortuitous,” Lyman says. 

He added that the pandemic is very tragic for so many people and that like so many of us, he’s seeing the effects of these surreal, stressful times on his own mental health.  

“I can speak firsthand, I’m getting a little more edgy and having to work really hard on my own self care and mental health,” Lyman says.

One way he’s focusing on his mental health is by working on his garden and sharing photos on his Instagram page, which has been inspiring others to plant their own veggies. 

 “And also try to keep a routine – get up in the morning and take a shower, get cleaned up. I think we can roll into a bad thing when people aren’t getting out of their pajamas.” 

He adds, “It’s really important to think about the future, even though it’s hard to plan for the future right now.” … And figuring out what that new norm is. It’s going to change, it’s going to be huge change for our society and if you can figure out how to be part of that, you’ll be OK, but if you don’t think about it it’s going to be really tough for a lot of people. … We’re going to have to really take care of one another to get through this.”

Talinda points to a video that’s gone viral about hindsight being 20/20. “It’s a fable written about the pandemic, it talks about looking at what we have and being grateful for it. I really connected with that because that’s how I’m handling this time. When I find myself really frustrated with the kids, at least I have my kids, at least I have my house.”

While more musicians and folks in the industry are more comfortable these days with talking about mental health and providing resources, Lyman thinks the business still has a long way to go. 

“I don’t think it was a priority in our industry, I think it was covered up in our industry,” Lyman says. “We have to take care of our own, that falls on everyone, it falls on the mangers, agents, the promoters. We all need each other to survive, and we need to take care of each other.” 

Visit 320festival.com for more information.