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03/28/2018 08:30 AMAdam Christoferson has had many ventures, all with the same goal in mind: helping others. Music has been at the core of many of these endeavors.
Many readers may find the name familiar—most likely due to his musical activities in the region, though some may remember way back in 2000 when the Courier first profiled Adam. Contacted recently, the memory of his first interview came to Adam’s mind.
“It really is a flashback because a lot of the things I set out to do when I was 17 years old have actually come to fruition,” says Adam.
He was referring to a project he had been working with local politicians at the time to start a performing arts center for the youth; it was to be called Café Cave. The organizers held a few events and raised some money for a family in need, but didn’t end up getting a space.
That original goal has been realized in Musical Intervention (MI), an organization Adam has built with a studio open to the public in downtown New Haven that gives all the chance to write and record original music.
MI works with the homeless, people dealing with mental illness, and, Adam says, anyone who walks through the door. In addition to music therapy, Adam makes sure if someone needs additional support that they are connected to agencies that can help in the area.
“Everybody who comes through our doors is a valuable asset to the creative community,” says Adam.
His appreciation for his clients’ challenges was earned the hard way. He grew up watching his father, a veteran, struggle with disability and his mother struggle with mental illness. He’s also dealt with the labels himself.
“When I was in school, I was placed in a special education class,” says Adam. “I remember helping kids that had physical disabilities get up the stairs, just trying to be helpful. As long as I can remember, I’ve just always tried to help.”
Music has been part of his life since he was a kid and he says it always provided an outlet for him. It started when he was eight years old and his father bought him a drum set.
He also has a pretty impressive musical heritage. His mother’s brother, his uncle, is Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Michael Bolton. Adam says his uncle did a lot to help out the family and so music became a saving grace for his mother as well.
“Music has always been very powerful for me, you know, coming through special education it was hard to find value,” says Adam. “I would say music and poetry became my outlet and my way of kind of staying out of trouble.”
Adam went to Southern Connecticut State University to pursue a degree in recreation therapy. After he got his degree, he worked at Yale child’s psychiatric inpatient hospital for 5 ½ years.
“Outside of just the usual therapeutic groups I was running I was also helping the kids write and record original music,” said Adam. “The inpatient unit and kids were really being transformed, as I was, by the power of music.”
After a brief stint as a politician (he ran for mayor on a $250 campaign budget and with his good friend, Andrew Garguilo, as his manager), he decided he could have a bigger impact through music therapy. His passion for helping others paired with his love for music has given him the perfect background to start MI.
“I realized I could support myself and do this and that became the birth of MI,” says Adam. “Musical Intervention was formulated and developed at [the] child psychiatric hospital, but came into its own as I started working with various populations all over Connecticut.”
A research study by The Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health supported their efforts and the positive effect that MI’s space has provided to the community.
Right now, Adam funds the entire project himself; it costs him about $3,500 each month, he says. He raises the money through Musical Intervention services—he visits inpatient facilities such as the Apt Foundation, the Connecticut Valley Hospital, Connecticut Mental Health Center, and more.
“I work for them helping their clients write music, so the money I make there I put into the headquarters because I believe in the vision,” says Adam
And he’s looking to the future. It’s his utmost belief that there should be a MI headquarters in every major city. The organization recently did a pop-up event in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
“That was amazing,” says Adam. “It worked beautifully in New York and it was sad…I had developed a community in such a short time, where people really need it, and had to close the doors because the funding isn’t there at the current moment.”
Adam says that it’s a lot of work for one person to be running Musical Intervention, but right now there’s not enough resources to hire anyone.
“I know that [I’m] building something really special and powerful,” says Adam. “I just need to get more people involved.”
Musical intervention is located at 23 Temple Street, New Haven. For more information, visit musicalintervention.com or contact 203-676-4328 or info@musicalintervention.com.