Benjamin Barnes - Musician, Advocate, and Cultural Connector.
- Mark Walmsley FRSA AGSM
- Aug 15
- 6 min read
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Meet Benjamin Barnes and discover his fantasy cultural year.
Benjamin Barnes, known to many by his distinctive moniker Bencasso, is a musician, mental health advocate, writer, and cultural entrepreneur whose life and work weave together artistry and compassion in equal measure.
Watch our interview in which I create Ben's fantasy cultural year with the aid of a magic wand and time machine.
A classically trained violinist who also plays guitar, sings, and composes across genres from classical to jazz, bluegrass, and rock, Ben has spent decades on stages, in studios, and inside communities where the healing power of music is not just a theory but a lived experience.
Ben's chosen name Bencasso emerged partly out of necessity and partly from his irrepressible sense of humour. As he points out, “There are so many Benjamin Barneses in the world — maybe fifty or sixty — and one of them is a famous movie star in Britain.”
Standing out in such a crowded field required a name that people would remember. Inspired by Picasso, and with a nod to his own work in visual and performing arts, Bencasso was born. It was initially intended as a playful label for an online art gallery, but it quickly became a personal and professional identity that represents his creative approach to life.
Ben's path has been shaped by resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges. He lives with schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies, morbid depression, crippling anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the aftereffects of a traumatic brain injury. The latter came from an accident that shattered his skull, requiring reconstruction over seven years. During that time, he was unable to play music — a loss that would have ended many artistic careers.
But Ben is not one to retreat permanently from the world. Once recovered, he rebuilt his musicianship, slowly regaining his technical skills and creative voice. His lived experience with mental health challenges not only informs his music but also fuels his advocacy. He understands from the inside what it means to navigate creativity while living with psychological and physical obstacles.
From this lived experience emerged Culture Scholar, a non-profit arts organisation dedicated to destigmatising mental illness through music and the arts. Ben founded the organisation to bring live performances and creative workshops into places where they are most needed but least available: mental health clinics, retirement homes, and soon, homeless shelters. The mission extends beyond entertainment — it aims to address the global “loneliness epidemic,” a condition now recognised as a serious public health issue.
Culture Scholar’s approach is grounded in research and lived experience, recognising that participation in artistic activities can significantly improve mental health outcomes. In these settings, music is not a luxury but a therapeutic necessity, helping individuals to connect with others, express themselves, and find moments of joy and purpose.
Ben’s dedication has been recognised through grants and awards, most notably the San Francisco Arts Commission’s 2023 Artist Grant, worth $20,000, which he used to stage a major concert. This funding not only supported the event but also validated the importance of integrating the arts into mental health advocacy. His work stands at the intersection of creativity, community service, and cultural diplomacy.
While advocacy is central to his current work, Ben’s career as a musician is rich and varied. His discography includes more than 120 recordings available across all major streaming platforms. He has been a member of innovative ensembles, including:
Deadweight – A groundbreaking band featuring electric violin, electric cello, drums, and vocals. Touring nationally and internationally, Deadweight built a loyal following for its fusion of rock energy and classical instrumentation.
Swindlefish – Ben’s current band, offering another platform for his eclectic talents. (More at swindlefish.com.)
String Quartet Projects – He has recorded three albums as part of a classical string quartet, showcasing his deep roots in chamber music.
On stage, Ben has performed in settings ranging from intimate venues to massive festivals. A highlight was his appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2000, playing to an audience of 50,000 people — an experience he would later recall as one of the most exhilarating of his life.
Ben's artistry extends into writing. His autobiography, Lucent Associations: Jazz Auto-memorography of Music, Mischief, and Madness, is available on Amazon. The title references a psychiatric term, “loose associations,” which describes a cognitive phenomenon where thoughts become disjointed and loosely connected — a condition Ben has experienced during episodes. In his creative hands, “lucent associations” becomes a metaphor for both his mental health journey and his improvisational approach to life and art.
The book blends memoir, music history, and reflections on mental health, offering readers an unfiltered account of the challenges and triumphs of a life lived in the creative fast lane. It is as much about survival as it is about music, revealing the interplay between artistry and vulnerability.
As a new full member of the Arts and Culture Network, Ben has entered a global community of more than 160,000 members. His participation aligns perfectly with the network’s ethos: leveraging culture to connect people across disciplines, geographies, and lived experiences.
In conversation with ACN founder Mark Walmsley, Ben immediately found common ground, particularly in their shared belief in music’s power to transform lives. Mark, himself a percussionist who once taught drums in prison, recognised in Ben a kindred spirit dedicated to bridging the gap between art and wellbeing.
Through the ACN, Ben is set to reach new audiences for his work with Culture Scholar, expand his collaborations with other artists and mental health advocates, and participate in the network’s global virtual meetings. His story and mission are slated to be promoted across ACN platforms, from LinkedIn to YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify.
The interview on Spotify
As part of his introduction to the Arts and Culture Network audience, Ben joined Mark in a playful exercise: imagining a Fantasy Cultural Year. Equipped with a time machine, a magic wand, and a Star Trek transporter, Ben embarked on an imaginative, globe-spanning, time-bending adventure.
Starting in Moscow
In this alternate reality, Ben begins in Moscow, seated at a café in Red Square on a warm June evening, sipping a vodka cranberry. Fresh from a meeting with a fictitious visionary Russian arts foundation, he accepts an unprecedented commission: to create a global “League Table” of music and wellbeing, identifying where music most effectively improves mental health and where the gaps are.
In Mark's world, the project will become a documentary series, a book, and a TED Talk, followed by a global university lecture tour.
For the research phase, Ben chooses to immerse himself exclusively in bluegrass music for twelve months, studying the genre in depth to bring fresh insights into its emotional and psychological effects.
Baryshnikov and Adobo
The induction phase in Moscow includes an evening at a dance performance featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Margot Fonteyn, reimagined from the film White Nights. Dinner afterwards is Filipino adobo — a nod to Ben's heritage — served in a fantasy version of Moscow’s cosmopolitan dining scene.
Tokyo and Jujitsu
Next stop: Tokyo. From a cherry-blossom-facing apartment, Ben attends the World Jujitsu Championships, treating the martial art as a form of performance.
São Paulo and Salvador Dalí
In São Paulo, Ben dons a VR headset to step inside a surrealist universe, exploring Salvador Dalí’s works in immersive 3D.
London Week
A week in London with Mark includes:
Monday – Reliving his Fuji Rock Festival performance, with Mark on drums.
Tuesday – A stage play about Stephen Hawking.
Wednesday – Opening night of West Side Story, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Thursday to Sunday – Wagner’s entire Ring Cycle at Glyndebourne.
Bonus – Playing a violinist-turned-murderer in a murder mystery party.
Film Night and Final Lunch
Film night features the documentary From Mao to Mozart, following Isaac Stern’s historic 1979 tour of China. The year ends with fish and chips at London’s Gabriel’s Wharf in the company of Betty Page and her guest, James Dean — a meeting of cultural icons from different worlds and eras.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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Chief Culture Vulture
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