Singer-songwriter Michalis Patterson came up through the Sisters School District and Sisters Folk Festival’s arts education program the Americana Project.

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly altered life for a lot of people, among them singer-songwriter Michalis Patterson.

Patterson, 24, is this week’s Central Oregon Creative Artists Relief Effort, a grant program from The Bulletin and Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts, which aims to provide some financial relief for creatives whose work has been thwarted by the pandemic.

There’s a worldliness about Patterson, 24, that can be heard in his music. Perhaps he’s an old soul. Or maybe it’s because he has performed around the world, in locales such as Sicily, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, playing venues from cafes to mental health clinics. Part of Patterson’s mission being to dispense his music as medicine, a balm to help people suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts or other crises. Prior to the start of the pandemic, he’d even earned a place on the NBC music competition “The Voice,” though COVID-19 changed that plan, too.

Upon his return to Central Oregon last year, he spent a stretch of time working construction and other jobs to make ends meet. Prior to moving back to Bend, Patterson had been working for Monqui Presents, a Portland-based music production company that, until this season, had booked the acts for Les Schwab Amphitheater.

Growing up in Sisters, he was involved in the Americana Project, a music and arts program from Sisters School District and Sisters Folk Festival.

“I was pretty privileged to grow up in the Americana program,” he said last week. “It was almost growing up in a private school there. I mean, there was a lot of funding for the arts and stuff like that.”

Upon graduating, he had earned a scholarship to go to nursing school, but as Keb’ Mo’ once told him, “If you hate what you do, you hate your life.”

“And I chose to be a musician, and I toured and I bought a ticket to New Zealand, toured all around the North Island, and then from there I was hooked,” he said. “I was touring all around, and I realized I had a pretty unique key to be able to do that. I didn’t need money or anything like that. I didn’t need $20,000 in the bank. I just needed a guitar, and that enabled me to fund residencies in Europe or the Middle East and all kinds of stuff, and be able to help people from that platform.”

Patterson is ready for the return of live music, in his current concert production work at Les Schwab Amphitheater and his own burgeoning career. Upcoming shows include a June 24 set at Depot Deli in Sisters, July 2 at Eqwine Wine Bar in Redmond and July 3 at Elk Lake Resort. He’s writing and recording an in-progress album and working production for Les Schwab Amphitheater as it readies for the season ahead.