Scottish Mental Health Arts festival announces online programme
The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) today announced a special programme of online activity, including live-streamed events, film screenings, and five new artist commissions.
SMHAF’s online programme will begin in May, when this year’s festival was due to take place during Mental Health Awareness Week.
It is designed to support the festival’s creative communities, regional networks and dedicated audiences, and to create opportunities for engagement and conversation at a time when live events are not possible.
Taking place over four weekly sessions, the project provides an opportunity for artists to come together in a safe and accessible environment to share in conversations around creative practice and strategies for survival during this period of isolation.
Each session will focus on the work of an invited artist who will explore either food, movement, sleep or ritual in their work.
They will share an example of their work, lead a creative task and answer questions about their practice, leading to broader discussions with those in attendance.
A theatre show set in a lounge room, Though This Be Madness, features a recovering mum who is attempting to tell many tales of struggles with mental health.
The show is now undergoing an experimental re-framing to see how it can be shared with other lounge rooms, live online.
SMHAF will also commission five new artistic responses to the theme ‘my experience of isolation’, which can be showcased online.
In the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown, they want to amplify the creative voices of people who already understand isolation, in the interests of solidarity, empathy and the sharing of wisdom and experience.
The SMHAF website, and all of the festival’s social media channels, will be regularly updated with programme information.
Commenting, Gail Aldam, Arts and Events manager for the Mental Health Foundation, said: “In this unprecedented and difficult time, it is more important than ever for us to continue to connect with our incredible festival community and bring entertainment and important mental health content to our audiences.
“While we were obviously disappointed not to be hosting our annual festival in its usual form this year, we are delighted to be able to showcase an online programme of events beginning in May, creating opportunities for engagement and conversation and supporting artists to create new work.
“ In presenting the Festival in this way, we are also taking the opportunity to explore ways that we can use digital content to make our festival even more accessible in the future and reach a wider audience.”
For more information about SMHAF’s online programme, please visit:www.mhfestival.com
