The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival has now officially closed for 2022. It has been an amazing three weeks and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed this year.

It meant a lot to be able to gather together again in person and welcome our festival community back to live events. We were delighted to have this opportunity to present some incredible performances, hold vital conversations about mental health and the arts, catch up with friends, and make new connections. It has reminded us how important it is to do this and what the festival can mean to people. 

We hope that anyone who was not able to join us physically enjoyed our online events and will continue to explore the work that remains available on our website. You can explore our Gather commission, which features newly commissioned films, photography and a downloadable knitting pattern, and view our Community Exhibition featuring work from the past three years.

There are also live events and exhibitions continuing beyond the festival dates, including tour dates for Though This Be Madness and a recently announced series of writing workshops. Explore the ongoing programme here. 

We would like to thank our colleagues at the Mental Health Foundation for their ongoing support for the festival, as well as our national partners who made it possible: Creative Scotland, Thrive Edinburgh, Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership, See Me Scotland, Baring Foundation, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, media partner The List, and design partner Ilka.

We are also grateful to our planning groups across Scotland, who work throughout the year to support arts and mental health activities in their communities and coordinate local festival programmes.

Thank you also to the wonderful artists who have contributed work this year, whether through film screenings, performances, exhibitions, writing, talks, or workshops, and finally to the audiences who joined us at events and helped bring them to life.

Hosting an in person festival after two years away was not always an easy task and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival hosts events and projects throughout the year. Keep in touch by signing up to our newsletter, or following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you would like to get involved with SMHAF in the future, you are welcome to email us at smhaf@mentalhealth.org.uk.

Photography by Ingrid Mur. Moving Minds photograph by Erin MacKenzie.