The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) will return from 20 October to 9 November, exploring the theme ‘Comfort & Disturb’.

Now in its 19th year, the Mental Health Foundation’s annual festival takes place across Scotland and covers all artforms. SMHAF aims to provide a platform for everyone to create and share art inspired by mental health and explore how the arts and creativity can help everyone to have better mental health.

Our programme will be supported by Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland for the first time from April 2025 to March 2028, giving us welcome stability and enabling us to continue to present innovative, diverse, and accessible arts and mental health events across Scotland.

We want to hear from organisations, communities, artists, and activists who would like to get involved in the festival this year. Whether you’re working on a creative project, have an idea for an event, would like to help develop your local programme, or want to talk about anything else, please get in touch at smhaf@mentalhealth.org.uk.

Comfort & Disturb

Our 2025 festival theme, Comfort and Disturb, references the famous Cesar A Cruz quote about art as activism, the idea that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. It is a simple expression of the power of art both to challenge and to console, often having a transformative effect on people and societies. Art does not have to be activism, of course. It can be a source of comfort for everyone and anyone who wants it. Art can also disturb with no agenda other than creating an emotional reaction.

Being creative can involve choosing whether to comfort or disturb. If art leans too heavily towards comfort it can sometimes feel cloying and sentimental. But if it is too disturbing it can be harmful to our mental health. Finding the right balance is a creative challenge. Art is often most effective when it is comforting and disturbing at the same time.

The Cruz quote, though, argues that who we comfort or disturb is crucial, that art should challenge privilege, power and complacency at the same time as bringing solace to those who most need it. Our festival has always challenged stigma and prejudice about mental health, and we continue to provide a platform for often marginalised artists to tell their own mental health stories in their own way.

Look out for updates about this year’s programme and opportunities to get involved on our website, social media, and newsletter. We hope you will join us in October and November to feel comforted, disturbed, and everything in between.

Image: Rebirth & Revolution: the Life and Legacy of Mary Barnes at SMHAF 2023 c. Ingrid Mur.