As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2025, we offered grants in partnership with the Baring Foundation and Creative Scotland to support participatory arts projects in underrepresented areas.
The SMHAF Regional Participatory Arts Fund supports artist-led projects that actively involve communities in the creative process. The fund prioritises participatory arts, where participants become co-creators. Through collaboration and shared decision-making, they help shape the work.
Applicants directly engage people with lived experience of mental health problems or those at elevated risk. This includes young people, refugees, people with long-term conditions, and racialised communities.
With a strategic focus on Dundee, Aberdeen, and towns and rural communities, the fund supported 8 projects responding to our theme Comfort & Disturb, exploring how art can both soothe and unsettle, and the challenges of balancing those effects.
The fund aims to empower communities, foster creative expression, and deepen engagement with mental health through the arts.
SMHAF Regional Participatory Arts Fund
Making Sense: A Collaborative Textile Exhibition
Mon 20 Oct – Sun 9 Nov, Mon-Fri, 10am – 3pm, Ninewells Community Garden, Dundee
Come along to an exhibition showcasing artwork created through a collaboration between Ninewells Community Garden and the Carseview Centre at Ninewells Hospital. Local artist Anna Rooney has worked with workshop participants to create a series of engaging textile wall panels for Ward 2’s quiet room.
FREE
Artspace: Creative Connections in Callander
Mon 20 Oct – Sun 9 Nov, 1pm – 3pm, Callander Library.
Artspace: Creative Connections in Callander supports people in rural Stirlingshire experiencing mental health challenges, including refugees and people seeking asylum, through creative, socially connected activity.
FREE
Outlines Creatives x Middlefield Community Project
25 Oct, 10am-4pm, Middlefield Community Project, Aberdeen
Come watch the live painting of a brand new community mural at Middlefield Community Hub. The mural was designed through workshops with young people, using art as a tool to support mental wellbeing. Drop by to see the new design take shape!
FREE
Surrounding
Private Opening: Tue 28 Oct, 11am-1pm(women only).
Public Exhibition: Wed 29 Oct, 1-4pm
ScrapAntics Drop-In: Thu 30 Oct, 12-3pm
ScrapAntics Community Space, Dundee
A collaborative project by Dundee-based How It Felt, Amina MWRC and Dundee International Women’s Centre, supported by ScrapAntics. The public exhibition will feature mixed media artworks created by BME women in private workshops, exploring comfort zones, familiarity and emotional wellbeing through an immersive, engaging exhibition
FREE
Creative Healing
Sat 29 Oct, 5, 12 Nov, 10am-12pm, The Recovery Corner, Dunoon
Writing, Workshop: Discover the power of creativity and connection through journalling, textile art and neurographic drawing. Join Argyll & Bute Rape Crisis for gentle, supportive sessions exploring healing, self-expression and community. No art experience needed. Come as you are.
FREE
Body Mapping
Sat 8 Nov, 6-7pm, Middlefield Community Project, Aberdeen
Citymoves Dance Agency present a work in progress sharing and panel discussion, developed through series of creative workshops at Rape Crisis Grampian. Inspired by the theme Comfort & Disturb, the sessions will explore somatic movement, drama therapy, and body mapping, supporting personal reflection and creative expression.
FREE
Spoken Word Supper Club
Sat 8 Nov, 7pm – 9pm, Reconnect Howden Park Centre, Livingston
Firefly Arts host a vibrant evening of spoken word fuelled by food and fierce new writing by young people living in West Lothian, created in collaboration with Leyla Josephine. Inspired by the festival theme, this event is a space where performers can safely explore difficult truths, while celebrating resilience, identity and solidarity.
£10
Waves of Hope and Faith
Sat 1 Nov, 11am – 6pm, City Church Dundee
An arts and performance event presented by Inspiration Project, exploring the theme of Comfort & Disturb through the lens of Ukrainian cultural traditions.
This powerful programme brings together inclusive, trauma-informed workshops and a moving musical performance co-created by refugees and trauma survivors. It explores the experience of exile and the healing power of community art.
FREE
Collaborative Zine-Making Project
As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, artists Carla Smith and Jess Wilson-Leigh hosted a zine-making workshop with ESOL learners at North East Scotland College.
Building on a previous collaboration, the project invited participants to explore what brings them comfort and a sense of home in Scotland. Using image, text, and mark-making, the group created a collective zine that will be available digitally and as a printable PDF.
FREE
