The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s Talking Heads project brings together a team of volunteer reporters to create written articles and multimedia content during the festival and our year-round events programme.
Written submissions range from arts reviews and interviews to in-depth features on the festival’s themes and personal experiences with mental health issues. We also accept audio and video submissions, photographs and other creative responses to festival events.
Each submission is published on our website and shared through our social media channels and network of partners, as well as with the artists and organisations involved. We encourage reporters to be honest in their writing and draw on their personal experiences, so the articles produced should not be taken to reflect the views of the festival.
The project has been running since 2012 and is now established as an important part of the festival. It enables us to promote events and present new perspectives on mental health, while giving reporters the opportunity to get involved in a range of festival events, gain experience in writing, interviewing and media production, and share their views and experiences with a wide audience.
TALKING HEADS CONTRIBUTORS
The Talking Heads project is open to candidates with lived experience of mental health issues and attracts a diverse range of applicants from throughout Scotland. We would like to thank all our volunteers for their hard work and share some examples of their work:
- Colin MacGregor – Q&A with Britain’s Got Talent Star Edward Reid
- Lorna Stewart – Song: Good Grief
- Emma Lawson – RD Laing in Theatre: Interview with Pamela Carter
- Clare Blackburne – #MyEscape: Living in the age of the exile
- Peter Johnstone – Time: Reflecting on time in the Young Person’s Unit
- Callum McLean – Pondlife: Playing with my brand new trend set
- Mark Jones – Syd and Roger: Interview with Ian Barrett
- Matt Shields – Where the Crow Flies: Touring theatre inspired by a community
- Rachel Alexander – Real Talk: It’s good to talk
- Anne Austin – Gary Little: Why it helps to laugh about depression
- Ludovica Credendino – Watching 365 Films in 365 Days
- Andrew Revill – Time Well Spent at the University of Stirling
- Kirstyn Smith – Festival of Ian Smith: A Celebration of Death
- Jamie Goodwin – Strictly Recovery Podcast: Time to Dance
- Theresa Moerman Ib – Touched with Fire: Interview with Paul Dalio
- Susan McKinstery – Out of Harm: The start of a conversation about self-harm
- Taylor Gardner – The Guessing Game: Exploring the role of the mental health carer
- Angela Wright – October 17, 2016: Not an ordinary day
- Rosalind Roux – The Box: A beautifully raw depiction of inner turmoil
The 2019 Talking Heads project is run in partnership with See Me.
GET INVOLVED
We welcome interest from people looking to volunteer for the Talking Heads project. It is open to people from all backgrounds from across Scotland and we are able to reimburse all agreed travel expenses, as well as provide complimentary tickets for events.
If you would like to find out more about opportunities to get involved, email rdickie@mentalhealth.org.uk.