SMHAF Podcast

Oct 26 2024 113 ep. 41 mins 122
SMHAF Podcast artwork

Mental Health Arts is a year-round arts programme led by the Mental Health Foundation Scotland, built around the annual Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF). Established in 2007, the festival is one of the largest of its kind in the world and among Scotland's most diverse cultural events, covering everything from music, film and visual art to theatre, dance, and literature.

  Arts
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Invisible M*ther

Oct 26 2024 3 mins  
Invisible M*ther is a collaborative piece by Rebecca Livesey-Wright and Indra Wilson, commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation for the 2024 Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. The piece uses polyvocal writing techniques to to visibilise hidden maternal narratives whilst affording an element of anonymity important for preserving a safe space for both ourselves and those who

Premonitory Urges

Oct 25 2024 2 mins  
Premonitory Urges is a sonic exploration of the sensation experienced by Tourette’s sufferers which is an overwhelming sensation to perform a tic, an experience similar to the urge to blink. This work uses sound and voice to express this buildup and release. It also uses sine and saw waves to act as a grounding solace providing a drone underneath the vocals. Other sounds include

Flutter

Oct 25 2024 3 mins  
Flutter explores the constant interruption of Tourette’s to everyday life, through small sounds as well as the shame which can be experienced when experiencing tics. A collection of erratic, arhythmic voclisations are counterbalanced by soothing lullaby-esque humming, exploring both shame and empathy. Fragments of spoken word explore the complexities of this condition alongside

Sit Still

Oct 25 2024 2 mins  
Sit Still is a choral composition for four voices that delves into society's assumption that stillness comes naturally. It challenges the notion that movement—such as fidgeting or wriggling—is a sign of disengagement, immaturity, or misbehavior. The work draws on the artist’s reflections on her own self-criticism for struggling to achieve stillness, especially in moments when

Wax and Wane

Oct 25 2024 2 mins  
Wax and Wane is a vocal exploration of the shifting nature of tics within the body, transforming from physical motion to vocal expressions, varying in complexity and intensity throughout the artist's life. Tics, particularly those linked with Tourette's, often diminish or become less visible at certain times of day or during different life stages. Stress can exacerbate them, while

Silent Men & Men Don't Talk: Duncan Cowles meets Clare Prenton

Oct 09 2024 20 mins  
Two of the big events at the 2024 Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival are Men Don’t Talk, a play written by Clare Prenton which tours Scotland from 18 November, and Silent Men, a documentary by film-maker Duncan Cowles which is screening as part of our Film Awards programme at the CCA in Glasgow before touring to cinemas across Scotland. Both set out to explore why men can be so

Performing Anxiety: Nye Russell Thompson interview

Sep 19 2024 44 mins  
Performing Anxiety: Nye Russell Thompson interview by Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

Quiet Revolution

Dec 12 2023 3 mins  
Reflecting light and stillness, and the process of creativity and the essential part this can play in all of our wellbeing. Some Revolutions are ongoing, peaceful, and very quiet. This track is by Talking Heads volunteer Paul Duncan, composed in response to the exhibition Photography Revolution by Dundee-based mental health charity Wellbeing Works. Paul is a classically trained

Hysterical!

Dec 05 2023 24 mins  
Listen to this podcast by Talking Heads volunteer Kirsty Ann-Watters, featuring an interview with koi collective members Sally MacAlister, Grace Baker, Zara Louise Kennedy, and Evie Mortimer about their new play Hysterical!. Commissioned by Live Borders for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Hysterical! is a free fall through a categorically inaccurate history of mad women

Listen In On The Conversation A Creative Revolution In Mental Healthcare (Made By Headliner)

Oct 26 2023 16 mins  
As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, the University of Glasgow hosted Rebirth and Revolution: the Life and Legacy of Mary Barnes to mark the artist and mental health campaigner’s centenary year. At the launch of the exhibition, a panel of experts gave a series of talks to contextualise her journey in art and recovery, from its beginnings at R.D. Laing’s controv