Explore creativity and mental health with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and support from their small grants scheme for participatory arts projects.

---

Now in its 19th year, the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival takes place across Scotland and is led by the Mental Health Foundation. It aims to provide a platform for everyone to create and share art inspired by mental health and explores how arts and creativity can support people to live mentally healthier lives.

With funding from the Baring Foundation and Creative Scotland, they are offering grants of between £750 and £1,250 to support regional participatory arts projects, aiming to fund projects in areas currently underrepresented by their programme. This year, they will focus this funding on Dundee, Aberdeen, and towns and rural areas across the country, supporting up to eight projects overall.

Submitted projects should respond in some way to their theme, ‘Comfort & Disturb’, and the work should be showcased during this year’s festival, running from Mon 20 October to Sun 9 November.

---

How to apply

• Funding is open to individual artists, organisations, or artists working in partnership with an organisation but the project must be led by a named artist.
• Projects should actively involve the audience or community in the creative process, with collaboration and shared decision-making empowering those taking part to express themselves creatively.
• Proposals should directly engage people with experience of mental health problems or those most at risk of experiencing poor mental health.
• The fund can support both new projects and ongoing work.
• Successful applicants should showcase output from their project during SMHAF 2025 but there can be flexibility in how this is done.

Deadline for applications: 11.59pm, Wed 18 June

---

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) is one of Scotland’s most diverse cultural events, covering everything from music, film and visual art to theatre, dance, and literature. The festival aims to support the arts, explore how engagement in the arts can help prevent mental ill health, and challenge mental health stigma. Led by the Mental Health Foundation, SMHAF combines artistic quality with strong grassroots support, community engagement and social activism.