Scottish Arts Council

Involvement in creative arts can promote mental health and wellbeing. People who are or who have been ill can use visual arts, creative writing, drama, and music to explore and understand what has happened to them. The same kind of self-exploration can help people to stay well and avoid illness, to share experiences, to develop new skills and to meet new people. The arts also have an important role to play in raising awareness of mental health issues.

ArtFull: Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative

The Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Government have jointly developed ArtFull, a national Arts and Mental Health initiative.

ArtFull willwork to promote the arts by supporting the development of new projects and creative environments to allowincreased access to art-making opportunities for people in Scotland. By promoting and coordinating research, exploring artistic practice and its impact on mental health and wellbeing, ArtFull willalso recognise and reward examples of good work.

Download the ArtFull Strategy below:

Visit the ArtFull website at http://www.artfull.org

engage Scotland

The 2005 engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Awards recognised eleven projects as examples of outstanding work in using the arts to engage with communities and individuals in ways that promoted mental health and wellbeing.

The Awards celebrated visual arts education across Scotland and were sponsored by the National Programme and supported by the Scottish Arts Council.

Contacts (non-emergency)

Kate Craik, National Development Officer
t: 0131 226 6051
e: kate.craik@scottisharts.org.uk