Anti-Stigma Arts Fund

This year the fund received more than 40 applications from organisations and individuals across Scotland. From these applications we are delighted to announce we are funding four fantastic projects.

Collectively these projects plan to produce a comic, two films and a spoken-word showcase.

Dr Isa Rao & Tom van den Hurk ‘Hear Me Out’

Film makers Dr Isa Rao and Tom van den Hurk, will work in collaboration with three male suicide survivors who are who are passionate about de-stigmatising the topic of suicide.

They will create a film which tackles stigma around male suicide by providing a glimpse into the lives of the project participants. The film will show them with their families but also engaging in the activities that provided them with peace and calm during tough times.

Bazooka Arts

The project aims to create a high quality community film that through the process of creating it provides a therapeutic context for participants to explore their own experiences of mental health-related stigma.

It is hoped that the finished film will have an impact on the wider community, exposing stigma in all its forms, raising awareness, generating discussion, reflection and leading to change in attitudes and behaviours for audience where that is needed.

​SAY Women

This project will engage a group of young women to work with an artist researcher to create a Public Information Comic which will explore, map and illustrate the particular difficulties faced by survivors of sexual abuse in relation to mental health stigma and discrimination.

The comic will be used to engage women accessing SAY Women services, stakeholders and the public to improve understanding and facilitate conversations around this topic.

Icebreaker Dundee

This project is a showcase of Dundee-based spoken word performers, sharing pieces on their experience of mental health problems and specifically on the intersection between mental health and perceived gender.

It aims to challenge mental health stigma, focusing on challenging the well-documented notion that certain mental-health problems are gender-specific, which often makes it much more difficult to access appropriate support.

Keep an eye on this page for updates about the projects!