It’s a cover-up for this year’s arts fest project
Record sleeves recreated for public display
A forest photography walk, songwriting workshops, spoken word events, book group and public art exhibitions are all taking place across Renfrewshire this month as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
Now in its 15th year, the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) is hailed as one of Scotland’s most diverse cultural events, covering everything from music, film and visual art to theatre, dance, and literature.
In Renfrewshire, there are more than 20 events planned throughout May, along with two exhibitions.
Passing Time is a display of poetry across local railway stations and social media, and Mindspace features album covers drawn during lockdown as a reminder of the power of music to
support mental health.
Clients from Dykebar and Leverndale Hospitals and the Sunshine Recovery cafe and Recovery Hub painted album covers during lockdown kdown and now almost 200 are on display.
They will remain on show for the month h of May in the RAMH H ReStore, Blend Café, Paisley and Renfrew Job Centre Plus’s, Bailey’s antiques and d Remode
Sarah Grant, NHS HS Creative Arts coordinator, nator, said: “All the work has as been created under lockdown ownand and has supported well- being and creativity during this challenging time.
“The exhibition looks amazing and we have featured images online as well.
“We also have physical copies of our in-patient Quarantine arantine Zine to share and it can be viewed online. It features artwork, poems, recipes and song lyrics created in response to therapeutic prompts during du Lockdown, across t the three wards of Dykeb Dykebar South, Arran and Leve Leverndale 3B.
“The theme of the fe festival this year is N Normality?
“As in previous years w we had a big response fro from patients and the wid wider community to our c call out for creative writing and we are hosting an online spoken word event which will be posted as a live Facebook event on Thursday, May 20 at 7pm.”
SMHAF will take place until May 23 online at mhfestival.com and in regions across Scotland.