MadforArts

MadforArts is a unique project that will give a voice to some of the most marginalised people in society. The project aims to reclaim the use of the word 'mad', so that it is no longer seen as an abusive or derogatory term. It has the support of all the major mental health charities, including Mind, Mental Health Media, SANE, Rethink and the Manic Depression Fellowship.

The project has launched in Cornwall and is due to launch nationally within the next few weeks, harnessing the media leverage of The Community Channel (owned by The Media Trust) and the insight of specialists at Mental Health Media to ensure mental health service users inspire and help the general public to engage with art in a different way. It will use new technologies and a structured support system to encourage views on art from a mental health user and survivor perspective. A new website will be central to the project and will contain a gallery of mental health users' well-produced views and critiques of particular works of art, music, sculpture and architecture.

MadforArts aims to give a voice to some of the most marginalised people in society so they become our illuminating guides to the arts they value in their galleries, museums, arts centres and communities. It's the first time that users and survivors of mental distress have been handed the microphone, digital camera and web space to be the leaders in a significant debate about the artistic world around them. An actual and a virtual art appreciation team have been recruited from all over England to discover artistic merit in regional galleries, theatres, spaces and then to canvass the thoughts of the public. The team will demonstrate the creative genius and validity of view of those with mental illness and help challenge the preconceptions many have about those who are usually excluded from debate.

The web component of the project will feature prominent celebrities who have experienced mental illness.

Twelve of the contributions to the website will be made into short films which will be launched in a MadforArts day, when all 12 films will be shown on both The Community Channel (a not-for-profit channel which is broadcast on satellite and cable) and the web. The best five of these are being shown on Channel Five this week just before the main evening news, to coincide with Mental Health Week. The films will also be made available at the appropriate arts installation/event to encourage more public debate to take place.

Jon Snow, Presenter ITN/Channel 4 News “They are stunning insights into manic-depression, self-harm, post-natal breakdown and hearing voices. They are sumptuously directed and it is great that such extraordinary material is making it into prime-time mainstream TV five nights in a row.”

Each film is introduced by someone with mental health issues and concentrates on a piece of art that has had a powerful effect on them. The films allow the viewer to experience the art in a new way by someone who has been powerfully affected by them.