Arts & Mental Health Symposium and other events for Derry

The Symposium at the Nerve Centre will run from 2pm to 5pm, with a second event planned for Belfast the following week.

The symposia forms part of a wider Mental Health Arts NI Mindset Festival, with various events taking place over the course of the week in the north.

They feature keynote speakers from people involved in the arts, mental health, wellbeing, voluntary, community sector, and education.

Organisers said: “We are indebted to the Mayor of Derry City & Strabane District Council and Mayor of Belfast City Council for their support.

"The symposia will provide challenging and enlightening presentations, forums for dialogue and creative exchange, challenge stigma, and celebrate the power of creativity, self-expression and the arts upon our mental health and wellbeing. Our symposia provide insights that deal compassionately and intelligently with the stigma associated with talking about our mental health."

Speakers for the Derry Symposium at Nerve Centre on May 8 include Mental Health Arts NI co-chairs Noelle Mc Alinden and Damien Coyle, Mayor of Derry City & Strabane District, Ruairí McHugh, Lorraine Calderwood, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ailish Toohey, Minding Creative Minds - An all Island Approach in supporting artists and creatives, Edel O Doherty from Developing Healthy Communities, and Bernard Mc Aneany, Mental Health Professional and Chair of AWARE NI.

There will be insights from artists and an interview with Professor Daisy Fancourt on research validating lived experience and the impact of the arts upon mental health and well-being, while others taking part include Eavan King at the Nerve Centre, Brendan O' Neill, Art Therapist NI Group of Art Therapists, Brónagh Corr Mc Nicholl , Artist and Arts & Health Care Professional.

Works by local creatives Justine Scoltock and Jonathan Burgess, Blue Eagle Productions will also be part of the event in Derry.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mayor McHugh said: “This festival has become a vital cornerstone of our cultural calendar, providing a brave and beautiful space for those with lived experience to share their stories through the power of the visual and performing arts. In a year where I have chosen to focus my own Mayoral office on mental health awareness and suicide prevention, I applaud MHANI for it’s tireless work in challenging stigma and advocating for compassionate policy change.

"I want to extend my best wishes to everyone attending the Symposium that is being organised to celebrate the resilience, creativity, and community spirit that exists across the North."

Other Derry events include a new exhibition at Eden Place Arts, Pilots Row. 'Belonging' by Gillian Wright explores care, compassion and community through painting, printmaking and ceramics and is described as ‘a quiet reflection on connection, support and healing’. It runs at the Rossville Street venue from May 11 to 22.

Studio 2 Arts in Derry meanwhile will be staging ‘Why Am I’ on May 12 at 10am providing an audience ‘to view two stanzas of a challenging mental health play and subsequently interact with the author’. The event is free.

You can register for the Derry symposium at Eventbrite.co.uk.