Gearing up for a brand new Love Arts Festival 2014  

Love Arts Festival, a project of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is entering into its 4^th year and is the first of its kind to be organised by an NHS Trust in England.

Ahead of this year’s Festival, Arts & Minds’ Development Manager Linda Boyles tells TSOTArts what to expect this October…

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Since October 2011 Arts & Minds has run Love Arts Festival every year throughout October. The festival has been a great vehicle to showcase the great arts and mental health work going on around Leeds. Its simple aim is to get people thinking and talking about mental health and to engage the public in challenging stigma and discrimination.

We believe the Arts are a fantastic vehicle to explore these complex issues as well as an important medium for participation and inclusion for people affected by mental health difficulties.

Up until now however, the festival has not provided the right forum to debate issues such as how to evaluate current practice; and how to embed mental health and well-being into the cultural life of Leeds.  We have therefore decided to give our 2014 programme this focus, and deliver it in a conference style format with related festival style events.

 

 

Our 2014 programme will have the usual eclectic mix of events, exhibitions and performances; some of which we have organised ourselves, some commissioned by others, many already planned and which we are supporting because they fit with the aims of our festival. This year we are having less events, but adding in a sprinkle of love arts conversations that we’d love the public to take part in.  Your thoughts that we will harvest from these conversations will steer the 2015 festival.

As ever, we could not do what we do without the support and enthusiasm of partners across the city, and we are very grateful to them all. We would also like to thank our sponsors, without whom this festival would not be possible – in these cash-strapped times we rely on them to provide the funding to make it happen. We hope you find at least one thing in the programme which appeals to you and that it helps you think about mental health in fresh and new ways.

Earmark October 21st and 22nd in your shiny 2014 diaries, and keep an eye on our website for programme updates!

www.loveartsleeds.co.uk