Anti-Stigma Arts Fund announces three new projects for 2025.

See Me is supporting three projects through its 2024-25 Anti-Stigma Arts Fund. 

See Me has announced the latest recipients of the Anti-Stigma Arts Fund, tackling mental health stigma through the arts and creative practice.

The Anti-Stigma Arts Fund provides grants of up to £5,000 to help organisations and groups deliver projects that tackle the issue of mental health stigma through art. 

Now in its fourth year, the fund will help create collaborative pieces shaped by participants to highlight different intersections of mental health stigma – and explain what needs to change. 

This year’s fund has focussed on projects connected to supporting people with experience of poverty, to highlight the overlap with mental health stigma. 

The following three projects were chosen from 70 applications. 

Meet the newest recipients... 

Sharpen Her: The African Women’s Network (SHAWN) and Open Aye 

The Sharpen Her network supports African women, addressing barriers to participation in society and building capacity. As part of the project, Sharpen Her will partner with Open Aye, a social enterprise. It provides expertise in participatory photo projects, particularly for under-served communities. 

Members of the network will analyse and document lived experiences of mental health stigma and intersectional discrimination as part of a photography project. Many of the women in the Sharpen Her network have migrant or refugee backgrounds, and have experience of trauma, discrimination, mental health issues, poverty and racism. 

Becky Duncan, director of Open Aye, said: “Open Aye is delighted to be working alongside Sharpen Her - the African Woman's Network, on this participatory photo project, which will engage a team to consider how intersectionality, mental health stigma and discrimination are experienced in Scotland today. 

“By using creative methodologies, we can share ideas, potential solutions, coping strategies and still have space for self-care and wellbeing practices. The team will determine the direction and outcomes of the project, but we are certain it will involve many insightful images and words.”  

Angie Mwafulirwa, chair at Sharpen Her, said: “Sharpen Her is really excited to have been offered the opportunity to work with Open Aye on this project that will make a difference in the mental health of African women using photography as a means of analysis and expression.” 

Mindwaves 

Mindwaves is a peer-led charity created for members to share positive stories about mental health.  

Mindwaves’ project is a series of podcasts that will explore the experience of living with mental health problems and poverty, and the way these experiences are stigmatised. It will be led by an editorial board made up of Mindwaves volunteers who will plan, record, edit and publish a podcast series that centres lived experience, tackling stigma and discrimination. This will include creative inputs, such as songs and poems.   

The production of the podcast will offer participants a positive and creative way to engage with an issue that has consistently affected their lives and offer a wider audience new perspectives on mental health, poverty and stigma. 

Maureen Gilmour, Mindwaves chairperson, said: “I am thrilled that Mindwaves has been awarded the Anti-Stigma Arts Fund and grateful that we have such a valuable opportunity to work in partnership with the See Me. 

“This podcasting project will allow us to engage with existing and new participants through digital and creative activities, supporting them to make an impact through sharing their own stories and lived experience. We are excited about the social and cultural benefits for those who take part, as well as the potential for their outputs to influence wider dialogue and decision-making. We can't wait to get started.” 

The Simon Community  

The Simon Community provide information, advice, care support, accommodation and homes to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. 

Through its We See You project, The Simon Community will run a weekly art therapy group for 12 weeks, followed by a weekly peer-led community art group.  

The group will be a space to explore the intersection between mental health stigma and the experiences of poverty-related stigma. There will be a focus on the experiences of people who use substances and the stigma that exists in society and mental health services. 

Lily Tate, coordinator at We See You, said: “We are incredibly excited and grateful to See Me for supporting our upcoming art project. As an organisation supporting people experiencing homelessness, Simon Community sees firsthand the impact of stigma and the intersection this has with mental health.  

“This funding will allow us to use creativity as a powerful tool to challenge social misconceptions and foster meaningful connections in a safe space. We look forward to working alongside our community to create something reflective and transformative” 

Additional arts funding news... 

See Me has also been able to fund a new piece of work with Govan Community Project. 

In March 2024, the Wellbeing Project was set up to provide trauma-informed and culturally responsive mental health support to members of the community. It also aims to improve collective mental health literacy and access to statutory services. The project centres the voices of people with lived experience of the asylum system and the impacts of forced migration on mental health and wellbeing.   

Alongside their established one-to-one support service, Govan Community Project will conduct three creative workshops open to all community members over the course of three months.  

The workshops will explore mental health stigma and discrimination, experiences accessing mental health support and understanding how mental health professionals can offer genuinely culturally responsive, person-centred care. 

Keep an eye on our Arts Fund page for future updates on these projects.