Apply here: Applications now open for Anti-Stigma Arts Fund!

See Me is once again opening up applications for its Anti-Stigma Arts fund.

Organisations and groups across Scotland are being encouraged to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination through the arts. 

The Anti-Stigma Arts Fund – operated by See Me, Scotland’s programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination – is now open for the fourth year, accepting applications from organisations and constituted groups seeking funding for participatory creative projects. 

Research has shown that the arts can offer a powerful platform to share experiences and show what the reality is for people living with mental health problems. 

The first Anti-Stigma Arts Fund was launched in 2021, where See Me received applications from a range of organisations and individuals across Scotland. Its successful first year meant the programme was able to fund another round in 2022 and 2023 – and is now seeking its 2024-25 projects.

With help from the grant, a range of inspiring arts-based projects were produced.   

These include a film on the impact of stigma around male suicide, a spoken word showcase on the intersection between mental health and perceived gender, a public information comic created with young women who have experienced abuse and homelessness, and a live choir performance made up of female-identifying survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence. 

This year, for the 2024-25 fund, proposals are encouraged from organisations and constituted groups seeking funding for participatory creative projects.  

These should improve understanding of mental health stigma and discrimination or tackle mental health stigma and discrimination for – and with – communities or individuals experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation.  

Grants of between £500 to £5,000 will be awarded. 

The deadline to apply is midnight on Thursday 9 January. 

See Me is interested in funding projects that meaningfully engage with experiences and impacts of poverty and its intersections with mental health.  

They will prioritise projects which focus on understanding the experiences of racialised communities, people with experience of physical disability or people with experience of mental illness/severe and enduring mental health problems.

Projects focusing on the overlap of some or all of the mentioned are welcome.

Partnership working between organisations and creative practitioners is encouraged for these projects and you must be able to demonstrate in your application that you possess or can access the necessary skills to take the project forward. 

Projects must meaningfully involve people with lived experience of mental health problems and must be led by and/or engage with marginalised groups.

Interested and want to apply? Click the 'Apply here!' button at the top of the page.

Our guidance document provides more information if your project suits our fund. Click the guidance document button at the top of the page.

Need more information? Join an online session!