For its tenth year running, the First Fortnight Mental Health Art and Culture Festival returns in January 2021.
The main aim of the festival is to challenge mental health stigma and to create a place where people can talk openly about the difficulties they have faced with mental health.
The festival will kick off on January 2nd with over 70 events taking place over the course of the month. This time around the festival will be a little different, with most of the events taking place online, but that won't stop the show from going on.
Poet Stephen James Smith, comedian and RTÉ star Alison Spittle, best-selling author and comedian Colm O’Regan, and musician and writer Jess Kavanagh are among those involved in the festival.
This year the festival will focus upon the loneliness, isolation and community relatable experiences to many of us during these challenging times.
First Fortnight Programme co-ordinator, Edel Doran says: "2020 has been a year when we have been told to lock ourselves away from other people; to not see our friends and family and in some cases to isolate. There has of course been reason for this but the effect has left us lonely, isolated and vulnerable.
"This is something many people experience when they have a mental health difficulty they feel they can’t share. They feel powerless. When we challenge mental health stigma, we help create a society that is there to help and to listen to mental health discussion."
Some of the festival’s events will include: The Therapy Sessions, a popular gathering of poets and musicians, unmissable panel discussions led by RTE’s Jim Carroll (Banter) and journalist Nadine O’Regan (The Art of Anxiety).
For more information on First Fortnight Mental Health Art & Culture Festival 2021, visit here.
