Communtiy News | Adelaide
FESTIVAL OF NOW Celebrating Mental Health & Wellbeing in South Australia
By: Daljeet Bakshi
A
delaide is known as City of Festivals. The Festival of Now is a major event in Adelaide, held during South Australia’s Mental Health Awareness Month (October). It is a celebration of mental health, creativity and inclusiveness that challenges stigma and promotes community connection. The Festival of Now is run by a committee of members from NGOs under the Mental Health Coalition of SA (MHCSA). It was originally designed to cater mostly for the Mental Health sector: consumers, carers and mental health workers.
selected the event theme “Celebrating Our Stories” as key to building empathy. “Celebrating Our Stories” reflects Festival of Now’s commitment to showcasing the creativity and contributions of artists with lived experience. Attractions at the festival include live music and performance, free food, arts and crafts, games, animals, face painting, a chill-out zone, mental health and wellbeing information stalls and more. All artists who take to the main stage, and those who facilitate creative workshops or peer sharing circles, have a lived experience of mental illness. Also, there will be other activi-
This year it’s happening at Wauwi (Light Square) on October 8th. Though the festival is on, there would be safe plans for the COVID management and as per the directions of the authorities.
Every year the Festival of Now runs a Poster Art Prize, where members of the community with lived experience of mental illness submit their work to the committee. In 2020 our winner was Tabitha Lean, a local Aboriginal writer, artist and activist who responded to the theme “A Place Where Everyone Belongs”. The Festival of Now is a positive event that not only brings all facets of the sector together but provides an opportunity for collaboration and cross-promotion, broadening the understanding of mental health in the community.
In 2021, the Festival of Now committee has Download Our App
ties at multicultural hub that will include dance workshops by Fusion Beats and Malwai Bhangra Academy.
SEPTEMBER I 2021
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