
Bedlam Festival
The BEDLAM Arts & Mental Health Festival aims to reduce stigma, and encourages honest discussions around mental health – all with some fantastic performances. Whatever your age or background, there’s something for everyone.
The Red Earth Collective is a main partner on the Bedlam Festival 2024 and will be delivering creative workshops for patients in some of Birmingham’s secure mental health settings.
We will also be providing training to artists to help them to deliver workshops and events in the community, in hospitals and in prisons to support the needs of people with lived experience of poor mental health.
Bedlam is an annual mental health arts festival produced by a partnership of creative and community partners across Birmingham including The Mental Health Trust, Sampad, The MAC and Birmingham REP.
The festival is funded through the Heart of England Inclusive Communities Fund and will include live music, theatre, dance and art at venues across Birmingham culminating in a celebratory event and performance at Birmingham REP in October.
The festival provides opportunities for Red Earth Collective to work with patients in secure settings. These are the people who are usually forgotten about when arts festivals are planned and our involvement means that they will not be ignored.
“The Bedlam Festival programme will enable us to expand our Creative Beginnings programme of workshops and performances, which is currently supporting men at Hillis Lodge. Through the festival we will also be working with women who are patients at Ardenleigh Hospital between August and October.
Staff and patients all tell us how much they enjoy being involved as gives them confidence to create and perform and to share stories about their own experiences. Patients have said this which makes them feel better about themselves which we hope will support their recovery.”
Red Earth’s Nick Schlittner



