We know creativity aids mental health: from the music that lifts mood, through to structured art, music and movement therapies: creativity is essential part of our wellbeing.
Young people know this best. Recent Oxford University research showed young people aged 17-24 benefited significantly from engaging with art and culture – even when they were experiencing poor mental health in lockdown.
A quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems are waiting for help as the NHS struggles to manage surging case loads. Against a background of increasing child mental health crisis, it’s vital we don’t lose sight of those who provide a lifeline for our young: the creatives who provide the emotional outlet for all of us when we’re in crisis.
From Mercury prize winner Little Simz sharing publicly how depression affected her ability to tour, through to Ed Sheeran sharing experience of suicidal thoughts – creatives are breaking the code of silence about their own mental health wellbeing.
Creatives face unique pressures on their mental health. In no other job are you expected to offer your identity for public consumption, accept personal criticism as routine, remaining endlessly positive in case the next interaction lands you your next job.
This is compounded by the creative sector’s “show must go on” mentality: the stories are legion, where performers push through physical and emotional barriers to ensure their audiences have the best experience – irrespective of what’s happening once the curtain closes.
And the precarity for those trying to get their big break – low wages, opaque audition processes, the loud subtext of being “only as good as your last job” – has long forced performers to keep smiling and hide their struggles.
These pressures extend to those young creatives coming of age in these post-pandemic years marked by social isolation and economic crisis.
My eldest child died by suicide just before Christmas 2021, aged 20. Harvey was a talented musician: a singer, flautist, accomplished organist, pianist and oboist. They were breezing through their music degree, seeing live music and going clubbing with the same passionate intensity that led them to master several instruments to professional standard.
Harvey was also queer, non-binary, mixed race, and on the autism spectrum. Any one of those aspects of their identity might make the world a tricky place to negotiate. Mental health difficulties are more common in autistic young people compared to the general population.
And while, as I always told Harvey, the magical stuff of creativity comes from those who interrogate the norm - what’s also true is that experience of marginalisation also brings with it additional burdens that can become an intolerable weight. The ability to experience the world through such different lenses can make for powerful creativity, and has fuelled artists forever – but articulating this difference through creativity often comes at great cost.
Arts organisations need government funding, as well as wider public understanding and support for culture’s part in making healthy adults. Funding for mental health training in culture is vital: putting in place access to mental health care in spaces where creative communities come together, but also, crucially, giving creatives the tools to create, manage and hold dialogues about mental health wellbeing.
Creativity is a vital part of our self-discovery and, with the right investment, has the potential to save lives.
Amanda Parker is a trustee of the Harvey Parker Trust.
Love In Mind, The Harvey Parker Trust launch concert with Mark Rylance and Chineke! Orchestra will be held at the Southbank Centre on 30 April.
Tickets are available from Southbank Centre, tickets for the afterparty are available here.
