This report follows the publication of “Creatively Minded”, an initial mapping study of participatory arts and mental health activity in the UK. The earlier report highlighted how few diverse-led organisations were specifically devoted to arts and health work and that ethnically diverse people were not well represented, either as service users or within the workforce of arts and health organisations.

This latest report includes a series of thought pieces from artists and practitioners, with professional and/or personal experience of the field, who share reflections on the challenges and barriers faced by service users, workers and arts organisations in the sector.

In 2020, after a ten-year focus on creative ageing, The Baring Foundation started a new programme on creativity with and by people living with mental health problems. This report was commissioned by the Baring Foundation in advance of a new focus on racial justice, including in its Arts programme which will seek to direct more funding towards increasing opportunities for people from ethnically diverse communities with mental health problems to engage in creative and cultural activity.

The Baring Foundation (2021). Creatively Minded and Ethnically Diverse: Increasing creative opportunities for people with mental health problems from ethnically diverse backgrounds. London: The Baring Foundation.