Visual Arts Nova Scotia releases the Artists In Mind: Report on Artists’ Mental Health and Wellbeing in Nova Scotia – a research initiative examining the mental health experiences of artists of multiple disciplines (including visual and media arts, craft, theatre, music, dance, writing, circus, and others) living within the province of Nova Scotia. 

With funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage, and Support for Culture, this report outlines the challenges affecting artists’ mental health and how these challenges impact their wellbeing and livelihoods. This report underscores the need for expanded accessible mental health services that support a diverse range of experiences and needs, as well as greater financial support to stabilize the cultural sector at large in Nova Scotia. 

The report includes details on the current state of mental health in the cultural sector, the risk factors, and the support artists require to survive and thrive. Details from our survey findings and qualitative interviews with artists engaged in the mental health systems demonstrate the precarity and exhaustion artists are currently facing. 

Recommendations to address systemic mental health gaps for artists in Nova Scotia are detailed in the report and include:

• Artists’ Mental Health Navigation & Referral Service
• Funding for Individual Artists to Access Mental Health Services, Supports, and Resources
• Funding for Organizations & Groups to Develop Mental Health Related Programming for Artists
• Support  Artists & Arts Organizations in the Shape of Opportunities
• Increased Recognition & Acknowledgement for Arts & Cultural Workers in Nova Scotia

“Countless artists have left creative professions during the pandemic because of a lack of support for the cultural sector at large, not just at an individual level. If we want to see a more inclusive and diverse arts sector in Nova Scotia, we must recognize how having or not having privilege affects one’s ability to continue to work as an artist here.”

 – Former VANS Executive Director, Benny Welter-Nolan on the A.I.M. report findings. 

Additionally, this research included a survey of mental health services for artists available nationally. Details of these programs and services have been included as a resource to consider for future program initiatives for local organizations and government agencies to undertake. 

The author of this report is Eryn Foster, an interdisciplinary artist, educator and independent arts worker based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.