The Creative Madness in Song project is run by charity Song in the City with The Maudsley Charity, part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The awareness-raising drive involves composers working with texts written by people with experience of conditions such as schizophrenia and depression; the songs are performed by classically-trained singers and pianists.
Young composers and people with experience of mental illness have collaborated to produce songs that include compelling descriptions of being sectioned and frank accounts of life with mental illness. There are two two free public concerts in London this week, tomorrow at St Mary’s Church, near Lewisham Hospital, and Wednesday 25 March at Guy’s Chapel, Guy’s Hospital.
The concerts are in partnership with Breathe Arts Health Research, a social enterprise that develops artistic projects in healthcare.
My full piece on the innovative programme can be read here on the social care pages of the Guardian.