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London Irish festival promoting mental health and wellbeing returns for a second year
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London Irish festival promoting mental health and wellbeing returns for a second year

A NEW festival founded by an Irish charity in London returns to the capital next month.

Shout London - The Ashford Place Mental Health Film & Arts Festival, which made a successful debut in 2022, returns to two Irish venues in north London next month where it will showcase its 2023 offering.

It will take place on Tuesday, October 10 and Wednesday, October 11 - to coincide with World Mental Health Day, with a series of events due to take place at The Kiln Cinema in Kilburn High Road on day one and The Crown Hotel in Cricklewood on day two.

The theme of this year’s Festival will be neurodiversity, the organisers have confirmed.

Danny Maher, CEO of the Ashford Place charity, who has worked closely with Carey Fitzgerald in developing Shout London, told the Irish Post of their ongoing plans for the Festival.

“We are realising our long-term plan of building Shout London into one of the most diverse cultural annual events in the calendar,” he said.

“By engaging with communities, the festival celebrates the artistic expression of people with experience of mental health issues, exploring the relationship between creativity and the mind, while promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.’”

Shout London Festival founder Carey Fitzgerald

Ms Fitzgerald added: “One of the biggest compliments from last year’s Shout London was when members of the audience asked us how many years the festival had been running - that was the biggest compliment for year one.

“Combining the subject of mental health with expression through the arts made total sense as everyone was so comfortable in discussing their experiences,” she added.

As with last year, Shout London will once again collaborate with mental health campaigner Jon Salmon and his What’s Going On In Your Head? performance group for 2023.

The organisation describes its mission as “to explore the secret inner workings of the mind through live performance and discussion”.

Ticketed, but free to attend, Shout London 2023 is being curated by Silver Mountain Productions, who, along with The Kiln, JJD Consultancy, i2i Media and The Crown London, act as sponsors for the Festival.

The full programme for Shout London 2023 is due to be announced, with tickets being available here from September 10.