What we do
We see a future where the performing arts and its people flourish
The Arts Wellbeing Collective is a community of practice. This means we collaborate with our members, subject matter experts, and clinical psychologists to co-design prevention-focused mental health initiatives to help people stay well and thrive in the performing arts.
The Arts Wellbeing Collective aims to:
- Increase mental health literacy by building knowledge and skills in individuals
- Create mentally healthy workplaces by developing organisational capacity for psychosocial safety
- Embed systems-level changes by working with leaders, funders and peak bodies to remove sector-wide issues and pressures
- Shift the narrative by sharing stories of best practice to create an optimistic shared vision of the future
The performing arts comes with its own particular pressures and challenges. More and more, there’s great information available to help support people’s mental health and wellbeing in general. For those of us in the performing arts, it’s the specifics where things can get tricky.
For example, getting good quality sleep is a protective factor for positive mental health and wellbeing, but what if you always work nights? Or if you’re on tour? Sometimes, it can be hard to see how advice applies in our context.
Working out the ‘how’ is where the Arts Wellbeing Collective has a role to play.
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What does the Arts Wellbeing Collective do?
Our work is evidence-based. Everything we do is informed by contemporary research into workplace mental health and organisational development, as well as extensive sector knowledge and experience.
As a community we:
Think deeply about how and why we do the things we do
Look honestly at psychosocial risks experienced by people in the performing arts
Work together to actively design out risk, reduce, or mitigate risks
Share what we learn with each other to shape our shared future
AWC resources, programs and services are created to identify and address the root causes of stress, rather than just the symptoms.
We aim to support and enable transformative change at all levels of the industry: from individuals, to organisations, and for the sector as a whole.
The Arts Wellbeing Collective provides:
- Sector-wide services, such as the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline
- Representation and advocacy for mental health and wellbeing on key working groups
- Consultative services for performing arts organisations, including support for improving workplace cultures and practices, and embedding mentally healthy practices
- Co-design workshops, which seek to deeply understand the needs of a specific group
- Stand-alone workshops, which deliver repeatable training such as Mental Health First Aid​
- Digital resources including video, audio recordings and podcasts
- Print resources including guides, posters, booklets, and flyers, which are also available in digital formats​
