Hip Hop helping mental health sufferers through self expression.

We are Avant a forward thinking theatre company from the South Wales Valleys. We are working with our community and artists who suffer with mental health, finding a way to express and deal with mental health related issues.

The work we are doing is linking with Cardiff University, we are creating research papers to feedback to the Cwm Taf Health Board to to investigate if art (dance, drama, spoken word, music, etc), can aid sufferers and help them deal with living with mental health day to day.

We held pre-R&D sharings of ideas and met with existing audiences to discuss ideas, thoughts and potential concerns about discussing an emotive topic. Many feel that the piece is needed, that conversation around mental health should be encouraged.

We took a group of volunteers to the The Glamorgan Archives to research the mental health provision of the past in this area, we believe that researching the past allows us to discover new ideas for the future.

The money will go towards bringing artists to the rehearsal room to create work which helps them express their experience of mental health. It will fund workshops with the community which will paint the picture of mental health policies in the Cwm Taf area currently. The work will produce music for the dancers to dance to and ideas for dance and poetry which will help increase conversation and help shape mental health provision for the future.