Amid growing conversations around mental wellbeing in the arts, Stephanie Jenke, Managing Director of Munich’s Gasteig, reflects on the impact of the Mental Health Arts Festival at Gasteig HP8 – and why Munich’s cultural scene needs spaces like this.
Culture is good for you – this isn’t just the motto of Gasteig HP8, but a lived philosophy. For the third time, Gasteig has hosted the Mental Health Arts Festival – the only one of its kind in Germany. After two single-day editions, this year’s festival expanded to five days and attracted nearly
4,500 visitors.
With the Mental Health Arts Festival, Europe’s largest cultural centre creates a space where this conviction can be experienced first hand: art and culture not only as therapy, but also as an invitation to discover for yourself how profoundly they can support mental wellbeing.
The festival positions itself as a place for experimentation, togetherness and self-awareness – open to everyone, regardless of age, background or history. Mental health is an issue that affects everyone. The number of people with mental illnesses or disabilities is steadily increasing – especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Mental Health Arts Festival at Gasteig HP8 aims not only to raise awareness of this issue and break taboos but also to demonstrate ways in which you can take preventative and proactive steps to strengthen your own mental health.
Whether dance, music, theatre, LEGO building or creative writing, the festival offers activities where people can directly experience how artistic activity impacts their wellbeing. The diverse range of activities also invites participants to connect and find new ways to engage with themselves and others. In addition to participatory activities, discussion formats, readings and artistic contributions open up new perspectives on the topic of mental health. Issues such as stress, burnout, depression or loneliness – which often go unheard – become visible here.
The festival makes these topics tangible and fosters dialogue on an equal footing, based on openness, curiosity and mutual respect. Munich, with its vibrant, diverse, yet also performance-oriented urban structure, needs places like Gasteig HP8: open spaces where art is experienced as part of everyday life – not elitist, but accessible, approachable and playful. Places where loneliness transforms into community, and where new networks and audiences are emerging.
The realisation of such a festival is only possible with strong partners – in this case, particularly the support of the Beisheim Foundation, which is also deeply committed to strengthening the link between culture and health.
Stephanie Jenke is the Managing Director of Gasteig München GmbH in Munich, a long-time ISPA member organization.
