Paul Murphy looks at how MadforArts engaged with a 'hard-to-reach' audience and discovers some valuable lessons were learned.

MadforArts is a web and TV project produced by the Community Channel aimed at encouraging people with mental health issues to talk about the public art that inspires them. To maximise the involvement of the target group, MadforArts partnered with two mental health charities, Mental Health Media and Rethink, as well as appointing an advisory panel made up of 12 people with mental health issues involved in the arts.

Similarly, more than half of the team on the project themselves had experience of mental distress. The project had more than 5,000 active participants in its forums, 2,500 user-created online art studios and 25,000 unique web users a month, along with 1.5 million television viewers per series on Channel Five and another 500,000 on the Community Channel.

The project hired a PR manager who had been head of communications at one of the leading mental health charities and targeted the mental health press, the arts press, the national press and websites. This resulted in comprehensive coverage across these areas. Famous artists and art lovers were asked to respond to their favourite piece of art, and this was used as a hook to get coverage in the mainstream newspapers. Conscious that internet access was likely to be limited for participants on disability allowance or not working, the MadforArts team ran 20 events at national arts centres specifically to include as wide a number of people as possible. This directly complemented the TV programmes that were made with the collaboration of their users and shown on Channel Five and the Community Channel, the lead partner for the project.

Dos and Don'ts

• Do get the users' involvement from the start. The mental health world is intensely political, and anything seen as top-down by a 'professional' is often viewed with great scepticism.
• Do make it as grassroots as possible. Hire people with mental health issues, answer questions and accept that you can't please everyone - have a very good complaints system.
• Don't patronise. People with mental health issues are probably among the most marginalised people in society. Why should they be grateful that you've created this project for them? Also, mental health problems can affect anyone, and therefore there isn't one common identity, so don't stereotype.
• Do pay people if you would normally do so. Don't expect people to do things for free simply because they've got a mental health issue.
• Do use the right language. Language is power when you have a mental health issue. For example, the label of schizophrenia is stuck on you. Don't say people have a 'mental disability', or 'mental illness' or 'mental problem'. Stick to 'mental health issues' or 'experience of mental distress'.
• Do accept that views about your project will be polarised. Some people will actively hate your project if it is funded or otherwise associated with a government department or commercial companies where they have had a negative experience with the products or services, particularly if they believe it is related to the perceived cause of their social exclusion. Also, some people may love your project and want to control it for their personal needs to the exclusion of a wider audience.
  

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