Out of Sight Out of Mind Launch Speeches 2025
Tuesday 21 October 2025, Summerhall, Edinburgh
1. Pam van de Brug: Arts As Advocacy Manager, CAPS Independent Advocacy
2. Jean J.Ye: Exhibitor & Planning Group Member
3. Monique van Aalst: Exhibitor & Volunteer, speaking on behalf of Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick
4. Gail Aldam: Arts and Events Manager, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Mental Health Foundation
5. Aitor Moncho Tudanca: Exhibitor & Planning Group Member
6. Donna Lawrie: On behalf of a MECOPP Gypsy/Traveller Project
7. Lauren Stonebanks: Exhibitor, Planning Group Member & Founding Member of Out of Sight Out of Mind
Pam van de Brug: Arts As Advocacy Manager, CAPS Independent Advocacy
Hello and welcome to the 13th Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition.
My name is Pam. Out of Sight Out of Mind is a CAPS Independent Advocacy project, and that’s who I work for as the Arts as Advocacy manager.
Congratulations to everyone here tonight for the part you have played in making this all happen. Making artwork, supporting someone, planning the exhibition, making sure we have the funds so that 2025 can happen and any other part you might have played.
Over the next 30 minutes or so, we have 6 speakers. I wanted to say a few things first.
In this room, there are 91 canvases which are part of the Comfort and Disturb installation, this room alone shows the diversity of the exhibition.
The posters on either end of the room share some of what has been said in past years, when asked ‘what does Out of Sight Out of Mind mean to you?’ We would love to hear, this year, more than ever, what it means to you. Because it’s been a tough year for many community mental health services in Edinburgh with funding cuts, including Out of Sight Out of Mind.
This exhibition can remind us why Collective Advocacy is important. People need different ways to have their voices heard, especially where there are power imbalances. It’s important that people can shape their own spaces and services. To have spaces where everyone is welcome, equal and valid. To have community. To have space for emotions, thoughts and conversations, where things can happen and lives can be changed.
Out of Sight Out of Mind is all of that and more, because of you, and because of us.
I am going to pass you to Jean, now. Then rest of the speakers will come up, one after the other, and introduce themselves.
Jean J.Ye: Exhibitor & Planning Group Member
We would like to thank the following …
Firstly, all 395 exhibitors who are showing their work
Staff in the participating 19 groups
All others, who supported exhibitors to take part
The 12 members of the Planning Group
Many volunteers who have joined or will join in the next few weeks
The invaluable install team - Gordon, Gregor and Calum
Particularly, Steph and Louise the Exhibition Assistants
Michael Dawson for designing the poster, for the 13th time, quite remarkable
Equally photographer Chris Scott
The team at Summerhall Arts
The staff team at CAPS Independent Advocacy
The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival team
Thrive Edinburgh
Finally, thanks to everyone here for coming together tonight
Let’s give them all a round of applause. Thank you
Monique van Aalst: Exhibitor & Volunteer
I am here to read a message from Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick. Linda has been a supporter and a champion of Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition since it began. I should also say, my name is Monique. This is my 8th year as an exhibitor and my 7th year as an invigilator. This is the 13th Out of Sight Out of Mind, unlucky for some, but I live at number 13 so not unlucky for me. Anyway, I digress.
These are Lindas words I am going to read out loud to you:
“In the increasingly polarized world we live in, with the fear, anxiety and blatant disregard for Human Rights it's never been more urgent and important that events like OOSOOM happen.”
This part I really agree with wholeheartedly…
“The arts are the medium by which we can express opposition, solidarity, build community and connections and Out of Sight Out of Mind is a shining beacon of this.
Everyone involved in Out of Sight Out of Mind should be really proud of what you continue to achieve in the face of adversity and short-sighted decisions which will reverberate for years.
I hope this year is as successful as ever and you continue to grow and thrive.”
Gail Aldam: Arts and Events Manager, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Mental Health Foundation
Hello everyone, I’m so pleased to be here this evening to help launch the 13th Out of Sight Out of Mind. It is great to see so many of you out to support the exhibition, it always gets a great crowd.
I’m Gail, Arts and Events Manager at the Mental Health Foundation and we lead the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
This is one of my favourite events in the festival calendar each year, and one that we’ve proudly supported since it started back in 2013. I can’t think of another event in our programme that so effectively captures the complexity and diversity of the mental health experience. The sheer scale of the exhibition, with hundreds of artworks from artists sharing their own lived experiences, and the range of perspectives, mediums and stories shared is what makes it so powerful, and I want to thank all the artists involved for sharing their work.
The festival theme this year is Comfort & Disturb and it feels like it’s a theme that is particularly relevant to this exhibition. There is work that uplifts, inspires and comforts and also work that challenges, disrupts or disturbs, and often those two sides exist in one piece at the same time, or can lean one way or the other depending on the audience. Art is often most effective when it is comforting and disturbing at the same time.
The theme of Comfort and Disturb references the famous Cesar A Cruz quote about art as activism, the idea that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. It is a simple expression of the power of art both to challenge and to console, often having a transformative effect on people and societies. Once again this year, it was a theme that was suggested and championed by Lauren Stonebanks, a key member of our SMHAF regional coordinator group and of the Out of Sight, Out of Mind planning group. It is a theme that has been incredibly well received this year and as the festival gets underway, we are really excited to see the different ways in is interpreted throughout the programme and especially at this exhibition. I’ve only had chance to have a quick look at the exhibition so far and look forward to a more in depth browse after the launch.
I want to also mention that despite tonight being a celebration, we know it has been a difficult lead up to the exhibition this year, with a cut to vital funding for next year which impacts its future. The sense of community and collective that Out of Sight Out of Mind promotes is so important to us as a festival and I know how much it means to those involved – we hope that everyone is doing okay.
One Out of Sight, Out of Mind planning group member put it beautifully when they said “I keep looking for solace but how do I find it when so much of what once brought me comfort can now only disturb?”. We are committed as a festival team to working with CAPS to make sure that such an important event is able to continue this amazing work.
So, thanks to everyone who has come along tonight to support the exhibition. Please do browse the rest of the festival programme too, the festival officially opened yesterday on 20th October and runs to 9th November this year, although many exhibitions and touring events will run a little bit longer than that. The programme takes place across Scotland and covers everything from film, theatre, visual arts, music, workshops and community events.
A final thanks to Pam and the entire team behind Out of Sight Out of Mind and all of the incredible artists involved – 400 this year. The time and work that has gone in to pulling this all together is always so impressive, and I always really appreciate what goes into curating the different spaces here at Summerhall. So, thank you everyone and I hope all enjoy the exhibition when you get to see it.
Aitor Moncho Tudanca: Exhibitor & Planning Group Member
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between,
I welcome you to the launch of the ‘out of sight out of mind’ 13th exhibition. My name is Aitor and I am here to speak from my experience as an exhibitor invited by the fabulous planning group.
When I first joined this exhibition last year, I started to come to terms with my late diagnosis as an autistic individual while, at the same time, I was second guessing the path of my art career. I was unsure if what I had to say would resonate with someone, if there was a public out there willing to listen.
In this exhibition, I soon felt seen; I was not the only one with those fears. Seeing my artwork on the walls of Summerhall ignited a feeling inside of me, one I’m not used to feeling - I was proud of what I accomplished.
It was not just having my artwork on display; it was being surrounded by such an amazing group of artists and creative individuals that helped build the confidence I needed to appreciate who I am and what impact my art can have on others.
I realized that the art world doesn’t have to be competitive, or expensive; it can be built by community, by support and by care.
This is very important in a career where submissions fees are heavily costed, where commissions can take up half of the price of your work. In a world where AI is preferred by companies instead of artists…
The way “Out of Sight Out of Mind” works, is by inviting everyone who wants to be involved, in, developing skills that are almost impossible to receive in other places, building confidence, a platform to amplify voices and eventually creating a whole community.
This is crucial when in different medias mental health and disabilities get trivialized, where in other parts of the world the louder voices are from non-experts and without personal experiences.
With the theme of this year, Comfort and Disturb, we are saying together. Here we are, and we are going nowhere.
I think the last thing for me to say is, Thank You for showing up, for supporting directly or indirectly with this exhibition, from exhibitors to family, friends and carers. This exhibition will not be what it is without your input.
Now please welcome Donna who will speak on behalf of MECOPP Gypsy Traveller Carers Project.
Donna Lawrie, Family Mental Health Development Worker & Team Lead, MECOPP Gypsy/Traveller Project
Donna, speaking on behalf of group member X…
Hi. My name is X and I am one of the artists involved in Out of Sight Out of Mind, through MECOPP’s Gypsy/Traveller project.
This is the 6th year I have been involved. But I know that MECOPP have been involved since the very first Out of Sight Out of Mind.
When Donna first asked me to get involved, I said no because I’m not an artist! I didn’t have any confidence in myself to do it. But, after a bit of persuasion, I and others in the group, agreed we would do something.
We met as a group every week, we had some lunch and we did some work on our art piece. Every week we felt a bit more sure about what we were doing – but we still kept saying ‘we aren’t artists’!
We use our experiences as Gypsy/Travellers to influence the art that we make. This includes talking about the prejudice and discrimination that we face on a daily basis, and the effect that this has on our mental health and wellbeing.
I felt really proud when we finished, and our art went off to Summerhall to be part of this exhibition. None of us had been to Summerhall before so we really didn’t know what to expect.
When we came to see it, we walked into Summerhall and straight away I realised we were part of something big. I think I had thought it would be some art around a community centre building or something like that, I hadn’t realised this would be an actual proper exhibition. We walked around each room looking for our artwork – and when I saw it I almost burst with pride! We made something that was part of an exhibition which would be seen by thousands of people. It told our story, a story that would never have been heard otherwise. And as we walked around Summerhall we saw lots of other’s stories being told – really important stories that needed to be told and needed to be heard.
I had my photo taken beside the art, I sent it to everyone I know on WhatsApp, I posted it on my Facebook – I was so proud! Not just for me, but for all of us, we were all part of this.
We had spent so many sessions together talking about the art – and also talking about the meaning of what we were making and talking about our feelings and our experiences. It was a chance to share with each other – and I don’t think we would have done this without Out of Sight Out of Mind.
When the next year came around, and Donna asked again if we wanted to be involved – this time we did say YES because we are ARTISTS!
I don’t think you can understand the importance of Out of Sight Out of Mind unless you have been part of it.
So, from all of us in the Gypsy/Traveller group, thank you to everyone who makes this possible.
Lauren Stonebanks: Exhibitor, Planning Group Member & a Founding Member of Out of Sight Out of Mind
When Donna from MECOPP read out X's words it almost reduced me to tears. But I had to try to keep it together as I was speaking next. It was a beautiful reminder of why we do this. I can get so invested in curating and installing Out of Sight Out of Mind over the past two weeks that that's all that exists in my head. I'm so focused on the doing that the why goes out the window. And then when someone like X talks about the effect all our work had on them, I suddenly remember the why and it hits hard. This is so important to so many people for so many reasons.
Sorry Pam for going off script, I should get back to my actual speech…
This has been a year of disturbing extremes and isn’t even over yet! And I’m regretting my involvement in selecting Comfort and Disturb as this year’s SMHAF theme is starting to feel like a curse as so many things that once brought me comfort now disturb me. That includes the cuts that, throughout this year, have threatened almost all of CAPS’ Collective Advocacy projects. Myself and many other volunteers campaigned alongside CAPS staff to save as many as we could.
While we’ve temporarily saved some of the projects this could be the last ever Out of Sight Out of Mind as it, along with the LGBTQIA+ and Minority Ethnic groups lost their funding from the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board.
We fought so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter.
Except that’s not true. It does matter. This exhibition, with all the other CA groups, is incredibly important. It’s a lifeline, giving us seldom heard marginalised minorities not just a voice but a space to grow, develop skills, and find community at our own pace without any pressure or fear of reprisals if we need to take a step back. But most importantly it provides a platform for us to express ourselves in whatever way suits us best. Paint, sculpture, music or your old front door to call out the DWP’s callousness. (That’s a long story for another time!)
I’ve gained so much from this exhibition; new skills, confidence, self-esteem, self worth, and a feeling of achievement which I thought was impossible. I’ve even volunteered to give speeches! It’s saved my life and given me something to look forward to, something to live for. It’s the most social I am all year! I’ve made so many friends and call our planning group my found family. And I’m just one of many people who have benefitted.
All of this could soon be gone and I’m not okay with it. But it’s not all doom and gloom as here we are at the launch of the 13th Out of Sight Out of Mind. We continue to fight these unjust cuts to protect the other groups at risk and we’re actively looking for new funding opportunities. That’s where you come in. We need your voices. We need you to tell us what Out of Sight Out of Mind means to you and what will be lost without it. At either end of this room there’s pens and paper for you to tell us and any potential future funders why all this is so important.
There’s just one little thing I have to say before I tell you to please enjoy the exhibition and then come back here and write from the heart.
Throughout all of this CAPS staff have been amazing and supportive despite the stress they’ve been under. In the weeks before the exhibition and during install, it’s all hands-on deck and headless chickens is a pretty good description of us in the days before the launch. This year we’ve had to handle that as well as contend with the fallout from the ongoing fight for our continued existence. That’s enough to drive anyone mad! Hmm, it’s a good thing we’re all already mad! Anyways, back to the point.
Pam, despite the incredibly challenging circumstances of funding cuts and our tendency to derail every single planning meeting and curation discussion you’ve kept it and us mostly on track whilst ensuring the exhibits won’t all fall down. Come rain or shine you’ve always found the time to check in with us and make sure we’re okay. You’re our chaos coordinator or, as one member of our team put it, a connoisseur of chaos. So, on behalf of the planning group let me be the one to say thank you for everything.
[Note on the Lauren’s speech above: Feel free to ignore the Five Star song title laden Pam bit. The Five Star stuff is an OOSOOM planning group ‘in joke’ as a shared love of them was discovered between Pam and Alan. I had to visit Wikipedia to get all those song titles!]