	{"id":171503,"date":"2025-10-03T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=171503"},"modified":"2025-10-03T20:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:07:07","slug":"creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Creativity and conversation drive mental health festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MENTAL health will be front and centre on the Surf Coast through the next week, as Art of the Minds&#8217; annual festival makes its return.<\/p>\n<p>The festival, which has been running since 2015, aims to spark connection and conversation, raise awareness and break the stigma of mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>The festival will kick off today (Friday, October 3) with an open mic poetry night at Great Ocean Road Gin in Torquay. At just $5 a ticket, the popular event is again expected to draw a big crowd, with everyone invited to take to the stage.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday (October 5), however, will mark the festival&#8217;s official launch, with the community set to gather at AAH Healing in Aireys Inlet for Art of the Minds&#8217; annual art exhibition.<\/p>\n<p>Spanning sculpture, mixed media and paintings, this year&#8217;s art show responds to the theme of &#8220;connection&#8221;, with each artwork created by someone impacted by mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s centrepiece event is the Big Boys Breakfast at Bunnings Torquay on October 10.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_171914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-171914\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-171914\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9909-Sarah-Molnar-Elizabeth-Riordan-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-171914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Art of the Minds president Sarah Molnar and vice-president Elizabeth Riordan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Free to the public for the first time, the event will feature a barbecue breakfast, barista-made coffee, live entertainment by Lachy Hurrel \u2013 last year&#8217;s winner of the Art of the Minds&#8217; songwriting contest \u2013 and a range of motivational speakers who will share stories about mental health, recovery and connection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to connect with younger tradies, and we knew that Bunnings had a great connection to those young men,&#8221; Art of the Minds president Sarah Molnar said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Anyone can register and come along on the day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The festival&#8217;s much-loved paddle out event, held in collaboration with therapeutic surfing charity Ocean Mind, will again take place on World Mental Health Day (October 10), while former Art of the Minds president Jules Haddock will host a laughing yoga session at the Salty Dog on October 9.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Adults don&#8217;t laugh enough,&#8221; Ms Molnar explained. &#8220;And the suggestion is that it is intrinsically linked to our mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we laugh more, it starts to release those endorphins, and apparently, it&#8217;s quite contagious.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_171915\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-171915\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-171915\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/B07K9889-Eli-FratantaroSarah-MolnarCoco-SantilliAdam-FratantaroAnthony-SantilliJules-HaddockDenise-BirchFelixSantilli-Elizabeth-Riordan-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-171915\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eli Fratantaro, Sarah Molnar, Coco Santilli, Adam Fratantaro, Anthony Santilli, Jules Haddock, Denise Birch, Felix Santilli and Elizabeth Riordan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even passers-by in previous years have walked past and started laughing themselves. It&#8217;s an interesting exercise and I implore everyone to try that one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s festival follows Art of the Minds&#8217; recent success at the Torquay Business Awards, where it was honoured with the Event of the Year award.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Molnar said it had &#8220;put some wind in [the team&#8217;s] sails&#8221;, leaving them eager to continue building on its success.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We realise that the secret sauce to our festival has been storytelling. If you share just one person&#8217;s story, it resonates more than spruiking facts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our hope is that it (the festival) will increase the empathy within the community around mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I implore everyone to come on down and experience these events. They&#8217;re free. We just want to find creative ways of connecting with our community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For more information, or to see the full program of events, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/artoftheminds.org.au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">artoftheminds.org.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MENTAL health will be front and centre on the Surf Coast through the next week, as Art of the Minds&#8217; annual festival makes its return. The festival, which has been running since 2015, aims to spark connection and conversation, raise awareness and break the stigma of mental illness. The festival will kick off today (Friday, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":171912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-171503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Creativity and conversation drive mental health festival - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Art of the Minds mental health festival returns to Surf Coast, using creativity and connection to spark awareness and fight stigma.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creativity and conversation drive mental health festival - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Art of the Minds mental health festival returns to Surf Coast, using creativity and connection to spark awareness and fight stigma.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T10:07:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-6.png?_t=1759486027\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellie Claringbold\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellie Claringbold\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ellie Claringbold\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32abddd83bad3e2425166905b3e3aaff\"},\"headline\":\"Creativity and conversation drive mental health festival\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T10:07:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-6.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/creativity-and-conversation-drive-mental-health-festival\\\/\",\"name\":\"Creativity and conversation drive mental health festival - 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With art, music, laughter and surf, the program invites the community to connect, share stories and break the stigma together. 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