Mind Matters: Stories That Heal
31 October – 2 November 2025 · Mango Peak, Freetown
The Inkundla Arts Festival 2025 took place from 31 October to 2 November 2025 in Freetown, themed Mind Matters – Stories That Heal. The festival explored mental health through lived experience, creativity, and storytelling, intentionally avoiding medicalised or prescriptive definitions. Artists and audiences were invited to share personal narratives in ways that felt safe, culturally grounded, and respectful.
Overview
The 2025 festival was shaped by ongoing conversations with artists and communities around emotional wellbeing, creative pressure, grief, resilience, and care. Rather than positioning mental health as something to be explained or diagnosed, the festival treated it as a shared human experience expressed through art.
The programme centred artists as knowledge holders and storytellers. Facilitation and language were guided by mental health practitioners to ensure sensitivity and to avoid harm, while maintaining a non-academic, non-hierarchical atmosphere. Across all events, emphasis was placed on listening, presence, and collective reflection.
Pre-Festival Kreative Workshops
The Kreative Workshops formed the foundation of the 2025 festival. A combined Foredugu and Lunsar workshop engaged twelve provincial artists, many of whom had limited access to formal creative platforms. The workshop focused on storytelling, songwriting, and performance, with mental health practitioners supporting a wellbeing-centred creative process. Artists were encouraged to draw from personal experiences and transform them into artistic work. Four original songs were created, and two artist groups were invited to participate in the Freetown festival programme.
A Freetown-based Kreative Workshop followed a similar structure, ensuring exchange and balance between provincial and capital-based artists and strengthening networks across regions.
In partnership with EducAid Sierra Leone, a Story Lab workshop was delivered with six students using the Echoes of Now format, focusing on expression, reflection, and emotional awareness. Five students went on to perform publicly during festival programming.
Festival Programme
Day 1 began with a school-based Story Lab in collaboration with EducAid Sierra Leone, followed by an evening Opening Night of poetry, music, and storytelling. The programme was co-hosted by S’phongo, Alice, and Isha, with a focus on grounding, gratitude, and shared presence. Performers were introduced with context highlighting their creative journeys and workshop participation.
Day 2 featured two facilitated conversations at Mango Peak: Wi Stodi Dem: Exploring Our Ancestral Stories and Care On & Off Stage: Boundaries, Triggers, Rest, Recovery, both facilitated by Mina Meetups and Nzerengo Tere. Between the sessions, an Open Sketch & Colour session invited participants to create freely. The day closed with the Rise & Riot Poetry Slam grand finale (15:00–17:00), followed by a Jabulani Music after-party.
Day 3 was intentionally designed as a family day. A Colour and Paint session invited children and caregivers into creative play. The festival concluded with a concert bringing together workshop artists, musicians, and collaborators in a celebratory closing that emphasised connection and collective achievement.
Artists and Participation
The festival prioritised the inclusion of provincial artists alongside Freetown-based creatives. Five artists from Lunsar and Foredugu and one artist from Kenema were supported with return transport and stipends to participate in the Freetown programme. Freetown-based artists were also programmed and paid for their participation. This approach ensured regional representation and reduced the economic barriers that often prevent provincial artists from accessing national platforms.
Partnerships and Collaboration
Safe Minds Haven Sierra Leone provided guidance on mental health language, framing, and facilitation, ensuring that discussions and workshops were handled with care and sensitivity. EducAid Sierra Leone partnered on the Story Lab programme, enabling meaningful engagement with young participants within an educational setting. Additional support was provided by Mango Peak as the primary venue partner, Atlantic Lumley Hotel through meals support, Rockville Sound System, band musicians, and independent facilitators. Much of this support was provided in kind, significantly reducing delivery costs.
Funding and Financial Context
Arts funding in Sierra Leone remains extremely limited, with no meaningful public funding for independent arts initiatives. The Inkundla Arts Festival 2025 was largely community-funded. A total of £1,600 was raised through GoFundMe, with approximately seventy-five percent of festival resources coming directly from community contributions, supplemented by in-kind support and limited event income. Funds were prioritised for artist fees, workshops, transport, meals, materials, recording sessions, sound, and modest team stipends.
Reflections and Learning
The 2025 Inkundla Arts Festival demonstrated the value of community-driven arts programming that centres wellbeing, care, and inclusion. Strong participation from provincial artists, young people, and first-time performers reinforced the importance of decentralised and accessible creative spaces. Key challenges included limited funding and the need to balance ambitious programming with available resources. These lessons will inform future editions and ongoing fundraising strategies.
The festival successfully delivered a three-day, multi-disciplinary arts programme rooted in community, care, and storytelling. Through workshops, performances, discussions, and creative play, it created space for artists and audiences to explore mental health in ways that were personal, cultural, and deeply human. Inkundla Spaces remains committed to building sustainable, inclusive arts platforms that prioritise people over prestige and community over profit.
Inkundla Spaces — creativity and community, in real life.
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