Loading ...Multicultural communities come together for a Multi-Ethnic Arts & Family Festival
Increasing Awareness of Mental Health and Reducing the Stigma of Mental Illness through the Arts
(Santa Ana) –The Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (MECCA) presents a Multi-Ethnic Arts & Family Festival – a mental health awareness event taking place on June 28 from 3 to 7 p.m. at El Muzeo located at 241 S Anaheim Blvd. in Anaheim.
This Festival is a culmination of community workshops and exhibits which took place over the past 3 months and were aimed at drawing out the stigma within multi-ethnic communities. The Festival will display works of art created by community members of different cultural backgrounds. The art exhibit will be accompanied by live international performances, multi-ethnic foods and an opportunity for the community, as a whole, to come together. All of the festival activities are provided at no cost.
During the months of March and April MECCA facilitated multiple Stigma Reduction Community Art Events for community members in order to draw out the stigma of mental illness through a variety of artistic and creative expressions congruent to each specific community’s language and culture. These workshops took place across Orange County and had participants from the Latino/a, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arab and Farsi communities. During the months of May and June each of MECCA’s member agencies hosted a month-long exhibit of the art work. These exhibits allowed communities to come together to explore and to discuss culture-specific stigma.
During one of the last workshops one of the participants said, “The stigma arts workshop was a very meaningful experience. I learned how precious and special I am. I enjoyed how the music therapy and abstract drawing helped me refresh my mind. The instructor made the activities very enjoyable and I learned how to express my feelings through the arts. It was nice to find new ways to be happy!”
This festival is funded by the Orange County Health Care Agency, Behavioral Health Services, Prevention and Intervention, Mental Health Services Act/Prop. 63.
To learn more, visit www.ocmecca.org.