Category: news

Mad Culture on Substack!

June 6, 2026

We’re delighted to announce the launch of our new substack site: Mad Culture UK. It will feature a range of content including a director’s blog and regular news and updates from the Centre for Mad Culture UK. More importantly, it will serve as a platform for the mad voice, with an open invitation to our community to share stories, poetry, personal reflections as well as artwork, music and video content.

Here’s how it works. A free subscription will give you access to news and director’s blogs as well as occasional taster pieces from the community. Modest paid subscriptions will give you the full range of community content including videos and podcasts.

As a very small organisation run by volunteers, we unfortunately cannot afford to pay our contributors – however we will thank you for your submission with a gift subscription to full site access.

share your views: survey now open

January 26, 2026

Wherever you are in the world, and however you relate to madness –

we’d like to know what the Centre for Mad Culture UK can do for you.

We invite you to share your views with us in our stakeholders survey:

click here for the survey

It will take 5-10 minutes and there is the option to include your name for a prize draw £30 book voucher.

The survey closes on Monday 23 February.

*deadline extended* call for papers: conference in Glasgow

October 25, 2025
Figments: Madness, Health and Creativity
University of Glasgow
15 June 2026
An excess of the imagination? The source of unique insight? Mental illness? The price of creative genius? A disease of the brain? A rebellion against social norms? A part of being human? Refusing to obey strict definitions, experiences of madness problematise meaning itself. They demand to be expressed on their own terms and in many voices – through exercising the imagination, challenging the boundaries of language, and recognising unexpected opportunities for connection and empowerment. In this conference, we will explore what these stories of madness might sound like.
A collaboration between the Medical Humanities Research Centre at the University of Glasgow and the Centre for Mad Culture UK, this event will bring together academics, mental health and Mad Pride activists, and medical professionals to explore the role of creativity in experiencing and understanding madness from cultural, historical, social, medical, artistic and philosophical perspectives. We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers, panels of three papers, roundtables and other formats (please get in touch to discuss your ideas) on topics such as, but not limited to:
  • Creative representations of madness and their role in shaping attitudes and practices
  • The interpretation and appreciation of Mad art and literature
  • Re-imagining madness and care: the role of creativity in mental healthcare and Mad Pride activism
  • The construction of narratives about madness and illness / Narrative Psychiatry
Keynote: anna six (Professor of Medical Humanities, University of Warwick): ‘Abolishing Regulation: Creativity, Education, and the Youth Mental Health Crisis’
Submit your proposals by **Friday 9 January 2026** via the form: https://forms.office.com/e/igVs6UJuDF
Contact: Mila.Daskalova@glasgow.ac.uk
Registration fees to be announced. Discounts and fee waivers will be available, if needed.
You can also download the poster.

launch event: a huge success

October 25, 2025

Our launch exhibition proved to be a huge success! Our reception on the evening of 17 October included a full house, presentations by Julia Macintosh and Azra Khan, and a mini mad cabaret and karaoke singalong led by our very own Lizzy Packard accompanied by her special guest psychotropic prescription drugs. A brilliant time was had by all and we’re so grateful for the enthusiasm and support of everyone who attended. It was an evening to celebrate mad pride and mad perspectives!