Platform 2 was the final event of Conversation for Change, a year long public art project about mental health. In January 2015 a Creative Team of people embarked on a mission to generate as many conversations on the topic of mental health, in as many everyday places and situations in the community of Edinburgh as they could. Throughout the year they spoke to over a thousand people and visited many places, including The Meadows, Edinburgh Central Mosque, Hidden Door Arts Festival, a church coffee morning, Scottish Parliament, Radio Ramadan, the streets of Edinburgh, a telephone box and a few more. You might call their work artistic interventions, experiments or interruptions to your day. Conversations involved over 1000 people throughout the year.

A film of the final intervention Platform 2 is available on the website. Publications sharing the story of the project and guidelines to enable people to create their own 'Conversations for Change intervention' are also available. 

This work won Creative Edinburgh’s Social Award in 2015. In 2016 an exhibition showing the project as a whole went on a tour around Scotland. The Creative Team reformed for a one off online event during the COVID-19 pandemic and asked, 'Is mental health a difficult topic for everyday conversation in 2021?'.

Full Work: www.conversationsforchange.scot

Creative Team: Sandra Ramsay, Kate Wylie, Elspeth Morrison, George Roy, Janet Tennant, Jenny Pewsey, Jamal Tarafdar, Keshav Bhatnagar, Shirley-Anne Collie and Maxime Ragni.

Lead Artist: Pam van de Brug

Platform 2 Film: Paul Diffley

Event Manager: Emily Danby

Technical Team: Cameron Presentations

Conversations for Change Scotland Tour: Emmie McKay