Well-Founded

Well-founded, a new podcast from We Are Here Scotland explores spaces that nurture creativity, support mental health, and foster community for Black and Global Majority creatives

In this episode, host Ica speaks with Matthew Hickman (musician/artist-activist) and Loa Pour Mirza (therapist/facilitator) about the Creative Balance project, which researches wellbeing among Black and racialised creatives and cultural professionals in Scotland. They discuss how five years after 2020's promises of change, many artists still face systemic barriers, lack of representation in leadership, and the exhausting burden of being the only BPOC person in white creative spaces.

The conversation explores why community-led research matters, the project's choice of language like "wellbeing" over "mental health," and how Scotland's creative sector compares to other places.