The Movie Monday Archives: Chronicling Twenty-Six Years of Showing Films in a Psychiatric Hospital Theatre

A teaching theatre in a local psychiatric hospital was transformed into an ex-patient's Theatre of Dreams for over two decades as he hosted weekly events that welcomed patients from the wards, ex-patients and the general public to become an audience together. Movie Monday was a unique and innovative free weekly media arts programme that would become a valued community-arts programme that brought people together to be entertained while simultaneously addressing some of the society's most pressing and often divisive issues. The project ended when COVID locked down the hospital theatre. Now, the Movie Monday Archives are available to anyone online through Madness Canada. The Archives are a repository for the weekly programmes as well as special events such as the Reel Madness Film Festivals, and writings, photos, financial and programme details, and more. The Movie Monday Archives preserve this history of a local consumer-based initiative that engaged the arts to address mental health stigma and provide practical information of a potential model to build future initiatives elsewhere.