As South Africa marks Mental Health Awareness Month this October, the Cape Town International Kite Festival is preparing to turn the city's skies into a platform for a wider conversation about mental health.
Image by Sulize Terreblanche
The 32nd Cape Town International Kite Festival takes place at Youngsfield Military Base in Ottery on 24 and 25 October 2026, with this year's #ColourTheSky campaign using the festival's longstanding combination of creativity, community and spectacle to promote mental health awareness.
Organised in support of Cape Mental Health, the festival has evolved into more than an annual family entertainment event. It provides the organisation with a public platform to challenge stigma, encourage conversations about mental health and raise funds for its services across the Western Cape.
For Cape Mental Health, the timing is particularly relevant as Mental Health Awareness Month brings renewed attention to the scale of mental-health challenges in South Africa and the barriers that can prevent people from seeking support.
“Mental Health Awareness Month gives us an important opportunity to remind people that mental health is part of our everyday lives. It is not something we should only talk about when someone reaches a crisis point,” says Professor Ingrid Daniels, CEO of Cape Mental Health.
“The Kite Festival allows us to have these conversations in a supportive and inclusive environment. When people come together, when they talk, when they connect and when they understand that they are not alone, we begin to break down the stigma that prevents so many people from reaching out for help.”
Turning a festival into a platform for awareness
The festival's #ColourTheSky theme uses the visual spectacle of hundreds of kites filling the Cape Town sky as a metaphor for connection, individuality and hope.
The concept also gives the organisation an accessible way to engage audiences that may not necessarily interact with traditional mental-health awareness campaigns.
Rather than positioning mental health solely around crisis or illness, the festival creates an environment centred on participation, family, creativity and community.
“We want people to look up and see more than beautiful kites,” says Daniels. “We want them to see hope. We want them to remember that every person has a story, that struggles are not always visible, and that reaching out can make an enormous difference.”
The approach reflects a broader challenge around mental-health awareness: moving the conversation beyond statistics and into everyday interactions.
The scale behind the message
The need for greater awareness remains significant.
South Africa's South African Stress and Health study estimated that 16.5% of adults experienced a common mental disorder within a 12-month period, while approximately 30.3% experienced one during their lifetime.
Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that more than one billion people live with a mental-health condition.
Cape Mental Health says stigma, limited resources and other barriers continue to make it difficult for many people to access support.
Against that backdrop, the organisation uses the Kite Festival to connect awareness with tangible support. Ticket sales and donations contribute towards Cape Mental Health's work, which currently reaches more than 71,000 service users and family members through 22 mental-health intervention programmes.
The festival therefore operates on two levels: creating a public conversation around mental health while helping support the organisation's ongoing services.
From awareness to action
For Cape Mental Health, the objective of Mental Health Awareness Month is ultimately to encourage action beyond the campaign period.
That can include checking in on friends, family members and colleagues, listening without judgement, challenging stigma and encouraging people to seek professional support when needed.
The Kite Festival provides a high-profile setting for that message, using a familiar Cape Town event to create opportunities for connection across different ages and communities.
With its #ColourTheSky campaign, the organisation is also positioning mental-health awareness as something that belongs in everyday spaces — from homes and schools to workplaces and communities.
Artwork by Danielle Hitchcock.
The Cape Town International Kite Festival takes place on 24 and 25 October at Youngsfield Military Base, Ottery, with tickets available through Quicket.
After more than three decades, the festival continues to put kites into the Cape Town sky. This year, its organisers are asking audiences to look beyond the spectacle and consider the message behind it: that mental health deserves to be visible, discussed and supported.
