Held at QUT Gardens Point Theatre from 9–12 February 2022, the festival presented a diverse program of immersive experiences, workshops, conversations, performances and interactive technologies designed to encourage new ways of understanding and responding to mental health challenges. A central focus of the program was the role of arts-based experiences in helping people navigate anxiety, stress and trauma, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing social impacts.

Program highlights included Edge of the Present, the world’s first virtual reality environment designed for suicide prevention, and EmbodiMap, an innovative VR experience that enabled participants to explore emotions through a life-sized digital body map. The festival also featured Awkward Conversations, a series of open discussions led by artists with lived experience, and The Big Reach, a two-day program of workshops, performances and immersive media demonstrations. Through its combination of creative innovation, research and lived experience perspectives, The Big Anxiety Brisbane demonstrated the powerful contribution that arts and culture can make to mental health awareness, support and community wellbeing.