A small thing from the heart of midwinter - Larisa. A 20 minute documentary from film maker Elem Klimov dedicated toLarisa Shepitko.It is beautiful in so many ways and has at its core, a meditation on love and perhaps, how we might contribute to the world - our possibilities.
Almost the end of another year and a blog crammed with funding opportunities, PhD studentships and a significant exploration of the barriers to marginalised and disabled artists attempting to access mainstream arts opportunities.
If you celebrate christmas - have a lovely break - and I hope that 2016 is a good one for us all.
PhD Studentships
The University of Brighton is inviting applications for funded PhD studentship topics to commence in September 2016. Expressions of interest to work on topics related to drawing and embodied experience, drawing and wellbeing or drawing in health contexts are particularly welcomed. For an informal discussion on developing an application on any of these themes, please contact Dr Philippa Lyon, p.lyon@brighton.ac.uk, at the earliest opportunity. Closing deadline for final applications to University of Brighton is 22 January 2016. Deadline for TECHNE funding route is 7 February 2016.
Creative Future has just completed Arts Council funded research into the barriers marginalised and disabled artists face when accessing mainstream arts opportunities.
The Pink Ribbon Foundation has announced it is now accepting applications for its 2016 funding round and that the closing date will be the 27th May 2016. The Foundation is a grant making trust that provides financial support to UK charities which relieve the needs of people who are suffering from, or who have been affected by breast cancer or who work to advance the understanding of breast cancer, its early detection and treatment. Any charity working in the field of breast cancer can apply for a grant. Applications from general cancer charities must demonstrate that the grants requested will be applied to benefit those affected by breast cancer. Where applications relate to general services, details must be given of how many (and what proportion) of the total number benefiting from the charity's work are affected by breast cancer. Read more at:
The Wellcome Trust is inviting organisations and individuals to apply for funding through its Arts Awards. The Arts Awards support projects that engage the public with biomedical science through the arts.
Applications are invited for projects of up to £40,000 through their small grants programme, and for projects above £40,000 through their large grant programme. The aim of the awards is to support arts projects that reach new audiences which may not traditionally be interested in science and provide new ways of thinking about the social, cultural and ethical issues around contemporary science.
The next application deadline for small projects is the 4th March 2016. The deadline for large projects is the 17th February 2016. Read more at:
A new £17.5 million Catalyst: Evolve programme from the Arts Council launches on 14th January 2016. The fund will support projects that enhance the capacity of arts and cultural organisations to fundraise. Arts and cultural organisations can apply for grants of between £75,000 and £150,000 over three years. To apply applicants must be able to demonstrate an emerging track record in fundraising from at least one of the following - individuals; trusts and foundations; and businesses. It is expected that about 150 grants will be awarded. All activities funded by the programme must be completed by 31 August 2019. The deadline for applications is 19 February 2016. Read more at:
We all love a dancing pig or two, don’t we? This - the earliest footage I've seen - is from the first Edwardian arts & health showcase, and features a very well-dressed pig and it's provocative partner. Stunning.
OK, that was the porcine treat, now here's a grim reality - Lancashire County Council are reducing their cultural services across the county over the next few years. 40 out of 74 Libraries will be closing over the next 15 months, and 5 out of 10 museums will close in March 2016.
There will be an arts grants budget until March 2018, but after this there will be no arts funding.
It is a little ironic then, that the next news tidbit, is that Arts Council England is inviting applications through its Grants for the Arts Libraries Fund. The Fund is looking to support projects delivered by public libraries or library authorities working in partnership with artists and cultural organisations across all art forms to encourage communities to take part in artistic and cultural activities. Public libraries can apply for grants of £1,000 to £100,000 for activities lasting up to three years. The lead applicant must be a public library, public library authority, network of public library authorities, or organisation managing a public library authority. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis until 31 March 2018. Click on the Book of Lovebelow, for more - or - listen to the melancholic music instead.
'So long, and thanks for all the fish’!
...and so, a final farewell from Jayne Howard and Arts for Health Cornwall. Click on the hearts to read her lovely message.
Shared Ground Fund
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has launched a new programme that makes grants to not-for-profit organisations that work with young people, and/or work that seeks to influence relevant policy or practice in immigration. The "Shared Ground" programme will provide financial support for projects to test new approaches and explore ways of addressing new challenges. Applications must contribute to one or both aims of the Shared Ground Fund.
These are:
•"Living well together" - supporting work which helps communities experiencing high levels of migration become stronger and more connected
•"Staying safe" - ensuring that young migrants in greatest need can get help and support.
There are two kinds of grants available:
•Shared Ground ‘explore and test' grants - to help explore and test new approaches and ways of addressing new issues (awards will be for a maximum of £60,000, usually for up to two years).
•Shared Ground ‘more and better' grants - larger grants to help develop and embed more established activities (awards will be for between £100,000 and £400,000 for up to four years). Click on the bathroom mirror for details.
Here’s a painting by Albert Namatjira. I include it, as it marks a time and space in this blog’s history and future - and in the life of your blogger. A marker.
As I shared ‘…all the time, the buzzing’in Wales, all jet-lagged and bleary eyed, my thoughts turned to friends and colleagues and all the wheels that turn in our arts/health world. So much happens as we all beaver-on in our countries, towns, streets and individual minds.
A question from the floor in Cardiff - in essence - has this arts/health agenda got political teeth - momentum - a future? My response - if it’s ‘on trend’ it’s doomed to fail. If its commandeered by the opportunist middle managers, filling a ‘hole in the market’ - then it’s riddled with disease. But if it’s born on the streets, evolving, changing, proactive and responsive - driven by vision, born of a passion that things can be different - then it is rich and nuanced and will feed generations of people - equal humans who might not yet know, that cultural change is driven by them, and not those who simply dress up in the garb of leaders. This change is happening despite the bloated egos of those who position themselves as leaders of innovation. The people are the decision makers. We are a social movement and let’s remember that word which will not be excised from our lexicon - passion.
Superb to meet like-minded, free thinkers in Wales. Thank you.
Here’s a painting by Breughel - it’s been here before, and will be again - I include it, as it marks a time and space in this blog’s history and future - and in the life of your blogger. Deja vu.
Arts and Health Check Up, Check In...
...now open for bookings
Bookings are now being accepted for Arts and Health Check Up, Check In, the unique arts and health get-together planned by artsandhealth.ie, WHAT, Create and Dublin City Council’s The LAB. Taking place on 29 January 2016, this event aims to take the pulse of arts and health in Ireland and promote solidarity and connection among practitioners. Set against the backdrop of 1916 commemorations, Arts and Health Check Up, Check In will explore the notion of a shared manifesto for this field of practice.
Lloyds Bank Foundation Announces Next Funding Round
The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, which provides funding to charities for projects to help people break their cycle of disadvantage, has announced that its grants programmes will re-open for enquires on the 4th January 2016. The Foundations operates two funding programmes. These are:
"Invest" which is a flexible, long term core funding programme for charities helping disadvantaged people. Grants are up to £25,000 per year for between 2 and 6 years, with the opportunity for continuation funding for up to six years in total
"Enable" which is a smaller and shorter grants programme for charities that have identified clear development needs. This funding aims to help the organisations deliver their mission more effectively.
These grants are up to a total £15,000 for up to two years. The funding is available to registered charities and charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) with an income of between £25,000 and £1 million. To be eligible, organisations are expected to be working with people 17 years or older, experiencing multiple disadvantage at one of the critical points in their life. The only exceptions are young people who are under 17 years of age and young parents or looked after children and disabled young people moving into independent living.
The next deadline for applications is the 18th March 2016. Read more at:
Health Records is an exhibition of new work by artists Claire Tindale and Niki Colclough created in response to their experience delivering workshops on the Renal Unit at the Manchester Royal infirmary. The project was delivered in collaboration with CFCCA and Kidneys for Life
CFCCA's engagement programme works with artists to connect with individuals and communities, exploring themes such as cultural and social diversity as it supports UK audiences to better understand Chinese contemporary society through art. In Health Records the artists use practices developed through cultural exchange to respond to the personal identities and narratives of the patients on the Renal Unit.
*I was brought up with the war poets and all those moving elegiac stories from the trenches of the First World War. My diet of extremis now includes the work of Harold Pinter and his short poem, American Football, written during the Gulf War in 1991. It’s not just that its blistering, laser-guided, foul-mouthed lyricism - for me, never has a short poem provided such clarity to questions surrounding the justification of war. It’s worth bracing yourself before soaking up Michael Sheen’s rendition (although, the laughter grates on me) and if you want to dig deeper, read Michael Billington’sexcellent account of the media’s refusal to publish it on the grounds of it being indecent. Indecent? Now I hear the word ‘medieval’ used by our PM and we know ‘crusade’ will be just around the corner. I’m certainly not a ‘terrorist sympathiser’, but a deeply concerned human - who will now meditate on Pinter - and who feels a horror at what lies ahead.
After last weeks conference season frenzy in Sydney, (and my very moderate response to the good, the bad and the ugly) this week has seen a significant shift in pace and a visit to the Titjikala Community in the Northern Territory at the invitation of an extended family in the community - to whom - my deepest thanks. I very much look forward to our working together.
With plenty of time for ruminating on the excellent conference last week and my own work, I’ve had a the opportunity to refine and develop my ideas which I’ll be excited to share on Tuesday 1st December at the sold-out, Arts Development UK, National Seminar: Arts, Health & Wellbeing.
So - a brief posting this week from Alice Springs as I embark on the monstrously long journey home, and straight to Cardiff.
For those of you who’ve emailed, it may be later in the week before I get back to you, but in the meantime, here are 2 very interesting funding opportunities, both very relevant to our field of endeavour.
BBC Children in Need Main Grant Programme
BBC Children in Need has announced that the next applications deadline for its Main Grants Programme has been changed from the 15th to the 13th January 2016. Through the programme funding is available to organisations that work with young people who:
Are suffering from illness
Are in distress
Suffer abuse or neglect
Are disabled
Have behavioural or psychological difficulties
And / or are living in poverty or situations of deprivation.
The Main grants programme is open to applications for grants of over £10,000.
Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3XW7FvN20PD3xr2c1T62Xly/main-grants
Commonwealth Foundation
(UK/International)
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced that its grants programme will re-open for applications on the 1st December 2015. The Foundation provides grants of up to £30,000 per year for up to three years, to support projects that promote the inclusion of civil society in decision-making processes within Commonwealth countries, enabling citizens to exercise voice and vote, and engage in policy formation. To be eligible for funding, organisation's needs to be a registered Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and must be based is a Commonwealth Foundation member Country. Grant projects must focus on one or more of the following:
Strengthening the ability of CSOs to use creative expression for participatory governance
Enhancing the capacity of CSOs, networks and alliances to engage in participatory governance
Facilitating interaction and constructive engagement in governance
Building a culture of learning and knowledge sharing.
The closing date for applications will be the 5th January 2016. Read more at:
This week saw the 7th Annual Art of Good Health and Wellbeing International Arts and Health Conference at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. With a heady mix of research, policy and practice, the event brought together key figures from the field. This year proceedings were opened by former governor of New South Wales, Dame Marie Bashir who highlighted her personal commitment to the place of culture and the arts in a healthy society. Alongside the Vice Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, Professor Ian Jacobs, who stressed his institutions long-term commitment to developing arts and health research, Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner pledged the governments ongoing and proactive engagement with the field by announcing her establishment of a Ministerial Taskforce alongside conference convener Margret Meagher, to ‘ensure the benefits of the arts are shared system wide with patients, carers, staff and the wider community.’ Without doubt, this level of political commitment has happened thanks to the high level public advocacy of the Australian Centre for Arts and Health which consistently delivers events that broker new strategic alliances and very real working collaborations.
It’s always difficult to pick stand-out moments, both high and low,*(see below) from such a full conference, but my personal highlight was the joint presentation by Karin Diamond and Alison O’Conner from Re-Live, Life Story Theatre, in Wales. They exuded honesty and integrity and shared practice that was grounded in the day to day realities of people facing some of life's most difficult moments. Their presentation style was personable and compelling. I want more of this in the world please!! I found the research of Professor Jill Bennett riveting and the the expansive thinking of Errol Francis quite breathtaking. Then all those breakaways - too many to reflect on - although the work of Julie Collins around pre-natal care and the celebration of pregnant bellies in indigenous communities, was utterly absorbing.
I was pleased to share a new piece of work that conjoins the theatrical ‘avant guard’ alongside our developing understanding of cultural value and health impact, and offered a gentle inquiry into how we might gain deeper understanding of the arts, not necessarily through the language of medicine, but perhaps with something of the conviction of a theoretical physicist. I hope to be uploading a version of this presentation to youtube very soon.
Thanks to everyone who was free with their ideas, aspirations and friendship. Big congratulations too, to Anna Goulding, who justifiably won the award for Arts & Health Education & Research. Brilliant. Enduring thoughts too, of our friend Mike White.
Me Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...the inbox is bulging with news of arts/health evaluation frameworks here, arts/health conferences there. So, as ever, if you’re interested, here’s a link to a new framework and here's a link to what is being billed as the first national arts/health showcase! First eh? No, it’s not being laid on by UKIP silly, but by husband and wife team, Vivienne Parry and Tim Joss and with its focus on enterprise and social purpose, it's targeting ‘health decision makers’- does that mean the general public?
Garfield Weston Foundation
The Foundation funds a broad range of activities and organisations, however, details from their annual report indicate that projects came under the following categories: Arts, Community, Education, Welfare, Medical, Faith, Youth and Environment. Trustees are flexible on who funding can be used. Organisations need to demonstrate how the funds can make the most difference – either by funding core costs (not salaries); or funding a specific project. There are no formal deadlines for submitting applications. Applications and supporting documents must be sent by post and you should allow approximately 4 months for a final outcome; for details of application process click: http://www.garfieldweston.org/how-to-apply/
BBC Children in Need – Small Grants Programme
Not for profit organisations such as such schools; registered charities; voluntary organisations; churches; and community interest groups; etc. can apply for grants of up to £10,000 through the BBC Children in Need Small Grants programme. The grants are available for projects that:
Help children and young people experiencing illness, distress, abuse or neglect
* Less palatable was the impromptu hijacking of the stage by Emma O’Brien, who alongside the in-yer-face Andy Howitzer Howitt, delivered a passive-aggressive Abbott and Costello style 'impromptu' routine, focused on hand washing and choreography, which resulted in some clumsy audience manipulation (should that say participation? er, no, I'll stick with manipulation) and a high-production and ultra glossy filmed dance, but will it really change behaviour, other than persuading the likes of me, that confrontational audience participation, isn't the best way forward. There’ll doubtlessly be one or two who enjoyed being shouted at, as part of this pseudo flash mob, but for my part, aggressively selling your product this way felt like arts/health totalitarianism.
On Monday this last week, a group of Arts & Health activists came together at HOME to explore our work and vision as part of a social movement, that largely grew in Manchester, and that could influence thinking and action as health and social care devolution kicks in across Greater Manchester next year. It’s early days to feedback in great detail, but safe to say our North West Arts and Health Network is at the heart of this conversation – so hopefully, we’ll have another big event here at the Manchester School of Art early next year. For now, you can read a relatively short blog posting about it from me on METROPOLIS, and for those of you who want to know more about the pros and cons of devolution, you can read a Kings Fund paper, fresh off the press by clicking HERE.
This blog may look a little bleak over the next couple of weeks as I spend time with friends and colleagues in Australia as part of the 7th Annual Art of Good Health and Wellbeing International Arts and Health Conference organised by the as ever inspiring, Margret Meagher of Arts and Health Australia.This will be a corker and I’m thrilled to be opening up proceedings with a new paper called ‘…all the time, the buzzing.’ More of that soon enough, but why all the bleakness on the blog? I normally manage to keep it going if I’m away from my desk. Alas – a small-scale tragedy of the everyday, stole away the very heart of my laptop. The hard drive – that thing we dread - has crashed. Being a resilient sort, I assumed it would just need turning on and off a few times, or else giving a tap on the side. But no: all things must die. Its time had come. The last back up I made was in early October and all my work since then has perished - everything. This includes the 30 minute film that I’d planned to share in Australia and in the UK in December. At least I have a print-out of the words! So – back to the drawing board and either a power-point (good grief) or else a miracle of time/space on an AirBus A380!!!
Youth Music Grant Making Programmes
Youth Music, England's largest children's music charity, which provides funding for music-making projects, has announced a new application deadline for its grant making programme. Grants are available to fund developmental music-making projects for children and young people up in challenging circumstances as well as projects that support the development of the workforce, organisations and the wider sector. The new funding programme is made up of three separate funds:
Fund A offers small grants (up to £30,000) for high quality music-making projects
Fund B offers medium-sized grants (30,001 - £100,000 per year) for larger programmes of work
Fund C offers grants (of up to £180,000) for strategic programmes to help embed sustainable, inclusive music-making across a local area.The types of organisations that are eligible to apply include charities, not for profit organisations and schools. Schools will however have to justify how to activities to be funded do not duplicate Department of Education funding. The closing dates for applications to Fund A is 5pm on the 22nd January 2016. Fund B and Fund C are currently closed to applications. Read more at:
Grants to Help New, Innovative Visual Arts Projects
The Elephant Trust has announced that the next deadline for applications is the 18th January 2016. The Trust offers grants to artists and for new, innovative visual arts projects based in the UK. The Trust's aim is to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when confronted by lack of funds. The Trust supports projects that develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the fine arts. Priority is now being given to artists and small organisations and galleries who should submit well argued, imaginative proposals for making or producing new work or exhibitions. Arts Festivals are not supported.
The Wellcome Trust is inviting organisations and individuals to apply for funding through its Arts Awards. The Arts Awards support projects that engage the public with biomedical science through the arts. Applications are invited for projects of up to £40,000 through their small grants programme, and for projects above £40,000 through their large grant programme. The aim of the awards is to support arts projects that reach new audiences which may not traditionally be interested in science and provide new ways of thinking about the social, cultural and ethical issues around contemporary science. The next application deadline for small projects is the 27th November 2015. The deadline for large projects is the 17th February 2016. Read more at:http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Funding-schemes/arts-awards/index.htm
