Alas, a brief blog posting this week as the highs and lows of life consume your blogger, like a ravenous dog.
I’ve not read this report yet, so am not advocating it, but I share it in the hope it may provoke some interest.
Quantifying the value of arts & culture Researchers believe they have hit on a robust way of quantifying how much people’s lives are improved by arts and culture. They hope their techniques will help arts organisations to better demonstrate their value and policymakers to make better decisions, leading to a more efficient use of resources in the sector. In a new report, researchers from the Cultural Value Project outline how a monetary value can be attributed to the work of cultural institutions. “We no longer need rely on just implicit judgements on the social value of culture,” said researcher Hasan Bakhshi. “Our study shows that, despite the many challenges, economic valuation techniques that are commonly used in areas like environmental policy, like willingness to pay and subjective wellbeing, can be applied successfully to cultural institutions.”
The report considers the ‘contingent’ and ‘wellbeing’ valuation methods – both of which are endorsed by HM Treasury’s Green Book on cost-benefit analysis – as well as a hybrid approach. The researchers concluded that the contingent and hybrid methods worked well, but that the wellbeing approach does not yield meaningful results in the test circumstances. While they admit there are “valid questions” about whether monetary values should be applied to cultural activities, doing so, they say, will increase the chances of culture being considered by policymakers when making economic decisions. Click on the Golden Egg for more. (Source: Arts Professional)
Finbar 247 was let loose in University Hospital Galway to mark Mental Health Week with positive messages. Click on the image below for more.
6 paintings of patients alongside the unlikely ingredients of their modern medicines. Kitty Knowles reports on the work of Lucy Burscough as part of Manchester Science Festival. Read her article in The Memo by clicking on the image below.
UnLtd Launches Refugee Response Programme UnLtd, the charity for social entrepreneurs, has announced a new £100,000 fund to tackle the emerging challenges faced by local authorities, churches, mosques and charities as the UK agrees to take in 20,000 displaced people fleeing conflict. UnLtd is offering one to one support and up to £5,000 cash to UK based social entrepreneurs or refugees with asylum status or humanitarian protection status, who wish to establish a venture, or develop a new service at their existing venture, to meet the long-term needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. This can include: Organising and managing accommodation for those who need it Whether in private homes or unused spaces Collecting, restore and distribute clothing and furniture Interpretation and English language learning opportunities Organising meaningful voluntary experiences that can help integrate people; etc. Read more at:https://unltd.org.uk/2015/09/16/social-entrepreneurs-wanted-to-help-refugees-build-new-lives-in-britain/
City Health Care Partnership Foundation Small Grants Programme The City Health Care Partnership Foundation has announced that the next deadline for its small grant programme is the 1st December 2015. The programme provides grants or donations of up to £1,000 to local voluntary and community organisations, schools and/or other not-for-profit organisations to carry out activities, projects or one-off events that contribute towards the health and wellbeing of people throughout the UK. To be eligible, groups and organisations needs to have been in existence for at least one year, have an annual income of less than £30,000 and work for the benefit of the local community in which CHCP CIC operates. http://chcpfoundation.chcpcic.org.uk/pages/small-grants
This week news came in that Art for Health Cornwall and Isles of Scilly has closed. A missive from its management committee, that under the current fiscal climate, (or words of that sort) it was no longer a viable concern. But hand’t it been growing in vision and reach over these last years? Its director Jayne Howard is one of the real leaders in the field, it’s programme of activities constantly high, it’s profile rich and nuanced. One of the first of its sort in the UK, before the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing existed, before the North West Arts and Health Network, or indeed, before even the South West Arts and Health Network - Arts for Health Cornwall had sub-regional reach and a real identity, it’s network stretching across the sectors. So what’s changed? With only the statement of the committee to work on, I guess it is the shifting priorities of its funders and the NHS and Council are moving their meagre resources elsewhere. Let’s hope it’s not short-termism and that their efficiency savings aren’t ploughed into some quick-hit headline-grabbing nonsense, to appease the propagators of austerity in Whitehall.
Cultural change requires long-term commitment. Ill thought-through cost-cutting exercises, reduce health and social care to the reactive and functional. Is this a deficit of imagination on the part of commissioners?
The Art of Good Health & Wellbeing Recently I took time out to see, The Father, by Florian Zeller at the Wyndham Theatre, which runs until 21st November. I’ve been writing a book chapter over the last few months and needed to immerse myself in something that electrifies the soul. This play is that rare kind of thing. If there’s the slightest chance you’re in London over the next month, and you have an interest in memory loss - go and see it. It’s not depressing, it is, just a little disquieting*. I shan’t give you a spoiler - but it’ll certainly help inform my new work which tries to understand what we mean by cultural value in relationship to the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of intrinsic/instrumental value. So I’ll be testing some of these ideas on a poor unsuspecting audience at the 7th Annual, Art of Good Health and Wellbeing International Arts and Health Conference in Sydney in November. “...all the time, the Buzzing” will, (I hope) marshal some of my thinking around applied theatre and our dizzying journey from the cradle, to the grave. This years conference explores our mental health and resilience through the arts and has Errol Francis, Head of Arts and Mental Health and Festival Director at the Mental Health Foundation, sharing work around The Anxiety Festival.Get the full details of this years International Conference by clicking HERE. “The Father is one of those plays that makes your brain hum with the unique potential of theatre” - The Independent
Dementia & Imagination updates For all the latest on our research project and news on the Green Man Festival,2020+ and more by clicking HERE.
This week Arts for Health’s very own Dr. Langley Brown has flown to China to share his work and developments that are happening in the UK with colleagues at Tongji Design Week, at the forum: Inclusive Design, Health, and Wellbeing. I hope its going brilliantly Lang and thanks for the photograph.
Small Things: Part-time project manager Small Things Dance Collective have received ACE funding to further develop their ‘ground-breaking’ work at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Over the last 9 years they have developed artist-led movement, dance, performance and research across acute hospital wards. Their current programme of work will include participatory performance devised for the new innovative Alder Hey in the Park and the development of a Small Things dance and health App. We are seeking an experienced part-time project manager/administrator to support the development of this project and the organisation. Fee: Between £120-£160/day (dependant on experience) up to 40 days/per year
Please send expressions of interest by 30th October, to include relevant experience and any questions. Expect to hear from us by the 6th November if we are to take your application further.
CRITICAL THINKING: ART IN PRISONS From Monday 26 October / 6pm - 9pm / FACT MediaLab / 6 week course
This course, written and delivered by Hannah Hull, is aimed at artists and arts practitioners who are working - or would like to work - in prisons (at any point in their career). It seamlessly combines practice and theory, and will leave you with a critically informed and viable prison arts proposal under your belt… plus a series of critical tools that will positively affect your broader art practice. More details HERE.
*Though unfortunately for me, not as disquieting as my neighbour in the theatre, who had purchased a cardboard box of maltesers from the bar and slowly began inflicting upon me, my own personal torture. This morbidly fixated muncher noisily scuffled about in the box, placing each delicate chocolate orb in their moistened chops - making the pleasure last exactly 90 minutes. The sound of their greedy trotters in the box was bad enough, but the saliva-inducing suction of each and every chocolate gobbet, seemed amplified in the hushed silence of the auditorium. Alongside their stifled yawns, this was a truly repellent and monstrous experience. Why do theatres encourage their patrons to guzzle crap through performances? (I know the answer) Cinema’s are bad enough, but in the theatre? They’ve banned smoking, so why not eating - or at least if they’re offering customers something to fill their faces with, why not an appetite suppressant? Hey-Ho. .
Last Wednesday the 7th October, I welcomed 120 people to the latest North West Arts and Health Networkevent in collaboration with the Manchester School of Art, Arts & Health Research Network. As guests from around the region and further afield arrived, the dulcet sounds of Caretakerand An Empty Bliss Beyond this World lulled us into feelings of great expectations for the day ahead, its hypnotic, repetitive and fractured melodies, setting the scene for the planned breakaways around dementia and the arts and mental health and the arts.
The day began with a short section of an interview I'd made with Mike White from the Centre for Medical Humanities, and who died earlier this year. In part, this was a gentle homage to the man, but it also helped set the tone and themes for the day. I’d asked Mike - what was the value of gathering people from different communities and cultures together on occasions like this. This is what he replied.
I spent a little time extending this idea of our shared interests, and our common ground and posited the notion - like all those movements that had deep roots in Manchester from Suffrage to the Kinder Trespass, by way of the Arts and Health movement - that we are in fact - a Social Movement. Embracing something of the feeling in the air generated by the groundswell of grassroots support and active action around the Labour Party leadership elections, I shared a reading of the Recoverist Manifesto, which (I hope) illustrated perfectly, the synergy between the arts - and people who may be disconnected to arts/culture - and proactive change. The leap from passively accepting the stigma, labels and demonisation propagated by the media - from benign recovery - to passionate Recoverism.
Most of our regional events spend time in deep discussion, but this event was different, afterall, we had guests from Japan, Finland and our first speakers from Lithuania who shared their stories of empowerment through the arts, illustrated beautifully through their work with people with physical and intellectual differences. Whilst arts/health is a new phenomena in Lithuania, Ieva and Simona shared their expanding research and practice in dementia care and mental health. Their work in understanding the impact of cultural interventions on the wellbeing and health of clinical staff, is breaking new ground.
From Helsinki in Finland, Kirsi Lajunen of the Arts Promotion Centre shared the findings of her counties long-term strategic work in arts and health development. Her work is best summarised by the belief that:‘Art questions, seeks and creates meanings. Art belongs to everyone. This is why we support artistic expression.’
From Osaka, Japan the artist, Yutaka Moriguchi and 11 colleagues from design, medical and cultural sectors shared activity and research currently taking place in their country. Largely focused in clinical settings, this work, alongside that taking place in Finland and Lithuania gave all of us present a strong feeling of affinity and camaraderie. We are not alone - our drive towards a more cultural engaged, fairer and more connected society is a shared one. There may be cultural nuances, but our vision and passion are shared and increasingly understood by policy makers. This would be something we returned to later in the day.
At this point, I have to say a huge thanks to all of you who made our visitors so, so welcome on their visits to your place of work. You made their time here rich and incredibly rewarding. Thank you. Following lunch, the day split into two loosely themed areas around our mental health and wellbeing and dementia. This was planned in simple response to those of you who wanted to share your practice and research. Thank you Tom Macan, Miriam Avery, Alison Bowry, Sheila Gleadhill, Rachel Radford, Sarah Greaves, Carol Hanson, Jeni McConnell, Sarah Lawton, Stacey Coughlin, Kathryn West, Tom Jefferies, Kate Bevan, Luz Loguercio, Helen Felcey and Kat Taylor. These breakaways were enthusiastically received and really make events like this. Superb and thank you again.
So, our last period of time together, was probably the most important part of the day. The conversation. The starting point was simple - we’d developed our Manifesto for Arts & Health- we’d revisited again in February at Chaos & Comfort and now - considering our feelings of solidarity - it seemed right to begin to go a little deeper.
...and low - it came to pass, that Greater Manchester began to consider how this arts and health movement might connect more explicitly to public health within the devolution agenda that is taking place across its 10 districts. If ever there was a time to consider our place within this emerging work, now seems the time. I’d had a strategic conversation with people involved in the process and wanted to explore these ideas and possibilities with those activists on the ground in research and practice.
“...if we had the opportunity to influence cultural change in a public health agenda across Greater Manchester as part of devolution, what would our offer be?”
So, grouped around tables, we shared ideas and threw some thoughts into the pot. Here’s a little of what we discussed. A key critical issue would be that to integrate the arts and culture more formally to the devolution and public health agenda, they would need to be understood in terms of existing and emerging priorities of public health across Greater Manchester. Linking the arts would need to be meaningful and well thought through, not a smoke screen for simply glossing over systemic issues, and avoiding the social determinants of health - or in the worst case, a cost-cutting exercise. It was suggested that the work needs to be about investing in the arts and not‘volunteerism’.
Whilst biennial style festivals and celebratory events were seen by some as potentially positive vehicles for promoting health, efficacy of impact beyond the feel-good factor has to be thought through. Perhaps multi-site festivals across GM taking place in GP’s, libraries, schools, hospitals, voluntary sector and cultural venues/institutions.
The work should be about increasing the visibility of the arts and their potency, and communicating cultural value. A discussion about evidence and research ensued. Do we really want to understand the impact of the arts on public health in the language of scientism and reductionism? How can we understand cultural value through rich mixed methodologies? We should encourage input and comment on the government’s consultation on its new White Paper; The Places Challenge. We also note that Public Health England includes the arts within it’s new publication to tackle health inequalities. Click HERE for more details.
Key factors around the education and training of health and social care professionals emerged across the majority of participants tables, as did an emphasis on the use of community spaces with multiple uses and actors. This has been highlighted nationally by organisations like the Bromley by Bow Centre and BlueSCI and the reimagining of mainstream cultural organisations.
Loneliness emerged as a key health theme - not specifically confined to older, isolated people, but stretching across the generations. Perhaps this was an opportunity to explore some of the longer-term negative consequences of social media, as opposed to the much lauded positive consequences. Across all participants tables extensive notes were made on:
The everyday participation in the arts of people who feel excluded or distanced by them
The word INCLUSIVITY was repeated across all tables
That we should CONSULT with artists and through creative methodologies
We should gather EVIDENCE in all we do
The focus of much of our work is PROCESS over outcome
We should work with the LONG-TERM in mind moving beyond short term investment
We should think GENERATIONALLY about cultural change
We want TRANSPARENCY in cultural and health strategic planning
We want to SHARE the EVIDENCE and have it freely available
Health Visitors and Early Years Nurses are seen as POWERFUL ALLIES
EARLY YEARS and ARTS EDUCATION are critical
RESEARCH ARTISTS placed in community and clinical settings could bring new understanding to complex problems
We are an explicit SOCIAL MOVEMENT that could affect change in public health and social change across Greater Manchester
Questions that were left in the air include:
How do we share our research and practice with health professionals?
How can artists become (as appropriate) part of a multi-disciplinary team?
Where to now? Well, I’ll report back on that very soon...
For now, again, just big thanks to all of you who got involved and to all of you who made time to share your work with Ieva, Simona, Kirsi and Yutaka and all her colleagues from Japan. You made me very proud to be part of our North West Region!
CALL OUT FOR RESEARCH ON NURSES Are you aware of ongoing research and/or evaluation of arts based work with nurses and other clinical staff that aims to improve the wellbeing of staff and which isn’t focused on how they work creatively with patients? So all about the health and wellbeing of the workforce. I’d be really grateful of links to any projects, research or evaluation. Email HERE. Many thanks.
…and whilst we have nurses in mind, the brilliant PRN online magazine has a feature by the A&E nurse, David Flecknoe about his training as a Speciality Registrar in Public Health. Excellent and click on the image below to read it.
DCMS White Paper Consultation The Government has begun a consultation exercise in the run-up to the publication of a White Paper for the Arts. The Places Challenge invites the public to “share and discuss your ideas on how culture and heritage can shape vibrant healthy communities across the country”. Click HERE to register and comment. Whilst the government consults on the arts, another campaign has been launched to persuade MP’s to support public investment in the arts. The What Next? initiative, a campaign bringing together cultural leaders, includes an information pack available online with guidance on how to make a case for the arts. Supporters are also being asked to promote the campaign on social media. The move comes as the government prepares its comprehensive spending review in November, which is expected to mean a cut of up to 40% across most government departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Source: AI)
Arts as a resource for tackling health inequalities Public Health England has published a series of resources to help local authorities address health inequalities. The guidance and resources, which include a series of written and video stories to encourage local action on health inequalities, emphasise that the creative arts can “help individuals build and maintain social connections and can be beneficial for health and wellbeing.” Click HERE.
BIG NEWS from 42nd STREET
42nd Street, a Manchester-based mental health charity working with young people under stress, has today received £516,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) with further support from LandAid and the Redevco Foundation to enable the opening of its new venue, The Horsfall, in May 2016. The Horsfall builds on 42nd Street’s trusted and innovative approach to improving young people’s mental health. The programme will see national and international artists, makers and heritage experts, working with local young people to reinterpret stories from the past, their own stories and to imagine new futures. On Monday 3rd November at 4pm, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast Taking Art to the People a 30 minute documentary exploring the history of the Ancoats Art Museum and how 42nd Street is building on its legacy. The project will begin with the renovation and repurposing of an empty, Victorian shop into a three storey, dedicated creative space by Manchester based architects Stephenson STUDIO. The launch programme (2016-18) includes a site specific theatre experience, visual arts exhibitions, online collaborations between young people in the UK and Los Angeles and opportunities for young people to develop creative skills for a commercial market. Want to know more? Get in touch with Julie McCarthy; 42nd Street’s Creative Producer who will bring young people together with some of the best creative minds to reimagine how we engage with heritage and the arts. Contact JulieHERE.
Arts Development UK National Seminar: Arts, Health & Wellbeing
Venue: St David’s Hall, Cardiff Date: Tuesday 1st December 2015 This national seminar in Arts Development UK’s professional development programme is aimed at officers involved in both policy and practice related to arts, health and wellbeing commissioning and service provision. Our training needs survey and previous seminar feedback indicated that arts officers across both England and Wales who are engaged in and keen to learn more this area of work. It will also assist health professionals to learn more about the benefits of applying arts and cultural participation to improve health and wellbeing. Speakers include Alex Coulter and Clive Parkinson. Click HERE for details.
Granada Foundation Grants Programme (North West)
The Granada Foundation has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 12th November 2015. Through its grants programme, the Foundation wishes to encourage and promote the study, practice and appreciation of the fine arts, including drawing, architecture and landscape architecture, sculpture, literature, music, opera, drama, cinema, and the methods and means of their dissemination. The Foundation also welcomes applications which aim to engage and inspire young people and adults to take an interest in science. Click on the Granada logo above.
Funding for Digital Projects with a social impact
The Nominet Trust which provides funding and support to technology with a social benefit, has announced that its Social Tech Seed Investment Programme re-opened for applications on the 1st October 2015. Social Tech Seed is an investment programme that offers early-stage investment of between £15,000 and £50,000 to social entrepreneurs and charitable organisations who are looking to develop new ideas to use digital technology for social benefits. This programme provides funding and support to help entrepreneurs nurture, develop and test their ideas. The Trust is looking for applications that demonstrate the potential of technology to tackle some of the big social issues in sectors including wellbeing and healthcare. More details athttp://www.nominettrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/our-investment-programmes-0
As I welcome our international friends to the UK, all things are set for Wednesday 7th and 2020+ Arts, Society & Public Health. We are now making tickets available as last minute cancellations occur, so click HERE to be added to the first come, first serve list.
Please don’t be late for the day which begins at 10:30. As well as hearing from different cultures and their explorations of arts and health, we’ll share work from around the North West Region and further afield. If time permits, we’ll start to think about where we might like to be by 2020 as a movement, and begin to reimagine how we might get there.
It’s been lovely to take care of friends from Lithuania these last few days and a big thank you to all of you who have so kindly taken time out to share your practice and research. Next week sees more visits and trips as our final international guests from Finland and Japan arrive. So a big thanks in advance, to those of you who are going to meet, greet and host our colleagues and friends. A special thanks to the Tiltas Trust for enabling Ieva and Simona’s visit.
EVERYONE AN ARTIST?
A Symposium Investigating Connections between Culture, Society and Health & Wellbeing
I’m pleased to say that Arts for Health’s very own, Dr. Rebecca Gordon-Nessibit is one of the two keynote speakers at an event in Bexhill on October 30th. Sharing her evidence synthesis of arts participation and its longitudinal relationship to health, she’ll be sharing the platform with Baroness Kay Andrews, author of the Welsh Government report, “Culture and Poverty: Harnessing the power of the arts, culture and heritage to promote social justice in Wales.” To find out more about this event, click on the photograph below.
BBC Children in Need Main Grant Programme BBC Children in Need has announced that the next applications deadline for its Main Grants Programme is the 15th January 2016. 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 Are living in poverty or situations of deprivation. The Main grants programme is open to applications for grants of over £10,000.
