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So - the October 7th date is creeping up on us and ideas are forming for what it might be. I’ll be asking for expressions of interest to share your practice, research and thinking over the next few weeks, but keep that date free. The room is booked and hey - who knows - I may even get some refreshments laid on! More will follow each week now.

This week I have been hunkered down in the Nertherlands and Dublin with recovery communities exploring what the Recoverist Manifesto means to them and how they might influence the way this work develops as part of their civil rights agenda. Thank you to the brilliant men of the Coolmine Therapeutic Community and to the free thinkers of Novadic Kentron - and of course Portraits of Recovery who through the Typecast project, made these workshops possible. Great that Ireland’s Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar opened the Dublin Typecast Exhibition, and you can read his speech here.

For any activists in recovery from substance misuse who’d like a free place at the UK Recovery Federation event in Manchester, get in touch. For anyone wanting to know more about Typecast and the 5 countries that have played a part in this work, there’s a free event in Stafford on 31st July. Find out more about it by clicking here.

Arts & Health Australia

The peak organisation for arts, health and wellbeing in Australasia - Arts and Health Australia - is organising 2 major calender events this year. Between the 25th and 27th August they are holding Celebrate Creative Aging Sydney at the Sydney Opera House with Anne Davis Basting headlining the event. Many of you in the North West will remember Anne giving her brilliant evening event here in Manchester in July 2012. Author of the seminal work on the arts and dementia - Forget Memory - Basting will share her recent research and practice. In November the 7th Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, International Arts and Health Conference will take place at the Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. A million miles from the North West perhaps, but this annual calender event for all things arts and health is always exhilarating and gives you the opportunity to meet diverse kindred spirits from the field from across the globe.



Funding to Widen Access to the Arts 

The Paul Hamlyn Fund has grants available for not-for-profit organisations, of any size, working anywhere in the UK, to test, implement and develop ambitious plans to widen access to and deepen participation in the arts. Priority will be given to projects working in areas of social and economic deprivation outside of London. Two types of grant are available to support work at different stages of development. The Access and participation ‘explore and test' grants provide funding for up to two years to help test new approaches or gather evidence for the first time about approaches that have been used before.

The deadline for application is 15th September 2015. The Access and participation ‘more and better' grants provide longer, larger grants to help increase the impact and effectiveness of work which has already shown promise or positive impact. The deadline for applications is 1st November 2015. Read more at

http://www.phf.org.uk/funds/access-and-participation-fund/

Funding for Projects that Promote Healthy Hearts

Heart Research UK has announced that its Health Hearts Grants Programme will re-open for applications in July 2015. Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Grants support innovative projects designed to promote heart health and to prevent or reduce the risks of heart disease in specific groups or communities. Grants of up to £5,000 and £10,000 are available to community groups, voluntary organisations and researchers who are spreading the healthy heart message. The closing date for applications will be the 31st August 2015. Read more by clicking on the lovely old tree above. 

PatchWork… 
...are running art sessions for individuals with long term mental health problems and people affected by bereavement, stress and or trauma. Sessions in Didsbury at the Nazarene College are shortly taking place, please click on the poster above for more details.

The Kiss and Other Movements
Late news communing in as I write the blog - two interesting articles in the paper today: one on Dementia and Art, the other on the fine art of kissing! Depending on your preference  click on either the William Utermohlen image above or the kiss below.

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