Thursday 14 December 2023
Wednesday 2 August 2023
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye...
On the surface of it, I left the university because (yawn) I was diagnosed with a nasty cancer, and who wants to work full-time in an institution when their life has been limited by ill health!? So it was ill health that provided the opportunity to extract myself and focus on what’s important in life. The thing is, I still have a rollicking passion for getting stuck-in to all things cultural, and particularly, with the more political and critical side of this arts/health world, albeit tinged with a different kind of hue - a knowing and creative impulse, that internal and external forces have brought, and will bring about.
For many years I ran what I described as the North West Arts, Health & Social Change Network, to which this blog was a way of communicating far and wide. We had countless events, which more often than not, I facilitated in Manchester, and we got together and did things with passion and spirit and with a real sense of northern identity. I really do miss those collective moments. Similarly in 2017, alongside like-minded people across Greater Manchester, I established the Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change, which very shortly, I’ll be handing over, lock, stock and barrel to colleagues working in the city region to build further and enable it to grow into something useful for the creative health community.
For a couple of decades or so, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with colleagues nationally to support and nurture the ever expanding field of arts and health and what is increasingly being described as a creative health agenda. I’ve been part of the National Alliance for Arts and Health and more recently, a North West regional champion on the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance. It’s been great, and working with people exploring our shared passions, has been a wonderful thing. That said, I’ve decided to step back from this role and encourage new and diverse blood to be part of it.
I have to say too, that the creative health agenda, with its historical fondness for unethical politicians popping up at conferences and universities - I’m thinking solely of the perverse political muppet, Matt Hancock’s multiple outings in support of this agenda - does leave me feeling slightly queazy. Are we on the brink of overwhelming the ground-swell of a people-driven movement, in favour of a utilitarian program of deliverables, to the service of politically-driven cost efficiencies in the NHS? I wonder too, are those who ‘deliver’ on the social prescribing agenda, actually being remunerated yet?
I’m chuffed to bits to have been given an honorary chair at The University of Manchester as an acknowledgement of my work in the field: Prof of Creative Health and Social Change, no less, so I need to think carefully about this creative health agenda! The thing is, as the arts and health field has morphed into creative health, I find I have evolved too! Though, I’m even queazier at the thought of my own role having contributed to a dumbing down of the arts in all their forms, so the good but unequal citizens of our island become the passive recipients of gloopy, spoonfuls of bland, mindful elixirs. Again and again I’m reminded of what James Baldwin said, that “artists are here to disturb the peace,” and not just mollify them. There are positive signs however, that outside our gated community - and in the ‘real’ world - people are beginning to embrace the arts via a myriad of individuals and organisations which are realising, that they can do things differently.
Perhaps success in the arts-health/creative-health field might best be evidenced through its own slow demise alongside the emergence of a far wider range of people's individual and collective impulse to create. I am continually thrilled at the small-scale heroism of climate change activists who take direct creative action. Only with enflamed passions, can we wrench the arts in all their forms, out of the hands of the comfortable elite and challenge the status quo. I look forward to the day when a well invested cultural armoury is readily seen as a legitimate means to questioning and addressing inequities, and more than ever, we need to move away from our naval gazing and look to the health of communities and how collectively we might redress the damage we’ve already done to our citizens, and to the local and global environment.
My personal thanks go to those special individuals who, over the last few years have continued to nurture these ideas with me at Manchester Museum, the Whitworth and the Care Lab, Portraits of Recovery, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and my walking companion. If you're so inclined, you can keep up with what I'm up to here.
So in terms of this blog, perhaps see it as an irrelevant archive of one man’s reflections and rants in a world on fire - or else, a gibberish contribution to the
Bye Bye 👋
Friday 8 July 2022
An institution run by clowns...
I’m trying to remember what happened to the guy who succeeded Hunt? - Oh - I remember, that cherubic faced ‘Randy’ Hancock - who left his job in disgrace for breaking lock-down rules, yet I see he was a speaker at a UCL recent event singing the virtues of low-cost arts interventions as part of social prescribing, yet again. It seems that the arts and health community is a key part of his rehabilitation! Good grief. But back to Hunt and his book-flogging, doesn’t he realise the pandemic isn’t quite over just yet - if he’d just take a look further than the white cliffs of Dover! His new book is called Zero: Eliminating unnecessary deaths in a post-pandemic NHS. I’m barely able to contain my bile over this disreputable lot, so here’s a pithy comment, taken from a well balanced review of his book, by the palliative care doctor, Rachel Clarke.
Director, Creative Health and Change Programmes
Closer to home, there’s a wonderful freelance commission on offer with Contemporary Visual Arts Network North West (CVAN NW) with a £13k fee and an application date of the 21st July. They are recruiting a Creative Producer exploring the role of visual arts in developing Health & Wellbeing in the region! What a superb opportunity!
I know many weeks have passed since this glorious week of arts and health activity, but what a treat it was this to see so many parts of the country embracing the arts as part of a health and social change agenda! From my own immunocompromised-isolation, I had the real pleasure of venturing out to hospital! But miracle of miracles, it was to visit LIME Art who were holding a three day festival in the grounds of the Manchester Hospitals site, just off Oxford Road. This cracking event was focused on the workforce of the NHS and centred around a large performance space under an open tent. It was just wonderful to hear the stories of the workers, who’d been taking part in the work that LIME have been quietly delivering through the pandemic. For my part, it was lovely to share some words/film/sound with people, and feel something of the burgeoning possibilities of this creative/health renaissance across the region, and in the wider world too. You can see lots from the festival HERE.
Participation recruitment for The Repair Works is now open
Wednesday 2 March 2022
Reimagining Human and Planetary Flourishing
Guernica (1937) Picasso |
Guernica is a visceral reaction to the Nazi's appalling bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, the painting was made by Picasso in its aftermath. Is it the most famous work associated with such brutality? My knowledge is limited and I think immediately of Otto Dix and Francisco Goya and all the horrors they depicted, or witnessed up close. Artist, Paula Rego has consistently produced difficult and beautiful work, more often than not, exploring trauma. War (2003) was motivated by a photograph from the war in Iraq and the aftermath of a bomb blast in Basra and the image Rego saw, of a small girl in a pretty dress.
War (2003), Paula Rego. Photo: © Tate, London; © Paula Rego |
A pandemic, a war, climate catastrophe and all the while morally bankrupt men preside over the unequal masses, and through it all, there'll be politicians and profiteers on the make.
How on earth will this century be remembered?
. . .
The Creative Power of the Arts: Reimagining Human and Planetary Flourishing
This report looks at creative reforms in the target areas of climate, health, education, and justice. By sharing the thinking of this global, diverse, and engaged group of Fellows in this report, Salzburg Global Seminar invites others to engage in a similar process of constructive inquiry to reflect deeply on what is dividing us, what is keeping us from collaborating better, and how we can achieve transformative change together. Want to find out more and read the report? Click HERE or on the above image.
An Introduction to Social Prescribing on the 24th March
Please note that this event is targeted to people in Greater Manchester specifically. Have you heard the term ‘social prescribing’ but are unsure of how it applies to your role? Health and care workers can learn more about how it works and how you can link people up with activities in their local area, in our upcoming free webinar with Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. Join either of the two live sessions on 24th March (1pm or 7pm) to learn about the two main delivery models for social prescribing in England, as well as how it can be accessed by communities, potential outcomes for people, and where your own professional practice fits into it. Sign up to hear from expert speakers Charlotte Leonhardsen and Julie McCarthy from @gmhsc-partnership and Dr Jaweeda Idoo by clicking HERE.
From Surviving to Thriving: Building a model for sustainable practice in creativity and mental health
Here is the latest report from the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance, From Surviving to Thriving: Building a model for sustainable practice in creativity and mental health. It has been authored by Victoria Hume and Minoti Parikh, and developed with around 150 creative practitioners and organisations working in the field, many of whose practice is based on their own lived experience.
The report is the result of a six-month project funded by the Baring Foundation, to understand how we might help more people and organisations using creativity to support mental health to survive and thrive. At the heart of the report are a series of recommendations for five groups: practitioners, commissioning organisations (whether arts, health or care), funders, researchers and infrastructure organisations like the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance itself. Read the recommendations and the full report HERE or by clicking on the above image.
MA Arts Practice (Arts, Health and Wellbeing) at the University of South Wales
Places are available for the well-established MA Arts Practice (Arts, Health and Wellbeing) course in the heart of Cardiff. The duration of the MA is 18 months. Teaching begins in September each year and is delivered on campus, one weekend per month. Tutorials are scheduled at intervals between teaching weekends and are held online. The course reflects the breadth of practice within the field of arts, health and wellbeing in providing scope for multifarious forms of creativity, from participation and socially engaged practice, to site specific art works aimed at enhancing healthcare settings. The programme is designed to equip students with the tools and principles they need to succeed within this valued and expanding are of professional arts practice. Contact Carol Hiles for more information carol.hiles@southwales.ac.uk and take a look at our website which includes examples of recent projects completed by our students. Click HERE or on the image above.
Sunday 23 January 2022
“You set an example … you live by that example” - Tracey Emin
Stefan Tiburcio,* Stay At Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives, 2020, Woodcut on plywood, © the artist |
Emin neon© Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2022. Photo credit: Government Art Collection |
Having begun chemotherapy in January 2020, the stem-cell treatment needed to hold my cancer at bay, from May that year was variously delayed, postponed and canceled leaving the disease to return, and the stem-cell transplant eventually given in May 2021. Throughout all of this, the individuals behind the NHS that worked with me, were flawless. But, for all the personal turmoil of diagnosis, uncertainty and brutal treatment, it was the unfolding death of my partner’s father Peter; my children's grandad - through covid - that was unbearable. Tracey Emin reminds us of people not being able to attend funerals, for my family it was the untimely death (regardless of his age) of Peter over WhatsApp. This kind of trauma is unbearable. Not to be able to be with, to hold, to kiss.
Saturday 1 January 2022
the transient bliss of being alive
I really hope this year is a good one for you and those you love and that maybe, just maybe, those that are profiteering in the billions from the manufacturing of covid vaccines, get their act together and distribute their products (or their magical blueprints) to the vast numbers of people around the world who as yet, have no access to their gold dust. Good old Pfizer.
"According to CNN, vaccine sales alone were responsible for 60 percent of the profits as vaccine revenue rose to $14.6 billion from only $1.7 billion a year earlier."
The market continues to ensure the seamless transformation of a pandemic into some permanent endemic state, where new variants will undoubtedly flourish and the coffers of the rich will fill to the brim as the poor, marginalised and vulnerable conveniently disintegrate. Sounds like a win-win situation for those with their eyes on the dollar. A market-driven disposal of those dependent on the state. Then there’s our arrogant and seemingly untouchable political elite…
A couple of months ago, and for the first time since November 2019, I found myself taking part in a group event inside a building! Imagine - no more than close family and friends (or clinicians) near me for two years! Well, I know you can imagine it, but if you’ll indulge me, my diagnosis of multiple myeloma - just a couple of months before the emerging pandemic was beginning to be taken seriously - plunged me into a new kind of social isolation.
Knowing that a significant proportion of the great (independently minded) unwashed masses, were piling on to trains without masks, I decided that a public transport wasn’t for me on this foray into the outside world, so I drove (I know, I know - but bear with me) down to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum smack-bang in the centre of Coventry and next to the extraordinary bombed out cathedral and its modernist replacement. What a treat.
Inevitable anxieties aside, the meeting was a complete joy tempered only by my frustrations at not to be able to throw my arms around unpixilated friends. Sitting by an open window, the door to the large room thrown open, I was far more relaxed than I thought I’d be, and I quickly found myself part of a community again. I was more apprehensive about the prospect of looking around the Turner Prize exhibition and rubbing shoulders with the wider public, but the galleries were reasonably quiet and our hosts had gone to great effort to organise this visit, so wander around the exhibitions I did.
S L |
I guess that now I’m ruminating on my own mortality, I’ve got to thinking over some of the people, places and things I’ve been involved in (back to mortality in a moment) and the things that define us, and like the organisations above, in all honesty, my work hasn’t been focused explicitly on health, but rather ‘doing’ art and being creative. My own career (of sorts) began in a long closed Victorian hospital for people with learning disabilities through the 1980’s and 90’s, has been creeping back through my blood these last few months. As a young but inexperienced participatory artist in the making, I really had none of the sophistication of these contemporary organisations, but what I did have, was a fire in my belly, a large studio space and people who with a burning desire to create - and others who hadn’t ever had the opportunity to explore these elements of themselves! Words that spring to mind when I think of these people labelled ‘challenging’ are frustration, anger, desire and joy.
W A |
What I often did was ‘curate’ public exhibitions and events with collaborators: Lancaster Litfest; the Dukes (theatre); Ludus Dance; TATE Liverpool and Lancaster Museum amongst others. In terms of the visual arts I recently unearthed a portfolio of hundreds of drawing and paintings from the days when the hospital closed down, largely dating from the 80’s. Inevitably my walls are now festooned with rather smartly framed images, the artists all of which I remember well, though all of them are now long dead. Woe betide anyone who thinks they are created by my children! Some of these paintings, now resplendent on my walls, are peppered all over today's blog. Of course, I am uncertain about sharing the full names of the artists. In truth, the people I worked alongside back then, have informed everything I have done in the name of arts and ‘health’, though at no time then did health come into it, and only now reflecting on those years, can I really see the liberating force of what we were doing and how those studio sessions really opened up all our lives in different ways. Those determinants of health are complex and messy and quite probably, immeasurable things. Lived experiences too, are myriad and inspiring in their differences.
So, back to mortality, and I should advise you, there's nothing at all clinical or miserable here, just a call out from me to find some potential collaborators. Go on - read on and I promise not to give you the willies or make you depressed - seriously. I am developing a piece of work that hopes to explore the experience of living with a life limiting illness. Hold your horses - it’s beginning to sound grim - but I’m not in the slightest bit interested in doom and gloom (though of course, ill health is a pisser on multiple levels) - I’m interested in moments of crystalline clarity, of unexpected euphoria in the moment. I don’t want to focus on grief or the inevitable rollercoaster of frustration or anger, but shimmering clarity of fleeting here and now’s. What might I mean?
One of the best examples I can give is when the playwright Dennis Potter was being interviewed by Melvyn Bragg. Poor old Potter was in his last months of life and swigging away on champagne and morphine and all the while puffing away on cigarettes. It was a bravura performance and while lambasting Rupert Murdoch (he called his cancer Rupert) he described that feeling of being alive in the here and now so lucidly - in fact, he described it as ‘nowness’. To illustrate this he talked about a white plumb blossom tree in his garden, which he’d seen for years, but only now, with his impending mortality, could he really see it for what it was. It was a profound moment - and one that has stayed with me.
Jackie B |
So if you, or someone you know, is, or has experienced, this kind of heightened perception, I’d really like to have a conversation, which will influence a new film and sound work this year. This is something being developed alongside my scrutiny of anonymous super 8 home movies from the 60’s/70’s which I’m exploring as reimagined domestic narratives.
Get directly in touch with me HERE.
William R |
Creativity and Wellbeing week 16 - 22nd May 2022
Creativity and Wellbeing week is run by London Arts in Health and the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance. The festival started as a small event based in London in 2012 , to coincide with the Olympics. In 2019 the week went national for the first time – allowing thousands more people across the UK to participate in culture and creative activities. The festival creates core partnership events, while encouraging and supporting organisations and individuals to organise their own activities. Events can take any art form and can be held in clinical settings, cultural buildings or in the community – as long as they involve either accessing or participating in cultural activities that improve health or wellbeing.
Click HERE for details.
ARTIST COMMISSION
Commemorative Project
Swansea Bay University Health Board is calling for applications from experienced and suitably qualified artist/s to design and realise unique, external interventions on a number of hospital sites. These are to commemorate the extraordinary experience of staff and local communities during Covid 19, to honour and remember those who lost their lives, to recognise front line workers who put patients’ lives first, and to capture the social solidarity and support our community gave to us. The successful artists will respond creatively to the aspirations, recommendations and themes arising from Finding Words, a recent consultation report. It recommended creating external spaces on three sites and a number of echoes elsewhere. Key comments include: ‘A place for quiet contemplation’, ‘A focus on growth and hope’ and an interest in engaging the senses, nature, seasonality. It is anticipated that the successful artist will include an element of creative consultation as an aspect of the commission and work strategically to meet the project aims across sites.
Tender publication date – Tuesday, 04th January
Deadline application– 12.00 noon, Monday, January 17th
Anticipated start date – Wednesday, February 16th
Project completion date – Monday, October 31st
The deadline for applications is date midday on Monday January 17th, 2022. Applications will only be accepted through the eTender Wales system. If you do not have an eTender Wales account, the Health Board strongly advises that you register as soon as possible. More details on the Wales Arts, Health and Wellbeing Network website: HERE.
Sunday 31 October 2021
Art with a purpose...
‘Value All, Equality, Diversity, Stay Safe, Cleaner Air, Pull yourself Up’. Danielle Chappell Aspinwall |
Donkey Fest, Drawing with stitch (close up) |
A Neurodivergent and Autoethnographical Approach
"Art has purpose, to connect, give voice, bring unity, lift spirits and raise awareness for the greater good, not only art can improve social connections, ignite conversations, reduce loneliness. Art within humanity can reconnect people to nature, without the two, we wouldn't live in harmony. Why not take action to make a different no matter how smaller the act, all acts can equate to positive change, inclusion, unity and a hopeful future.”
The importance to remove the stigma attached to hidden disability, reducing the exclusions for inclusive adjustments, enabling access to an opened inclusive wider world, will offer new norms of hope and more opportunities within an inclusive society from a disabled perspective, making a difference for future generations to come to reach further aspirations, higher confidences from deeper inclusion and resulting in healthier mental health and wellbeing.
My biggest thanks to Danielle and to Sue Flowers, Shanali Perera and Ruth Flanagan for sharing their unique lived experiences these last few weeks. I'm sure that their stories will inevitably resonate with many of us.