WELCOME

Welcome to the April praXis e-bulletin. In this issue we feature a number of exciting artist opportunities as well as some interesting documents for you to read; some of these advocating for arts and health and some contributing to the debate.

We now have around 50 bloggers signed up to the community pages on the praXis website, and a Facebook page where you can add yourself to our growing fanbase.
However we need you to get blogging! The praXis network can only thrive on your contributions – please visit the site and tell others what you are doing right now!

To help encourage and stimulate debate, we will be appointing three arts and health Champions around the region, who will develop virtual discussions across a number of themes, including participatory evaluation, safe practice and government agendas. Watch this space for more details, but in the meantime we want you to tell us what a champion could do for your area or organisation. Are there any themes you would like see covered? Do you know someone locally who could be a great champion? Please let us know via the community pages.

Please also complete our short on-line questionnaire, which will assist us with future planning and direction. This will only take ten minutes and will give us invaluable feedback. We have had a number of responses, but we do need a lot more. Just click here to take the survey and many thanks for your support.

The praXis programme is being managed by Creative Health (Arts & Health) CIC, the new independent Arts and Health Community Interest Company for the West Midlands. You can read more about Creative Health here.

We do hope you enjoy reading this e-bulletin and as ever, welcome your comments.

Best wishes

The Directors
Creative Health CIC

Time Capsules: Artist Opportunity

Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Trust seeks expressions of interest from artists wishing to design and make four individual artworks (one for each level) for a newly-built stairwell. Closing date for applications is 9th April 2010.

Read more and download the Artist’s Brief here or contact Anoushka Duroe, Arts Officer on 0121 333 8888. Email Anoushka.duroe@bch.nhs.uk

Ageing Artfully

Sandwell Third Age Arts (STAA) is featured within a Baring Foundation publication, ‘Ageing Artfully’. STAA is a West Bromwich – based organisation using the arts to improve the quality of life of older people with mental health needs and people with dementia.

Read more and download the publication here.

For more information on Sandwell Third Age Arts, visit their website or contact them on 0121 500 1259 or email info@staa.org.uk

Call for Artists' Showcase

PraXis, the Creative Communities Unit (CCU) at Staffordshire University and
Participatory Practitioners for Change are working together to host a conference in November 2010 which will explore participatory approaches and methods in action.

Staffordshire County Council will be sponsoring one of the conference themes, which will focus on arts and health. As part of this theme we are inviting artists to showcase their work. Read about the event and find out how to submit your work here.

Living and Dying Well Exhibition

A unique exhibition will be held at The Public in West Bromwich from 24th March to 13th April. The Compassionate Communities ‘Living and Dying Well’ Exhibition will feature ‘Bald Statements’ -
a remarkable sculpture exhibition by Jean Parker as well as ‘Saying The Unsayable’, a photographic exhibition on death and dying. There will also be a range of activities and discussion groups taking place throughout the month.

PhD Opportunity: Is there a Business Case for Arts and Health?

praXis and Staffordshire University wish to appoint a PhD researcher to undertake a piece of work which addresses whether there is a business case for Arts and Health.

The research work will focus on assessing the effectiveness of high quality, large –scale, participatory arts work and the impact participatory arts has on health and wellbeing. The partners are particularly interested in finding out if participatory arts projects which involve large numbers of people can result in more cost-effective, repeatable models of practice.

Arts and Health Training Needs

praXis is working with Warwickshire County Arts Service to develop a programme of training workshops for artists and healthcare workers living and working in Warwickshire interested in developing their knowledge and understanding of participatory Arts and Health work.

To help us plan the programme and understand specific needs, praXis has produced an on-line questionnaire. If you are an artist or healthcare worker from Warwickshire, please spare 5 minutes of your time to complete the survey and contribute to this valuable piece of work.

Creative Remedies

Don’t forget to visit Creative Remedies, partner to the praXis network:

Your Projects

Thank you to everyone who has submitted information, news, opportunities and comments on the praXis Community Pages – our online community is growing! This month there are three job opportunities advertised: an Arts for Health project Worker at South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, a new Arts and Wellbeing Development Manager post at Willis Newson and a Director for Arts & Health South West. You can also download a collection of essays called ‘Expressive Lives’ and read ‘After the Downturn’, a report investigating the allocation of inevitable cuts in arts funding following the next general election.

Why not profile your project on the praXis Community Pages? As long as it is participatory arts and health work which improves public health and wellbeing and supports community cohesion and regeneration, we can feature it. Events or projects which tackle major health priorities and issues, improve the quality of health care and health settings and have a positive impact on mental health will also be considered. Click here to register.We look forward to hearing from you!

Contact Us

Email us on info@praxisartsandhealth.org.uk if you would like further
information about praxis or to let us know what you think.

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