Mailout:
Special offer for praXis members

Mailout is a quarterly magazine covering the participatory arts in the UK. The magazine focuses on highlighting good practice, promoting debate and providing a key support mechanism for the sector. Established in 1987 as the only national magazine to cover all art forms, Mailout aims to report on a wide variety of subjects including Arts Development, Community Arts, Arts & Health, Arts with Young People, Arts & Regeneration, Arts & Education, Culturally Diverse Arts, Arts Training, Rural Arts and Disability Arts. It costs just £20 for individuals to subscribe to the magazine for a whole year, £27 for not-for-profit organisations and £38 for local authorities, education institutions and other organisations. However, Mailout has generously offered all members of praXis a 10% discount on these prices. Just email ruth@e-mailout.org and quote the reference 'praXis10%'.

The Artist Professional Development Programme started in February at Staffordshire University. Kate Gant, one of the team of tutors, reflects on events so far.

The day before the workshop programme started, heavy snow was forecast and a bad weather plan had to be put in place. The snow came but so did the students - demonstrating that arts and health continues, whatever the weather!

Each workshop in the Programme focuses on a different element of the project planning cycle enabling students to gain a theoretical understanding of key issues and reflect on their practical experiences.

The first workshop was an opportunity for students to reflect on their work with commissioners to develop their project and explore ways of involving participants in planning arts and health work. Students are involved in over 20 projects, which are taking place in health and community settings across the region. Developing projects can take time and maintaining energy and focus were just some of the issues discussed by people.

By the second workshop Spring had come. Students explored definitions of arts and health, grappled with Government priorities for health and well - being and unpicked what ethical practice means in reality.

Project work continues throughout March and April proving that learning and development of arts and health in the West Midlands is alive, well and continuing to grow!

For more information about the programme, the artists involved and their project work contact Kate Gant at Kate@creativityteam.co.uk

Worcester Seminar Opportunity

In partnership with the University of Worcester, praXis is organising the first of three seminars to be held in different locations around the West Midlands region. This will be held on Monday 30th March at The Fold, Bransford, (midway between Malvern and Worcester) from 10am -12.30pm. It will be an opportunity to find out about praXis and its work to support the training and professional development of artists. It will also explore the future relationship between regional and local arts and health learning networks. The seminar is free, and lunch will also be provided. There is a maximum of 30 places and priority will be given to praXis members and those people from the Hereford and Worcester area. Hurry and register your interest!

Contact Claire Carter at claire@creativityteam.co.uk

Emma Waller - one of the designer makers resident at the Fold: Commission for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, funded by Cure Leukaemia as part of their ongoing investment in
Art for the Leukaemia Unit. 2006.

praXis Learning Project

Within the Black Country (the metropolitan boroughs of Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley), a praXis Learning Project is being developed and delivered over the next six months. A Project Group has been established and at the first meeting members decided they wanted to establish a series of Action Learning Sets, as a key element of the learning programme. The Action Learning Sets will be an important way of supporting workers across the region to reflect on their participatory arts and health work and develop their practice. Their facilitation is being supported by Sandwell Primary Care Trust.

The Action Learning Sets will all take place at the Yemeni Community Association, Greets Green Access Centre, Tildasley Street, West Bromwich on the following dates, in the morning:

- April 22nd
- June 23rd
- September 21st

Only 12 places are available on each day, and participants may attend on one, two or all three days. The Action Learning Sets are free, so we anticipate that space will fill up extremely quickly. To register your interest, contact Claire Carter at claire@creativityteam.co.uk

Arts For Health Project Worker at Shelton Hospital, Shrewsbury

After a three year development project, the Arts for Health Programme at South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust (SSSFT) is delighted to be moving on to a new phase in its long history, which will see the expansion of the core team of staff to three part-time permanent posts, each receiving substantive internal funding from the Trust. This development will allow the programme to be extended to cover Shropshire - an area which has, since the two NHS Trusts merged some time ago, been excluded from the programme activities.  Arts for Health Coordinator Emma Yorke commented 'We are delighted to finally be in a position where we will have adequate resourcing to offer a good level of service to staff and service users in Shropshire- we know that there is already a lot happening in Shropshire and we have had a really great response from people in the area who want to work with us - so there should be exciting times ahead.'

It is hoped that the new post-holder will be ready to start by mid April, and they are likely to be based in Shrewsbury. They will join the existing staff team (Emma Yorke and Anna Barzotti) in developing service user and staff-led arts activities that enhance the service user's experience of Trust services. To date, projects have included one-off community fun days, music, dance and visual arts activities for young people, ongoing visual arts sessions for residential clients, drop-in craft activities for community based clients, creative writing sessions and a Trust-wide art competition leading to an annual exhibition. The level of support for the Programme from both staff and service users is what has led to the Programme's continued growth, and the decision to internally fund three posts is evidence that this support has now been given a really solid backing from the Trust Board.