Issue 5 |  |
April 09 | |
Happy Times 
In the current gloomy financial climate, there doesn't seem to be much to look forward to these days. However, we hope that praXis can bring a little ray of sunshine into your life! As a member of a fast-growing regional network, you will find in this issue all sorts of opportunities to come together and develop learning in arts and health practice. Not only do you get first access to these, but they are all free, courtesy of our funding from Arts Council England, West Midlands. You will find events in the Black Country, Staffordshire and Warwickshire - so what are you waiting for? And why not let your colleagues and friends know about praXis? Send them this email and they can be part of the network too!
As ever, we very much hope that praXis is an invaluable vehicle in supporting shared learning, and this bulletin is an opportunity to promote projects to others across the network. It's also a forum for debate, discussion and support around learning and reflective practice in participatory arts and health, so please let us hear your views - we'd love to include them.
praXis Learning ProjectDon't forget to register your interest on the three Black Country Action Learning Sets, taking place over the next six months. These will be an important way of supporting workers across the region to reflect on their participatory arts and health work and develop their practice. They are open to anyone interested in or developing arts and health work. As ever, priority will be given to praXis members. Their facilitation is being supported by Sandwell Primary Care Trust. They will all take place at the Yemeni Community Association, Greets Green Access Centre, Tildasley Street, West Bromwich on the following dates, in the morning: The first day will focus on positive mental health and wellbeing. 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 Kate Gant: kate@creativityteam.co.uk |
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Meet the Artists!The next Employers' Forum will be held on Monday 18th May, from 10.30am - 12.30pm in The Activity Space, Staffordshire University. However, this event will be one with a difference. It is open to any organisation in the West Midlands which is interested in supporting the training of artists, arts development workers and health or community workers in participatory arts and health. On 18th May we are giving representatives from these organisations the opportunity to meet up to 15 artists who are currently training on the Artist Professional Development course. You will get the chance to hear about their work and their experience, see some examples and discuss whether they would be suitable for any future projects. Commissioners will also be able to exchange contact information and publicise their service, programme or projects directly to artists. Following this, there will also be the opportunity to discuss good practice in commissioning and meet other organisations interested in the professional development of artists in arts and health. This unique event is free and there are only 15 places available. Priority will be given to those who are praXis members
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Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry SeminarIn partnership with Warwickshire County Arts Service and the Sub Regional Arts Partnership, praXis is organising the second of three seminars being held in different locations around the West Midlands region. The event will be held on the morning of Tuesday 2nd June (time and venue to be confirmed). Arts and health project and development work from the Warwickshire subregion and beyond will be showcased, and there will also be a good opportunity for arts, health and community professionals to network and proactively discuss the development of further work. The seminar is free, and lunch will also be provided. There is a maximum of 35 places and priority will be given to praXis members and those people from the Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry areas. Register your interest by contacting Laura Kenwright: laurakenwright@warwickshire.gov.uk Muslim Women's Dance group, part of Warwickshire County Council's Dance 4 Health project. Photographer: Tony Bodinnar |
What is Happiness ?
These are the types of questions that Multistory will be asking people taking If you are a regular reader of the praXis newsletter you may remember that in Issue 3 we were on the search for an arts provider to deliver the What is Happiness? commission. The good news is that we had a great response to the advert with over 60 arts providers requesting copies of the brief and Multistory, a multi-media arts organisation based in Sandwell, have been contracted to deliver this innovative arts & health project. The focus of the commission is to use visual arts as a medium to explore the concept of what happiness means to different people. Multistory will work with a range of target groups to create 'stories of happiness' that will be interpreted using photography, illustration, crafts or animation. Individual works of art will then be transferred onto pre-made cardboard play houses to create a 'happiness estate' that will form the basis of a Black Country wide touring exhibition. Multistory also plan to work with participants to create a series of visual happiness indicators that will be used to create a 'Happiness Map' of the Black Country to visually represent what makes people happy in different parts of the sub-region. So if you have always wondered what makes women in West Bromwich happy then we'll soon be able to tell you! Alongside the workshops with participants, Multistory will be running a text service to enable people to submit their stories or ideas of happiness to the Multistory website by responding to the question 'Happiness is......?' This is going to be a really exciting and interesting project and we will keep you posted on its progress through regular newsletter updates. If you would like to know more about the project please contact Claire Carter: claire@creativityteam.co.uk |
ApologiesWe have had some minor technical difficulties with the praxis website,which means that some of you may have sent us an article via the email submission form and it did not reach us. The problem has now been rectified, but if you have sent us something in the past few weeks, we would be grateful if you would re-send it, or email it directly to info@praxisartsandhealth.org.uk Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. |
New Arts and Health Community Interest Company for the West MidlandsCreative Health (Arts and Health) CIC is the new independent Arts and Health Community Interest Company for the Black Country and the West Midlands, officially incorporated at the end of February. It has been formed by the Black Country Arts and Health Commissioning Partnership, following the success of Chewing It Over (2007)and Move It! (2008), with all eyes on their new commission for 2009, What is Happiness? (see article above).
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The company will oversee the joint planning, commissioning, delivery and profile-raising of arts into health work in the Black Country and beyond. Creative Health (Arts and Health) CIC will work with a range of arts, health and community partners to develop best practice guidelines which can be performance managed. A menu of creative opportunities will be presented to potential partners regularly, in order to continue to commission a range of new arts into health 'product' and respond to the challenges within the commissioning of health services. For more information, email info@creativehealthcic.co.uk |
Your Projects
You have an opportunity through this bulletin to promote your own learning-based events and projects. We are particularly interested in profiling participatory arts and health work which improves public health and wellbeing and supports community cohesion and regeneration. 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.
You need to contact us by filling in the attached form.
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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