One cannot resist an idea whose time has come...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
So, two years each in prison for three women who expressed their opinion of the state through peaceful protest. Looks like impotent leadership in the face of inevitable global change to me. When French author, Victor Hugo said that "music expresses that which cannot be said, and on which it is impossible to be silent", I’m pretty sure, he couldn’t have imagined Pussy Riot - but with Les Misérables in mind, I can’t help thinking he would perhaps be a more effective vocal supporter, than Messrs. McCartney et Madonna. Surely its becoming more difficult for dubiously ‘elected’ leaders to quash the voices of the people? Then again, millions across the world took to the streets to oppose the attack on Iraq; and I’m still confused as to how the Coalition Government came into being!
'The NHS belongs to the people'
NHS Constitution
Whilst our the Olympic Games have been and gone, the flame blown out (remember that stirring in your loins, but get ready for the bill) and we’ve had the thrill of the opening corporate celebration of our floundering NHS, (and the gibberish of the closing ceremony - what a platform for Pussy Riot this could have been): what about the Paralympic Games which start on the 29th? I sincerely hope that this won’t be an after-shock, without all the razzmatazz of the ‘main-event’. I wonder too, what mischief our elected and non-elected miscreants will have been up to, whilst our eye’s have been off (or rather on) the ball? So whilst we’re feeling pumped up and patriotic, lets not forget our dear old NHS and that by April 2013, it will have undergone some quite radical changes.
'Healthwatch England will act as a champion for those who sometimes struggle to be heard'
Anna Bradley, Chair of Healthwatch
The new NHS Commissioning Board Special Health Authority (NHS CBA), will be playing a ‘key role in the Government’s vision to modernise the health service and secure the best possible outcomes for patients. Its role is to make all the necessary preparations for the successful establishment of the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) in October 2012 before it takes on full statutory responsibilities in April 2013.’ We will shortly be seeing a flurry of activity around Health and Wellbeing Boards, Clinical Commissioning Groups and the emergence of Healthwatch, which takes over the role of independent ‘consumer champion’ for us, the public. I’d suggest that our arts/health agenda should engage at the highest level with all these groups, and of course, locally. If Healthwatch is to make sure that the views of the public and people who use services are taken into account, I can think of a variety of ways that culture and the arts will be essential to their work - and if they genuinely want to work with people who don’t have a voice and are marginalised, this is an opportunity for the arts to facilitate dialogue.
On 19 July 2012, champion of arts and health, Lord Howarth of Newport again raised a question about our work in the House of Lords, questioning the Government Minister Earl Howe about how we encourage commissioners to invest resources in the arts as a means of improving health. Here are the question and response.
Lord Howarth of Newport: My Lords, as Ministers review the skills needs of the health service, will they take into account the significant contribution that can be made in healthcare settings to recovery and well-being by the arts-music, poetry and reading aloud, for example? Will they signal to healthcare professionals and commissioning bodies that it is legitimate to invest certain resources in the arts and, of course, design in order to promote good health?
Earl Howe: One of the features of the reforms that we have enacted is the ability for allied health professionals, including those mentioned by the noble Lord, to have a say in the planning of services at a local level-health and well-being boards. The value of those activities, rightly emphasised by the noble Lord, will I hope in time be more greatly appreciated as the outcomes framework takes effect, and the patient experience of care becomes more prominent in the way that we assess services.
We should be very aware of the efforts Alan Howarth puts into this agenda, and he has my debt of gratitude for his consistent efforts and enthusiasm. He was in fact, an early respondent to manifesto part one. Here is a reminder of his position.
‘What is at issue is the right each one of us has to be human. To be human is to identify and liberate our own authentic and best nature. That quest will sometimes be private and sometimes be communal, and in the end the one merges into the other as we make the world we inhabit a better place. Trust, arduousness, risk, self-expression, shared work are means of moving towards individual and collective integrity. Teaching and companionship sustain us; orthodoxy and exploitation blight us.
Politics should be predicated on these values.’
I was thrilled to listen to the soundcloud of A.L Kennedy’s wonderful lecture at the launch of the London Creativity and Wellbeing Week at TATE Modern. This is excellent and is well worth taking the time to listen to. Grab a coffee, unplug the phone, click on the image below and take an hour out.
I was thrilled to listen to the soundcloud of A.L Kennedy’s wonderful lecture at the launch of the London Creativity and Wellbeing Week at TATE Modern. This is excellent and is well worth taking the time to listen to. Grab a coffee, unplug the phone, click on the image below and take an hour out.
With Kennedy, Lord Howarth and the muted voices of Pussy Riot in mind, Victor Hugo again reminds me that we are part of something bigger and regardless of individual politics, and peoples determination to suppress voices that they might not like to hear - you can’t resist an idea who’s time has come. On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées.
THREE NEW FUNDING STREAMS...
OK, so we know they’re bankers, but...
Lloyds TSB Foundation: Programme to Support Older People (England & Wales) The Lloyds TSB has announced a new £2 million funding programme to support projects aimed at improving the lives of older people living in difficult financial circumstances in England and Wales. The funding is open to all registered charities that are currently working with older people particularly those living in financial difficulties; that can demonstrate a track record and knowledge of working with this group of people; and are particularly interested in innovative work and proactive interventions that encourage and support individual empowerment and independence. The minimum grant that eligible organisations can apply for is £50,000 and grants will be available for up to a period of three years. The closing date for submissions is 5pm on the 20th September 2012.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/d7xvyax
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/d7xvyax
Funding to Tackle Stigma & Discrimination Facing People with Mental Illness (England) Time to Change, a new campaign to end the stigma and discrimination that faces people with mental health problems, has announced its second funding round. Time to Change will provide grants for projects which will change public attitudes and behaviour towards mental health problems. The grants fund will distribute £2.7 million to approximately 75 community projects across England from May 2012-March 2015. All applications should evidence how people with personal experience of mental health problems will be involved in shaping, delivering and managing the project. The grants available range from £10,000 through its small grants programme, to up to £100,000 through the Flagship grants programme. The closing date for applications is 2pm on the 21st September 2012. Read more at: http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/grants
The LankellyChase Foundation has announced the launch of its new grants programme. The LankellyChase Foundation works to bring about change that will transform the quality of life of people who face severe and multiple disadvantages. Through its new grants programme the Foundation wants to form a funded network of 15 to 20 organisations who are working to transform the lives of people who face severe and multiple disadvantages. Read more at: www.lankellychase.org.uk/accessing_funding/funding_opportunities.
Leaving the room for five minutes...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
OK...it’s time that this blog took a moment to rest, to reflect on the very nature of life. There will be a short intermission whilst Arts for Health pulls down the blinds and shuts up shop for a couple of weeks. Tiaras and tears will be on plentiful display on the streets of our empty capital.
This year has seen the highest number of hits this modest blog receives, with new friends emerging from the unlikeliest of countries. To those of you who quietly read these pages, I hope you find this work interesting and occasionally, entertaining: and for those of you who go on to get in touch, thank you. One or two of you, I feel lucky enough to call friends - so a big thank you to you.
This field we call Arts for Health; Arts in Health or Arts and Health is expanding and contracting - evolving right before our eyes. Its flexing its muscles too. Those in the wider cultural sector are getting it - realising that if the work’s done well, it can have a profound reach and impact. And then there are those exhilarating health practitioners, who’ve always got it, and who are now seeing a window of opportunity to assert the place of culture and the arts in the very real world of health and wellbeing. Acute settings, cultural settings, prisons, schools, on the streets, in shopping centre’s and yes, in theaters and galleries too - this arts and health thing we do, is transforming itself into more diverse and engaged practice - the beating heart of civic societies, that will emerge from the wreckage of our contemporary dystopia.
Lets re-imagine ourselves then: post olympics - post jubilee - post global economic downturn...post dystopia. Its hard, isn’t it? From Robert Montgomery’s poetic attack on consumer culture and Shamsia Hassani’s graffiti on the streets of Kabul, to Pussy Riot’s neutering by an oppressive government - the arts offer critique of the status quo and give voice to frustration and anger, offering a thousand new opportunities of possible futures. Our wellbeing is at stake if we fail to understand the relevance of culture and the arts in relation to wider social and political agendas. Goodbye for now, enjoy life...and a lovely summer song.
BRAVO NHS, BRAVO Pussy Riot and BRAVO Dr Malcolm Rigler...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
What a week! I shall keep heroically quiet in the face of Olympic fever, only to say what a wonderful distraction Danny Boyle provided us with in times of swingeing austerity. Bravo, you volunteer dancing nurses. Was that art and health - was that Big Society in action, and do you have jobs to waltz back to? I had a funny feeling watching the opening ceremony - near emotional...in fact, it reminded me of how I was almost washed along in something similar after the people’s princess died: a rare coming together of people, in that case through a media-induced shared pseudo-grief, in this case, through a desperate clinging on to our fractured identity. Come to think of it, hasn’t D who shall not be named, been conspicuous in her absence from all things jubilant and olympic? All hail the puppet master - all hail our transient moments of civic delusion.
With the very generous contribution of our NHS staff entertaining us in mind, it is with thanks to a friend in New York, that I can share news of an event in Kingston (just north of NYC) in October. The O+ Festival brings health workers and artists together to exchange practice - bartering the art of medicine for the medicine of art. Admittedly this is from a country where many people can’t afford health care insurance, but the premiss is excellent and well worth exploring.
Did you know that across the NHS at the moment, there are over 100 different tools for monitoring your vital signs? In other words, the ways in which vital signs such as blood pressure and temperature are monitored in hospitals needs to be standardised across the NHS. Lack of a standardised process is causing confusion and sometimes delays in patients getting help. To find out more about this, click on the happy and valued nurse below. The excellent writer and surgeon, Dr Atul Gawande has written extensively on this in his fascinating book, The Checklist Manifesto. Just imagine for a moment, if airline pilots didn’t rigorously follow a systematic safety checklist before they took you off on your summer holidays! Well, imagine too, if the team preparing you for surgery hadn’t gathered your health information in a systematic and universally understood manner.
And following on from the opening ceremony of our ultimate national wellbeing campaign, it was with great honour, that I accepted the invitation to speak alongside Dr Malcolm Rigler at the Faculty of Public Health’s Annual Conference, rather suitably held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Dr Rigler isn’t one to blow his own trumpet, but without hesitation, he can safely be described as one of the founding fathers of this thing we call arts and health. As a GP, he has never been shy in coming forward to expound the potential of the arts, and artists to influence both medical practice and civic society. He’s been supporting the ideas of the Peckham Experiment for many years and commissioned some of the arts/health greats from his GP Practice at Withymoor Village Surgery. Think Ali Jones (now Clough), John Angus and Mike White. Rigler ploughed this furrow, before others were brave enough to question the way in which medicine is delivered. The conference was packed to the roof with delegates, and although our hour session was very much quieter than the other parallels which focused on leadership, we were proud to have had the input and enthusiastic support from real innovators and giants from the field of medicine and public health. I extend my thanks to all of you that attended and particularly to John Wyn Owen, Prof John Ashton and the very inspirational Mark Gamsu. Dr Rigler and I will be writing an article that takes our thoughts further, entitled Imagination in 21st Century Public Health.
‘PUTIN IS SCARED OF US, CAN YOU IMAGINE? SCARED OF GIRLS.’
It seems that since we first broadcast the plight of Pussy Riot in February 2012, the band have gained much in the way of celebrity support. Lets hope that the growing media attention puts pressure on the Russian authorities, to release them, and listen to their voices. For an exclusive interview with three members of the collective, click on the video below.
It would be easy to smirk at Pussy Riot from a safe distance, but performing songs like, Putin Pissed Himself in front of the Kremlin is both courageous and dangerous. Ekaterina Degot, Russian art critic comments, "What you were doing was incredible. That it's going to change Russian history. That there is no question that what you are doing is art and that no Russian artist has brought about this much change, ever." Powerful stuff.
CHRIS AGNEW
Finally, another pioneer of arts in health in Manchester: Chris Agnew, has died on 3 July after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Chris established puppetry and performance at Manchester's St Mary's Hospital in 1979, helped initiate arts activities at the Christie cancer hospital, developed performance work with elderly patients at Withington Hospital and, with textile artist Adrienne Brown, was joint coordinator of Stockport Arts and Health (SAH). For a fuller appreciation of Chris Agnew by her friend and colleague Langley Brown, please click on the image below.
‘To create a healthier nation we must start by encouraging inclusive and harmonious relationships in a society where so many find themselves socially excluded. The principal killers are not cancer and heart disease but lack of social support, poor education and stagnant economies.’ Dr Malcolm Rigler
How Happy Are You? Let the government tell you...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
First ONS Annual Experimental Subjective Well-being Results
David Cameron's attempts to chart the nation's happiness alongside economic data gas been published today by the Office of National Statistics. The data, gathered between April 2011 and March 2012, compares happiness and anxiety levels by sex, age, ethnicity and other demographic factors. It reveals that people aged 16-19 and 65-79 recorded satisfaction levels considerably higher than the British average of 7.4 out of 10. Analysis of responses according to ethnicity, revealed the Indian population recorded the highest levels of satisfaction – 7.5 out of 10 – and the black population the lowest, at just 6.7. Anxiety ratings were highest among the Arab population, among whom the average response was 3.7, compared with a national average of 3.1. When asked about day-to-day emotions, 10.9 per cent of people in the UK rated their ‘happiness yesterday’ as less than 5 out of 10 (indicating lower happiness). For the ‘anxious yesterday’ question, 21.8 per cent reported a rating of more than 5 (indicating higher anxiety)
To go directly to the report, just click on our happy first minister above.
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David Cameron's attempts to chart the nation's happiness alongside economic data gas been published today by the Office of National Statistics. The data, gathered between April 2011 and March 2012, compares happiness and anxiety levels by sex, age, ethnicity and other demographic factors. It reveals that people aged 16-19 and 65-79 recorded satisfaction levels considerably higher than the British average of 7.4 out of 10. Analysis of responses according to ethnicity, revealed the Indian population recorded the highest levels of satisfaction – 7.5 out of 10 – and the black population the lowest, at just 6.7. Anxiety ratings were highest among the Arab population, among whom the average response was 3.7, compared with a national average of 3.1. When asked about day-to-day emotions, 10.9 per cent of people in the UK rated their ‘happiness yesterday’ as less than 5 out of 10 (indicating lower happiness). For the ‘anxious yesterday’ question, 21.8 per cent reported a rating of more than 5 (indicating higher anxiety)
To go directly to the report, just click on our happy first minister above.
Laughing our way through a double-dip recession...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
Across history and cultures, if you are seen as ‘different’ or perhaps question the status quo, the prescribed method of the state has been to tell you to shut up, or else lock you up. Religion has played no small part in this too. Just think witchcraft - think sexuality - think gender. Incarceration and execution. Homosexuality as a mortal sin: and then post-enlightenment, as a diagnosable illness that only this year, the psychiatrist Dr Robert Spitzer recanted his theory that if you were gay, you could be ‘cured’. Widely seen as one of the architects of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which is the ‘bible’ of the the American Psychiatric Association, and in which for years homosexuality was categorised as a disease, the DSM isn’t without it’s detractors, who argue it perpetuates the beliefs of a small number of powerful psychiatrists and by proxy, the pharmaceutical industry.
Psychotherapists like Gary Greenberg in his book Manufacturing Depression, suggest that the pathologising of human nature is pernicious, and it could be that ‘the depression epidemic is not so much the discovery of a long unrecognised disease, but a reconstitution of a broad swath of human experience as illness.’
It was with Greenberg’s comments in mind, around the pathologising of human discontent as disease, that I read with some disquiet, economist Lord Layard’s comments that, ‘If you go back 30 or 40 years, people said you couldn't measure depression. But eventually the measurement of depression became uncontroversial.’
With the first set of results on happiness for the governments national happiness/wellbeing index due this week from the Office for National Statistics - and with Layard something of a happiness tzar: the assertion that depression is all neat, measurable and uncontroversial is divorced from reality. Yes, we all know that treatments have, by and large improved, as has general understanding of mental ill health, but the assumption that human nature can be weighed out, compared and categorised still dominates, and in turn the relationship between those manufacturing the ‘cures’ and those diagnosing the ‘disease’ still exists. Earlier this month, I shared the story of the GlaxoSmithKline $3billion payout for ‘bribing doctors and encouraging the prescription of unsuitable antidepressants (Paxil) for children’, and having ‘paid for articles on its drugs to appear in medical journals...’ Therefore, it’s relevant that of the ‘authors who were selected and who defined the DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, roughly half had had financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry at one time.’
So no, the measurement of depression is not clear cut Lord Layard and subjective happiness - on a scale of 1 to 10? I’m a sceptic, a cynic - no a pessimist, and I’m told that this is unhealthy, after all, our government aspires to be the next Bhutan! Happiness by government target? Well judging by our ranking in all the global measurements of wellbeing, we’re not doing too well. Still with the right medication, we can passively laugh our way through our double-dip recession.
Greenberg again, gets it right: ‘To think of pessimism as the symptom of an illness and then turn our discontents over to the medical industry is to surrender perhaps the most important portion of our autonomy: the ability to look around and say, This is outrageous. Something must be done.’
PUSSY RIOT
Talking of being incarcerated for expressing dissent or opinion in the face of an oppressive state/church, lets remind ourselves of the non-violent protest of Pussy Riot back in February 2012. The Independent reports that, the three members of a feminist punk band arrested for singing a protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox church must remain in custody.
The trio, part of a collective called Pussy Riot, were told they would be kept in detention for a further six months, until at least 12 January. The case involving Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Ekaterina Samutsevich, 29, has split Russian society. The women have been in prison since they were arrested in February for performing an impromptu rendition of a song "Blessed Virgin, Mother Mary, Drive Putin Out!". They sang the "punk prayer" at the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour two weeks before the presidential election that returned Mr Putin to the Kremlin. They could be jailed for seven years if they are convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".
Five women took part in the prank, dressed in the trademark coloured balaclavas worn by the Pussy Riot collective. Ms Tolokonnikova, Ms Alekhina and Ms Samutsevich were arrested a fortnight later after a video of the stunt went viral on YouTube. On Thursday, a lawyer for one of the cathedral guards, who claims to have been a "victim" of the women's alleged hooliganism, accused Pussy Riot of being supported by the same "Satanic forces" that carried out the 11 September terrorist attack in New York in 2001. Read more by clicking on the very satanic image of the three incarcerated women who used music to comment on politics, below.
François Matarasso
Echoing many of my blog comments on worries about understanding the value of the arts in terms of reductionist methods, I hope you’ll find this new paper from François of great interest. A Different Heartbeat is an account of a residency by musician Patrick Dineen at the Kidney Dialysis Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, in spring 2011, with drawings by Mik Godley. A Different Heartbeat describes an intimate, small scale arts in health project, and places it into a wider context of questions about chronic illness, well being and the nature of benefits. It is an essay by François Matarasso and is a reflection on particular experience, and so about as far from a randomized controlled trial as it could be. But perhaps in that difference is something of value also.
Clore Duffield Poetry awards
The Clore Poetry and Literature Awards fund poetry and literature initiatives for children and young people, under the age of 19, across the UK. The Foundation has created these Awards with the aim of providing children and young people with opportunities to experience poetry and literature in exciting and compelling ways, in and out of school. The Awards are worth a total of £1m over five years, 2011 to 2015, with individual awards ranging from £1,000 to £10,000.
For more information click on le ciel below...
Think you can run public services better than they are being run now?
The Government has announced a new £11.5m financial support scheme that will help voluntary organisations take over the running of public services in their communities. Communities with good ideas for how they can run local public services and want to use the Community Right to Challenge, can access advice and support to develop their skills to be able to bid for and run excellent local services.The grants programme will open in mid-July and more information on criteria and applications will be available then. Read more at: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/our-funds/communityrights/
Comic Relief UK Grants Programme (UK)
Comic Relief has announced that the final funding round as part of the current UK grants strategy will open for applications on the 13th August 2012. Under the UK grants programme voluntary and community groups can apply for funding for projects in the areas of:
- Young people and mental health
- Sexually exploited and trafficked young people
- Domestic and sexual abuse
- Mental health
- Young people and alcohol
- Refugee and asylum-seeking women
£2.6 Million to Help Disabled People Become MP's (UK)
The Government has announced a new £2.6 million fund designed to help disabled people overcome barriers to becoming councillors, police and crime commissioners or MPs. The money will help meet the additional costs a disabled candidate may face in standing for election. The fund will be open for applications until the end of March 2014. It will help disabled candidates meet the additional costs they may face compared to a non-disabled person whether these are related to transport, communication, technology or support. In addition to the fund, a new online training package went live today, tailored to disabled people who are interested in a political career. Grants available will range from £250 - £10,000. Read more by clicking on the anarchist symbol above.
The British Film Institute – Film Fund (UK)
The British Film Institute has announced that its Film Fund is open to applications. Through the fund a total of £18 million a year is available for filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work. The funding is available for the development, production and completion of feature films. The British Film Institute welcome applications for all kinds of film – from commercial mainstream to experimental, from genre movies to personal stories, from documentaries to animation to live-action fiction. Applications can be submitted at any time. Read more at: http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-filmmaking
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing,
Fremantle 2012
4th Annual International Arts and Health Conference
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing
26 - 29 November 2012
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle WA
26 - 29 November 2012
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle WA
SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT ONLINE NOW
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, 4th Annual International Arts and Health Conference, will present best practice and innovative arts and health programs, effective health promotion and prevention campaigns, methods of project evaluation and scientific research. Get full details of the conference by clicking on the image above.
an absence
an absence
Hirst, Burgers, Evidence and Basting...
by Free Software on Nov.22, 2009, under
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DAMIAN HIRST SEEN IN BURGER KING....
Following on from last weeks news that the Biggest, Fattest McDonalds in the world has opened up in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium....and yes, its an Eco version - sustainable, in that after the Olympics, they're going to bulldoze it after the games - here are some more facts. It will serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell £3million of fast food during the Games. Altogether they will serve 1.75 million ‘meals’ in 29 days, with Britons accounting for an estimated 85 per cent of customers. Not to be outdone though, Burger King have had a whopping donation from none other than Damien (I’ve got an exhibition on at the moment) Hirst! Great stuff eh? But Damien, wouldn’t half a cow be better?
ANNE BASTING
For those of us who attended the evening networking event with Anne Basting here at MMU, I think its safe to say, that we were all blown away by her imagination, passion and vision for the potential of people affected by dementia. Anne had come to the UK to speak at a conference at Keele University and kindly offered to talk to members of the North West Arts and Health Network - and what a great evening it was! She shared her work on Time Slips; the Penelope Project and some of her new developments around Shipwrecked. She emphasized the liminal nature of our work, existing between disciplines, investing social capital in people who are largely marginalised to the extreme. For me, what Anne did, was up the ante, and for those of you who couldn’t come to the event, but who read this, two things to ponder - part of her work with people affected by dementia involves not only getting to grips with Homer’s The Odyssey, but also learning passages of ancient Greek. Forget the status quo, this is aspirational stuff. Thank you Anne. These links will take you to some of her work
EVIDENCE
Last week in a comment on GlaxoSmithKlein I mentioned Ziggy Stardust as research, and I got a few interesting emails - to which - thank you. As a counter-blast to the reductionist model, I’d like to hear from you about art and popular culture that might be construed as evidence of impact, or a research methodology - particularly as an unintended outcome, or intention. I’m thinking much in the same vein as Bowies claims - the mainstream and the popular. Please get in touch.
GRUNDTVIG and Arts for Health
I am thrilled to be working with Mark Prest and Portraits of Recovery over the next two years. Alongside partners in Italy, Turkey and Lithuania we will be developing work that explores different cultural experiences of recovery and addiction through the arts. This will include informal learning and the development of culturally relevant arts and health strategy with a range of European partners.
More details soon.
Public Art, Cultural Well-Being and the
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
ixia is organising three briefing events on how the provision of public art will be influenced by the prominent inclusion of cultural well-being within the NPPF. The events will be led by the planning barrister, Ian Dove QC of No5 Chambers, and the cultural commentator, John Holden.
The topics covered will include: the purpose and status of the NPPF and how it relates to the planning system at a local level, including the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL); the relationship between cultural well-being and public art; the justification and inclusion of cultural well-being and public art within local planning documents. The briefing events are for arts officers, public art officers, planners, artists, curators, developers and arts funders.
The dates and locations of the events are:
22nd October 2012 - London;
5th November 2012 - Birmingham;
12th November 2012 - Manchester or Leeds.
THE INTIMA
The Intima is an electronic journal founded in 2011 to stimulate thought, reflection, and conversation about the intersecting worlds of medicine, humanities and art, in the context of individual clinical experiences across the spectrum of health and illness. Narrative Medicine thrives on dialogue..
Mission: The Intima is an electronic journal dedicated to promoting the theory and practice of Narrative Medicine, an interdisciplinary field aiming to enhance health care through the development of effective communication and understanding between caregivers and their patients.
Vision: By providing an online venue for the expression of personal experience within the medical arena, The Intima creates space for caregivers, professionals, patients, and families to share their narratives in a format that fosters empathy, reflection, and deeper understanding of the diversity inherent in effective delivery of care.
Submission Guidelines: We have a rolling admissions policy for the Fall 2012 edition, expected to be published in September The final deadline is August 1st. Please consult http://www.theintima.org/guidelines.html for more information and feel free to contact editor@theintima.org with any questions.
Submissions can include:
- Scholarly essays or articles geared towards educating a general audience about Narrative Medicine
- Non-Fiction, personal narratives or perspective pieces
- Fiction, Short Fiction
- Field Notes, reflections on working in the field
- Poetry
- Studio Art, in any medium such as paintings, photographs, or prints
- Audio or Visual Multimedia
Healthful Dancing Retreat: with Small Things Dance Collective, Miranda Tufnell and Joe Moran.
10th September 2012, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk.
For more details, by clicking on Anne Widdecombe.Funding to Support to Voluntary Projects in Health and Social Care (England)
The Government has announced that applications are invited to the 2013-14 Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund that supports the voluntary sector in developing innovation across health and social care. The fund is open to third sector health and social care organisations in England that provide a service similar to a service provided by the National Health Service or by Local Authority social services and whose activities support the Department of Health’s priorities. Applications must be made under one of the three Funding Strands, which are Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development. To be eligible, projects must have a national impact. This can include local projects that can be replicated nationally. There is no minimum or maximum amount that organisations can apply for. In the last funding round grants awarded ranged from £15,865 to £239,669 (for the first year allocations). YouthNet is one organisation that has benefited from the fund, allowing it to redevelop its confidential online question and answer service. Through askTheSite young people are able to access confidential expert advice on any issue that is affecting their lives.
The closing date for applications is the 21st September 2012. Read more at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/06/iesd-2013-14-2/
