# 1

Limited tickets are available to two free events over July at Manchester Metropolitan University. If there’s a good chance that you can’t make the events, please don’t book tickets only to cancel at the last minute. Both these events are extremely popular.

URBAN PSYCHOSIS will run from 14.07.14 - 22.08.14 at the Holden Gallery with work by John Baldessari – Matthew Buckingham – Sophie Calle – Marc Camille Chaimowicz – Moyra Davey – Luke Fowler – Gillian Wearing – Catherine Yass
    

The modern city has frequently been identified through its intensity - a busy and bustling environment of potentially creative and productive activity. For the spectator, this intensity can also tip over into a state in which reality is temporarily obscured. It is this finely balanced state which the exhibition explores, the condition of urban psychosis is presented as a recurring theme, a shadow which continues to haunt the city. We'll have more details of the exhibition itself next week. On the evening of 25th July, we are thrilled to be hosting An Evening with Will Self. Find out more about the exhibition by clicking on the logo above. For more information and to reserve tickets for the Will Self event, click on his image above.

ADVANCED NOTICE...Very soon we’ll be announcing details of the Urban Psychosis Symposium which includes Professors Richard Bentall, Peter Kinderman and John Read who will consider the psychology and treatment of psychiatric experiences. Richard Bentall has edited and written several books, most notably Madness Explained, which was winner of the British Psychological Society Book Award in 2004. I am thrilled that this event will be happening and we’ll announce the date next week. Biggest thanks to Dr Kat Taylor for making this happen.

I AM - WE ARE s y m p o s i u m +

I AM: Memoirs of Addiction Recovery 

The 2 year European project led by Portraits of Recovery; an Oldham/Manchester based, visual arts charity has been developed in partnership with Arts for Health, at Manchester Metropolitan University, Gruppo Incontro and F.E.D.E.R.S.E.R.D - Italy, and the Turkish Green Crescent Society, Kütahya branch. Working with international artists: Ali Zaidi, founding Co Director of Moti Roti – UK, Cristina Nuñez of the Self Portrait Experience – Italy and Selda Asal, founding Director of the Apartment Project – Turkey, it’s all about looking at how the arts and culture can support people in recovery from substance misuse to develop new life-opportunities through self-portraiture.

The symposium on the 17th July will share some of the artistic outputs, learning and responses from people taking part in the project. We will share an emergent Recoverist Manifesto that seeks to place individuals in recovery and others affected by addiction at the heart of proactive advocacy for cultural change in the way substance misuse is publicly perceived. We are thankful to everyone who has supported this project.

This free symposium with input from all three partner countries will also share the voices of participants and artists involved in the project. The day will feature the opening of the exhibition, I AM: Memoirs of Addiction Recovery in the Link Gallery at MMU to which delegates are invited between 4:00 and 6:00pm. We will confirm reserved symposium places a week before the event. Click on the arm above to find out more and apply for a ticket. 

Who's your Svengali?
So, Tracey Emin’s My Bed is up for auction this week with a guide price of £1.2 million and of course, there’s histrionics in the tabloids. Putting her personality-politics aside for a moment, it would be easy to lay into (no pun intended) this work as easy, lazy, contemporary nonsense. It’s not art surely? But I beg to differ on this one. 

Whilst people will obsess with the cult of Emin and the bed’s sale-tag, everyone’s favourite performance artist, Marina Abramović is posing and preening with the needy gallery going masses, all desperate for some existential fix. Abramović is concerned with ‘nothingness’ and ‘more and more of less and less’ apparently. Visitors to the Serpentine, where she’s going for her Guinness world record on Svengali-Art, ‘will both literally and metaphorically leave their baggage behind in order to enter the exhibition: bags, jackets, electronic equipment, watches and cameras may not accompany them.’ Poor visitors - it’ll be a big strain and probably frustrate most of them, not being able to get their communion with art, all posted up on youtube. Still, they can take comfort in the fact that ‘the public will become the performing body, participating in the delivery of an unprecedented moment in the history of performance art.’ Like an on-trend, quick-hit mindfulness exercise for busy and important people. 

I was in TATE Britain at the very moment in October 1999 when a couple of students started jumping up and down on My Bed. It might have been a Stuckist attack, or spontaneous whimsy, but it made me smile. I love a bit of art terrorism; Banksy sticking up his own masterpieces and fake labels on the real McCoy, or Robert Montgomery pasting up anti-consumerist poems on the marketeers very own bill-boards.  

Whilst the Serpentine remind us that, ‘Abramović is a pioneer of performance as an art form, using her own body as subject and object, she has pushed the physical and mental limits of her being,’ if it weren’t for her sometimes dubious political comments, I’m more inclined to the honesty of Emin and her bed. I’ve facilitated many public workshops with people outside the vapid world of the cultural elite and often use images of the bed as part of serious and passionate discussion with people who have really experienced the ‘limits’ of physical and mental being. And no, this isn’t instrumentalism - it’s engaging with contemporary art at the deepest level.

Go on Stuckists, Banksy, Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army or free-wheeling anarchists - how will you subvert this existential free-for-all? 

                            The artist has a migraine

BBC Children in Need Small Grants Programme 

The next deadline for applications to the BBC Children in Need Small Grants programme is the 1st September 2014. Through the Small Grants programme, funding up to £10,000 is available for projects that combat disadvantage and improve children and young people's lives. In particular, grants are available for projects that help children and young people experiencing:

Illness, distress, abuse or neglect

Any kind of disability

Behavioural or psychological difficulties

And / or living in situations of deprivation.

Read more at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4fJVTzz5QmQx5rx0S4NVg0Q/small-grants

People's Postcode Trust Small Grants Programme 

(Scotland, Wales and South of England excl. London & Greater London)

The People's Postcode Trust has announced that its small grants programme has will re-open for applications on the 7th July 2014. Through its small grants programme, the Trust offers grants of between £500 and £20,000 to small organisations and community groups for projects lasting up to 1 year (for organisations in Wales 6 months) in the areas of:

• Poverty Prevention
• Advancement of Health
• Community Development
• Public Sports
• Human Rights
• Environmental Protection.

www.postcodetrust.org.uk

Artists in Residence Grants 

The Levehulme Trust is offering grants of up to £15,000 to UK universities and museums to foster a new creative collaboration with an artist (visual artists, creative writers, musicians, poets) working in a discipline outside the institution's usual curriculum. Artists may not apply directly - all applications must be made by the host institution. There must be a distinct contrast between the artist and host department's expertise (for example, a poet being hosted by a physics department, a composer by a geography department). The residency must be a newly constituted collaboration between artist and hosts. The grants provide a stipend of up to £12,500 for the artist and consumable costs, such as artist's materials, of up to £2500. A typical residency would be for ten months based on the artist being present at the host institution for two days per week. The deadline for applications is 16th September 2014. Read more at

www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/AIR/AIRc.fm

Nurse Ratched: 'The best thing we can do is go on with our daily routine...'

The sun shines, infinite things are born and die and a warm breeze here and now, reminds me we're alive.

Over the last 6 months I’ve been involved in the facilitation of workshops with people in recovery from substance misuse. We’ve been meeting in small huddles, discussing life, discussing big things and small things. These have happened in Manchester and Liverpool, in Pistoia and Pescara and just this last week, the beautiful city of Kutahya and the streets of Istanbul. Whilst there are obvious cultural differences between those of us taking part in these conversations, there are things that bind us. We want to tell a story, shine a light, blow away the myths and stand proud. We want to generate new possibilities for people in recovery by challenging and changing attitudes. 

I AM - WE ARE

a   s  y  m  p  o  s  i  u  m         

I’ve been involved with a European Union, Life Long Learning Programme – Grundtvig funded project over these last few years, which comes to fruition on the 17th July with the opening of an exhibition here at MMU and a free symposium. This symposium will share some of the artistic outputs, learning and responses from people taking part in the project. We will share an emerging Recoverist Manifesto that seeks to place individuals in recovery and those affected by addiction at the heart of proactive advocacy for cultural change in the way substance misuse is publicly perceived. We are thankful to everyone who has supported this project. We will be circulating all details via an Eventsbright link for registration, with priority given to people in recovery and those involved in the field.

An evening with Will Self

I’ve been asked by so many people about the Will Self event on the 25th July that I’ll have to organise an Eventsbright page for details and registration. I’ll do this, this week and post them on this blog, on twitter and facebook. Next week, I’ll share details of the exhibition that’s bringing Will to Manchester: URBAN PSYCHOSIS and another unique and incredibly exciting public event that explores some of the myths and facts around psychosis, with groundbreaking and radical thinkers in psychology and from the Hearing Voices Network. Thanks to the LAHF for its generous contribution to the Will Self event through its Creativity and Wellbeing Week initiative.

Faculty of Public Health Annual Conference

This years conference is taking place in Manchester on July 2/3 where I’ll be speaking about Authenticity in Arts and Public Health. I’m thrilled that my friend and colleague Dr Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt will be presenting some of her findings for the AHRC’s Cultural Value project where she has been investigating longitudinal impact of arts engagement on health and wellbeing in Nordic countries...and so much more. We'll be sharing this work soon on a dedicated website. 

All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Regular reders of this blog will know that the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbing have been instrumental in establishing an All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPG). Whilst the group was formally established a few months ago, its first formal meeting will be held on July 2nd and its special subject will be The Care Act: How the arts and culture can contribute to improving the quality of care following the Francis Inquiry. I’m thrilled that Robert Francis QC who is widely recognised for his public inquiry into Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals, will be a speaker at this event. For my part, since I wrote A Bird in a Gilded Cage last year, I’ll be keen to see how the arts can influence broader thinking in the filed of care.

Also attending will be Dr Ellen Storm is a paediatric trainee in the Mersey region and the mother of three-year-old twin girls. She has been writing poetry for ten years and has had poems published in a vaiety of magazines. Ellen will read her poem Out of Hospital Arrest, which won the 2014 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine in the NHS category, of which Francis is a judge. She blogs at 

Nikki Crane, Head of Arts Strategy at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and Dr Suzy Willson, Artistic Director of Clod Ensemble (Performing Medicine) will also be speaking, and both are working with King’s College London Medical School to embed arts-based learning into the curriculum for medical students and with the Simulation and Interactive Learning Centre (SaIL) at St Thomas’ to integrate a training programme for healthcare professionals that addresses the recommendations of the Francis Report.

The discussion will be chaired by the Rt Hon. Paul Burstow MP with Co-Chairs: Rt Hon. Paul Burstow MP, Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport CBE, and Sarah Newton MP. I’ll report back on the proceedings after the event and as ever, extend my thanks to Alliance member Alexandra Coulter, for leading these important political developments.

The top 10 hospital stories

Author Sarah Moss suggests her top hospital stories, commenting, “I'm interested in writing about institutions because they are almost always in some sense utopian projects, attempts to intervene in the ways of the world. Schools, hospitals, orphanages, reformatories of all kinds, begin with the idea that an organisation could make things better, redress some of the damage we do to each other. And usually, whether they succeed in the original aim or not, institutions end up doing damage of their own, because power corrupts and visions don't work in practice and we are all hopeful but fallen beings.

I find hospitals particularly fascinating because of the harmony or discord between the stories of nurses, patients and doctors, and because of the complicated relationships between power, suffering and healing.” Read her selection by clicking on Nurse Ratched

One Thing, Many Stories

People’s History Museum

21 June 2014 — 10 July 2014

Photographing opportunity – Free family event day 21 June 12-4pm

Pod Collective has been funded by the Arts Council to showcase an exhibition at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, 21 June - 10 July. A celebration of shared collective memories and common experiences amongst refugees, asylum-seekers and a variety of other community groups, the exhibition takes the form of an embroidery installation combined with a photography exhibition. Click on the banner below. 

New Programme to Support Innovation in Public Libraries 

The Carnegie Trust has announced that it will launch a new programme in September 2014 to support public libraries. Called "Carnegie Library Lab" the programme aims to nurture innovation and leadership in the Public Library sector and will offer learning opportunities, mentoring, networking and a project funding. The project funding will be used to help successful applicants develop and implement innovative projects in relation to public libraries and services. The programme will run for three years, from 2014 to 2017. Read more at: 
http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/changing-minds/knowledge---culture/carnegie-library-lab

Women Make Music Grant Scheme 

The Performing Right Society (PRS) has announced that its Women Make Music grant scheme is now open for applications. Through the programme, financial support of up to £5000 is available. The next application deadline is the 29th September 2014. Read more at 
http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Funding/Women-Make-Music

Carnegie Challenge 

The Carnegie UK Trust has announced that it is offering up to ten not-for-profit organisations from the UK and Ireland the opportunity to win grants worth £3,000 to hold inspiring debates on how to improve people’s wellbeing.  The Carnegie UK Trust has been arguing that focusing on delivering economic growth as the sole indicator of social prosperity is flawed. Instead, the Trust believes the time is right for the UK and Ireland to shift its emphasis from economic production to improving people’s lives more broadly.  The Carnegie Challenge aims to support events around the UK and Ireland that will deepen understanding of what influences individual and societal wellbeing; explore how best to measure wellbeing and how this can be used to shape policy and practice; or examine what practical steps can be taken by third sector organisations and governments to improve wellbeing.  There will be three funding rounds in 2014 and the  closing date for the last funding round  is the 14th July 2014. Read more at 
http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/changing-minds/carnegie-challenge

A serious question: 
Does Michael Gove Exist? 

Click on the dashing young Gove to find out more… 

...a thing of fairy tales

Last Thursday evening saw Manchester School of Art welcome Vic McEwan from the CAD Factory to a free North West Arts and Health Networking event. Thanks to Vic and all of you who attended. Those of you came won’t quite know what a diverse group of people we were and I can tell you that there were a very rich mix of artists, curators, health professionals, academics and on this occasion, I’m thrilled to say - members of the general public - who gatecrashed the party!

Vic shared the work that he's been involved in with a community that had been devastated by floods in Australia, and all of us there were enthralled by his integrity, sensitivity and creative vision. He exposed us to what we so often hear cultural bureaucrats bang-on about: exceptional artistic quality. For my money, Vic could certainly give this presentation to the entirety of the School of Art and illuminate the wider social impact of what it is we all do. So, many conversations about ‘putting memories back into the landscape’ whilst holding negligent authorities to account. Vic shared some hard earned truths too, particularly about early resistance to artists having a role in traumatised communities.

He responded to difficult questioning, particularly around deficit of imagination, so often present in those resistant to change. For me, he reminded us of the importance of thinking about our arts and health agenda beyond narrow notions of individual pathology - and more broadly - communal wellbeing. Here are some comments from those who attended.

Here’s what some people said:

For starters, WOW! 

Vic's lecture was incredibly engaging, inspiring and almost magical: it was like BEING there, on the other side of the planet - witnessing all those fantastic ways of making art in the greatest possible way, which is HANDS ON. 

...impressed by Vic's work in Australia. It's amazing how the arts help people get through traumatic experience.

One of the most insightful, contemporary artist talks I have ever been to.

...a very useful and inspiring night...

Inspirational, sensitive, ethical, caring.......... joined up thinking....you can't beat it! 

Contemporary art practice can be what I think it should be!!!

His work is what I have been looking for for the last 5 years. Thank you for inviting him. I feel inspired and refreshed.

I’m pleased to be working with Vic over the next few years exploring musicality in everyday environments and maybe, just maybe sharing some new stories with you as we grow. You can read lots about Vic and his work by clicking on the images in this text and follow his blog/diary by clicking on the image below. A big THANK YOU to Vic from all of us.

Central to Vic’s presentation was the marriage of immersive high-quality practice and imagination, so it was strange to read reports (or perhaps knee-jerk misreporting) of the normally compelling Richard Dawkins lambasting children's fairy tales as being something that could cause great harm, suggesting that it was "pernicious to instill in a child the view that the world is shaped by supernaturalism.’ But hold on a minute - wasn’t this, as usual, taken out of context by the obvious newspapers? I know he comes over as pompous, especially when he’s got a book to peddle, but the essence of what he was asking was: "Is it a good thing to go along with the fantasy of childhood?," {…} "Or should we be fostering a spirit of scepticism?." I’d like to think that imagination fostered through fiction, song, poetry and all the arts, is not something to be cast-off in adulthood, but embraced throughout life - and who knows - that imagination might just foster a spirit of rebellion, of anarchy and action beyond words. As a committed humanist, I tend towards what I hope is a healthy scepticism and a simpletons knowledge of contemporary arts, would suggest a billion artists do too. 

Albert Einstein, when asked how we could make our children more intelligent, famously replied, "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." He understood the value of reading and the imagination.

Just a thought, but if I were to ask - in the case of a black hole - how is it possible to have something with zero volume and infinite density? I would be curious as to how an artist would respond and how a scientist would formulate a hypothesis! 

For artists wanting to play with this, my dim understanding of it is, spacetime around a black hole has infinite curvature, and matter is crushed to infinite density, under the pull of infinite gravity. So that’s three sets of infinities. At the singularity of the black hole, what we understand as the ‘laws’ of physics break down, so we are left (scientists and artists alike) to imagine, or if you prefer, hypothesise. For those with less confidence in their imagination, or blind panic at lack of empirical evidence, you can always turn to supernaturalism for your easy answer. (for my money, an artist like Bjork might offer interseting thoughts on the cosmos)

...an imaginative song that Richard Dawkins would in all probability enjoy

NEWS FLASH

Friend of Arts for Health and director of Lime Arts, Brian Chapman is one of the earliest pioneers of the Arts and Health movement.  After 38 years working as an artist in health care he is due to retire at the end of 2014. The details of the replacement post are not yet finalised but expressions of interest will be sought soon. Watch this space! But don’t ask questions prematurely! 

Ithell Colquhoun - Scylla - 1938

DEMENTIA & IMAGINATION

...a brief update. A long time ago, in a blog far, far away, I shared news of the AHRC funded research project that I am a part of called, Dementia & Imagination. More recently I  advertised3 research artist positions. We were inundated with brilliant applicants. Thank you all. I’m please to announce that the research intervention begins in earnest this month across the three sites in Derbyshire, the North East and North Wales. If you want to find out more about the project and keep up with all our emerging news, please visit the project website by clicking on the photograph below. Both Dr Kat Taylor and I have written blogpostings on that site for you to get a felling of where we’re coming from and what we hope to achieve. Click on Pears by William Scott for more information. 

The Wingate Foundation: Performing Arts Grants 

Performing arts (excluding music) grant. Particular emphasis is given to providing financial support for not-for-profit companies with a record of artistic excellence that require additional funding (not available from public sources or commercial sponsorship) to broaden their repertoire or develop work. Assistance also considered for training and professional development for creative talent or the technical professions. Deadlines: 23 Jun, 19 Sep & 12 Dec 2014. Read more by clicking on Green for Danger.

Healthy Hearts Grants 

Heart Research UK has announced that its Health Hearts Grants Programme will re-open for applications in July 2014. Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Grants support innovative projects designed to promote heart health and to prevent or reduce the risks of heart disease in specific groups or communities. Grants of up to £10,000 are available to community groups, voluntary organisations and researchers who are spreading the healthy heart message. The closing date for this funding round will be the 31st August 2014. Read more by clicking on paradise!

Urban Community-Owned Shops Pilot 

The Plunkett Foundation has announced the launch of new initiative, the Urban community-owned shops pilot. Working in partnership with Locality and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the pilot aims to support urban communities to create and benefit from new and sustainable community-owned shops. The shops will offer better access to good food, enhance community cohesion and provide robust retail solutions. The pilot will include a programme of events, enterprise support including specialist advice and resources, and financial help including grants, fundraising guidance and loan-provision.  The programme starts in April 2014 and will run for two years. Communities will be able to secure support for their idea at events to be held later this year. For more information please contact Hannah Barrett on 01993 810730 or at

http://www.plunkett.co.uk/newsandmedia/news-item.cfm/newsid/747

...another green world

Dear 'fellow citizens' the BFI have a Dennis Potter season beginning on the 6th June right through until the end of July and there’s a good article in the Guardian this weekend by Michael Newton who again reminds me how few writers there are that are able to hijack the media to such potent affect as ‘...an entertainer, an instructor and an emancipator.’ Now, why isn’t he on the national curriculum Mr Gove? I think he’d have a few chic words to share. Thank goodnes for Ken Loach then, who has blasted film critics for not engaging with working class people. He said he was disappointed about the reluctance of reviewers to engage with stories which don't "fit their preconceptions" as well as working-class characters who deviate from stereotypes such as "thugs, drug dealers or whores … the victims of their predicament rather than architects of its change". Keep it up Ken.

The Oldest Living Things in the World

Since 2004 the photographer, Rachel Sussman has been working with biologists researching continuously living things to photograph the oldest living things in the world. She captures ‘...multi-millennial lifespans in 1/60th of a second…and bears ‘...witness to organisms that precede human history and will hopefully survive us well into future generations.’ These mostly greenish images are beautiful and remind me of our fragility and transience...or perhaps something infinite...

I am very excited to be welcoming Australian artist Vic McEwan to Manchester this week as we embark on a long-term exploration of research and development opportunities as part of his fellowship. What to know more - and how you might be involved? Read on.

A project exploring community, health, trauma and experimental arts

Arts for Health present a free North West Arts and Health Network event on Thursday 5th June between 5pm and 7pm in the School of Art at MMU. Register your interest in attending by emailing artsforhealth@aol.com 

Please note registration doesn't guarantee a place and confirmation will be sent on Tuesday.

In April 2014 the Australian artist, Vic McEwan was announced to be New South Wales first ever Regional Arts Fellow. This fellowship period will last from 2014-16. Vic will make several visits to the UK to work with Arts for Health developing new opportunities for research and the creation of new experimental contemporary artwork in health settings.

On this first visit, Vic will talk about a ground-breaking Australian arts project he developed after devastating floods in the New South Wales town of Yenda. The Cad Factory is an artist led organisation creating an international program of new, immersive and experimental work guided by authentic exchange, ethical principles, people and place.

For more info on his work check out:

www.vicmcewan.com/#!past/galleryPage

www.artsnswfellowship.com

www.cadfactory.com.au

So, maybe see you this Thursday and if not, watch this space (or video below) for more details. 

Arts & MInds are recruiting for a Project Manager to run Arts on Prescription 

Arts and Minds believes in the benefits of the creative arts for sustaining and aiding recovery of mental health and well-being, and this is strongly supported by our research.  A&M’s vision is to help everyone throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough who has a mental health problem to live happier, more creative lives by providing opportunities for them to engage practically in all forms of the arts through participation in long and short-term projects. Arts on Prescription (Cambridgeshire) provides weekly workshops for adults experiencing mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Previous sessions were the subject of evaluation research carried out in association with Anglia Ruskin University and the London School of Economics which found that Arts on Prescription resulted in positive outcomes for 78% of participants in terms of self-reported improvement in levels of social isolation, anxiety, depression and wellbeing and is cost effective when compared to other therapies.

http://artsandminds.org.uk/arts-on-prescription/

Beyond Borders 

The Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Music Foundation, the UK's leading funder of new music across all genres, has announced that its Beyond Borders fund has re-opened for applications. The Beyond Borders Fund provides funding of up to £15,000 to stimulate collaborations between organisations in England, Northern lreland, Scotland and Wales. The scheme enables music creators to produce exceptional new music to be performed in at least two UK countries. Launched in 2010, the scheme has supported 31 co-commissioning projects so far, bringing together organisations and music creators across the UK and abroad. Beyond Borders has been made possible by a pioneering UK wide partnership between PRS for Music Foundation, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Creative Scotland who joined forces to support cross border collaboration. The closing date for applications is 6 pm on the 10th July 2014. Read more at  http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Partnerships/Flagship-Programmes/Beyond-Borders

Hilton in the Community Foundation Central Grants

Registered Charities that work with young people have the opportunity to apply for grants through the Hilton Foundation Central Grants Programme. Registered Charities can apply for grants ranging from a few hundred pounds up to £30,000 per year for up to 2 years that are working in the areas of education or health with one of the Foundation' four chosen focus groups. These are

disabled children;

children in hospital;

young people that are homeless;

and life-limited children requiring palliative care.

There is approximately £150,000 available to distribute each quarter. Grant applications for up to £10,000 can be approved by the Committee, and applications for more than £10,000 are recommended to the Trustees for final approval. There is no limit on the amount of money that a charity can request. However, the Foundation is a small charity and generally will not make awards of over £30,000 (per year). Funding can be requested for up to 2 years for any particular project. The next closing date for applications is the 29th July 2014. Read more at: https://www.hilton-foundation.org.uk/apply.html

Artists in Residence Grants 

The Levehulme Trust is offering grants of up to £15,000 to UK universities and museums to foster a new creative collaboration with an artist (visual artists, creative writers, musicians, poets) working in a discipline outside the institution's usual curriculum. Artists may not apply directly - all applications must be made by the host institution. There must be a distinct contrast between the artist and host department's expertise (for example, a poet being hosted by a physics department, a composer by a geography department). The residency must be a newly constituted collaboration between artist and hosts. The grants provide a stipend of up to £12,500 for the artist and consumable costs, such as artist's materials, of up to £2500. A typical residency would be for ten months based on the artist being present at the host institution for two days per week. The deadline for applications is 16th September 2014. Read more at:

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/AIR/AIR.cfm

Arts Council Funding Available for Bridge Organisations 

To help ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts, Arts Council England will fund a small number of 'Bridge' organisations. Bridge organisations are primarily facilitators and will use their experience and expertise to connect children and young people, schools and communities with art and culture. Bridge Organisations are not expected to directly deliver arts and cultural opportunities for children and young people. Their role is to provide an environment in which cultural education can flourish both in and out of school. The Bridge role may be undertaken by a museum, an arts organisation or an arts education agency. The minimum grant that must be applied for is £500,000. Potential applicants must have a preliminary conversation with the Arts Council before applying. The application process is ongoing and there are no deadlines. Read more at

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/funding-programmes/bridge-organisations-2015-18/

A damn fine quote
'Many clever people make absolutely rotten parents and many people who are intellectually impaired are warm and caring and provide children with a wonderful upbringing'
Mrs Justice Parker, a high court judge, ruled this week that a baby should not be adopted due to his mothers learning difficulties.

Telemedicine, Here I Come!

By Hind Benjelloun, MD @hbenjelloun 



My decision to
pursue a career in telemedicine was a long process. I had a comfortable, stable
clinical position at a highly regarded academic center in a lively city. But I
kept wondering if my career needed a boost. I found myself thinking, career
development takes risk. Medicine is an ever-changing and growing field. I
felt that I had to embrace some changes myself if I wanted to keep up.



Telemedicine is a relatively new discipline. The idea of
incorporating health care with technology, specifically the web, may have some
rolling their eyes or shaking their heads. But, simply put, it is the future of
healthcare; and it is certainly getting the buzz these days.

The American Telemedicine Association is rapidly growing and developing
its services and its role in healthcare. Many medical and scientific
organizations are recognizing the importance of the discipline as well. You can
see it reflected in the number of publications, conference seminars, and
available CME. Tech gurus are predicting that the recent acquisition of Oculus
by Facebook will be a game changer in the tech industry and will further grow
telemedicine’s influence.



So I took the plunge into a field in its infancy. I went for it.
 Telepsychiatry! After almost ten years at Georgetown University Medical
Center, I drastically shifted gears to pursue a full time career in crisis
telepsychiatry.



In this career change, I have been labeled a pioneer among colleagues
and friends. It feels wonderful to immerse myself in such an innovative
healthcare movement. My healthy narcissism embraces it and it strengthens my
confidence in what some may call a risky career decision. Today, telepsychiatry
is revolutionary in the way it enhances access to care. And although right now
telepsychiatry is primarily seen as a means of engaging the rural patient
population, it will progress in the medical community as a future medical norm.
The evidence is growing and continues to demonstrate the boom of telemedicine
and its success.

Still, taking the leap into telepsychiatry had its downsides.



Because of its youth, telemedicine lacks a number of accessible mentors
who can guide the process. There are few clinicians who have an “institutional”
knowledge of telemedicine to share. This means that other than the anecdotal
accounts that you may read in a journal or blog post about what it’s like to
venture into the world of telemedicine as a provider, there aren’t many
reputable sources to turn to.  I had trouble knowing what to expect.



I started working with InSight, a national telepsychiatry provider
company earlier this year. As a crisis telepsychiatrist with InSight, I have
the ability to seamlessly transition between seeing patients at multiple
hospitals in multiple states back to back. Today, I love my job. But the
legislative hurdles I had to jump through to get going were a major headache.



I was completely committed to offering services right away when I made
the decision to start practicing telepsychiatry. I was ready to go. But I had
no idea what kind of challenges I would encounter as I attempted to receive
licensing from medical boards that all work independently of each other.



After the first hurdle of becoming licensed, I thought I had passed the finish
line. But to my surprise, I was back to waiting on privileges from hospitals
that were scrutinizing my immunization records and testing my knowledge of
their fire code. This all seems so frivolous and a waste of time, effort and
money. Didn’t they understand that I would be seeing patients remotely?



When I finally began working with a regular schedule, I found myself
asking, why did it take so long for me to be able to actually see patients and
provide care?



The answer lies in legislation. The laws and regulations in place for
telemedicine are significantly outdated. Why is my medical license in one state
insufficient in another? Big changes are needed to reflect the advent of
technology’s integration into medicine. And when it comes down to it, it’s the
patients who suffer from these outdated practices the most.



The shortage of psychiatric prescribers, as well as other types of
providers in the United States is a growing problem. Telemedicine is an
important way of addressing that shortage with the providers we already have.

Thankfully, there is yet hope. The Federation of State Medical Boards
(FSMB) has recognized this unnecessary obstacle to patient care and the strain
inflicted on telemedicine as an industry.  At its annual meeting at the end
of April, the FSBM will vote on adopting the federation’s Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, a licensing option that would allow qualified physicians to
expedite licensure in all states who participate in the Compact. Telemedicine
as a field of practice would be transformed dramatically with the adoption of
the Compact. Fingers crossed.



I am enthusiastic about potential for growth of telepsychiatry and
telemedicine. But I believe providers must take an active role in pioneering
this new form of care, and pushing for its successful implementation for the
people who need it—our patients.



Bottom line—we are in this for our patients, and it is our patients who
will benefit the most from telemedicine and a successful reevaluation of the
legislation that regulates it.

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