...feeling detached from oneself

News coming in...as well as taking statins ad infinitum and perhaps something to calm your nerves - or pep you up, or help with your weight gain, now there’s a new lifestyle pill to stop you craving that unnecessary glass of wine in the evening. Yes, ‘drinkers who have half a bottle of wine or three pints a night are to be offered a life-saving pill which helps reduce their alcohol consumption. Nearly 600,000 people will be eligible to receive the nalmefene* tablet to keep their cravings at bay.’ Read more by clicking on the bottle of plonk. Great to see Big-Pharma showing us the way again and designers of this ‘brain disease’ drug, Lundbeck have shrewdly had their eyes on the cash cow. Who gives a damn about the social and cultural causes of addiction when there’s money to be made? *rhymes with Soylent Green

Of course, the issue of substance addiction is serious and needs a multi-faceted approach, but still, you have to smile - the side effects of this miracle pill, as registered on Medicines UK offer a better night out than a bottle of Blue Nun! Here they are for your delectation.

Possible side effects 
Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them. Few cases of side effects of seeing, hearing or sensing things that are not there or feeling detached from oneself have been reported. However, the frequency of these side effects cannot be estimated from the available data. {…}

In some cases, it may be difficult for you to distinguish side effects from the symptoms you may feel when you reduce your alcohol consumption. 

The following side effects have been reported with Selincro: 
Very common, which may affect more than 1 in 10 people: 
feeling sick, dizziness, inability to sleep, headache 

Common, which may affect up to 1 in 10 people: 
loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, confusion, feeling restless, reduced sex drive, drowsiness, body twitches, feeling less alert, peculiar sensation in the skin like pins and needles, reduced sense of touch, racing heart, a sensation of a rapid, forceful, or irregular beating of the heart, vomiting, dry mouth, excessive sweating, muscle spasms, feeling of exhaustion, weakness, discomfort or uneasiness, feeling strange, weight loss 

Other side effects: 
seeing, hearing or sensing things that are not there 
feeling detached from oneself 
At this time, the frequency of these side effects cannot be estimated from the available data. 

LET THE WELLBEING WARS BEGIN...
So, with our wellbeing in mind, it's the time of year when the Office for National Statistics churn out the latest data on National Wellbeing - well, their ‘measured’ version of it. Here are their handy 8 new insights into UK personal well-being for 2013/14:

1. 27% of UK adults rated their life satisfaction at a very high level in 2013/14, an increase on the previous year.
2. Unchanged on the previous year, 6% of UK adults rated their life satisfaction at a low level in 2013/14.
3. 33% of UK adults rated their happiness at a very high level in 2013/14, an increase on the previous year.
4. 10% of UK adults rated their happiness at a low level in 2013/14, a fall on the previous year.
5. 33% of UK adults gave very high ratings in 2013/14 when asked if they feel the things they do in life are worthwhile, a rise on the previous year.
6. A small but steady minority of around 4% of UK adults gave very low ratings when asked if they feel the things they do in life are worthwhile.
7. 39% of UK adults rated their anxiety levels as very low in 2013/14 with more people reporting low anxiety this year than last.
8. 20% of UK adults rated their anxiety at a high level in 2013/14, a fall on the previous year

You can chew over this to your hearts content, by clicking on the genuinely scientific photograph of levitation above, for their full report, but I still retain an uneasiness about this economic obsession with happiness and increasingly mindfulness, which once the policy makers commandeer them as hard objectives, we enter the land of the deluded. Mind you, there are plenty of pharmacological options to up your happiness quota! The All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics make a case for both mindfulness and arts/health, but without sounding like a stuck-record - what about pessimism, anger and discontent. I still rather hope that arts and culture might not leave us sedated and smiling in our individualistic corners, but provoke us into a little discontent to. Click on the extraordinary factual flying chair photograph below for their report.

What is even more interesting to read, is the report of Professor, Dame Sally Davies, the Governments Chief Medical Officer and her timely rebuttal of all things wellbeing too, particularly the cult of wellbeing’s ‘hypothesis’ set out in the 2008 Foresight Report, that:

‘Achieving a small change in the average level of wellbeing across the population would produce a large decrease in the percentage with mental disorder, and also in the percentage who have sub-clinical disorder.’ 

Davies suggests that ‘this hypothesis was accepted as proven without question’ and that ‘there is still a lack of consensus over fundamental questions such as: what mental well-being is, how it relates to public mental health and illness and what value is placed on it across society.’ 

I applaud her view that, ‘It is entirely possible to have a mental illness, and simultaneously to enjoy high levels of subjective well-being – and vice versa.’ She suggests that we build on the robust tradition within ‘quality of life’ research, furthermore, ‘strong correlations between these quality of life and life satisfaction measures have been reported. It makes sense to build on this research rather than reinventing the wheel by starting again with a new concept of mental well-being in mental health outcomes.’

Ultimately she suggests keeping the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 in focus, which incorporate the following key concepts: 

• mental health promotion, (i.e: the determinants of mental health) 
• mental illness prevention, (which is concerned with the causes of disease) 
• treatment and rehabilitation. 

Concluding that we ‘should invest in these opportunities rather than being side-tracked by ill-defined approaches to ‘well‑being’ which currently go well beyond existing evidence’, Davies provides us with a serious critique to the wellbeing agenda and calls for robust evidence.    The challenge is there if you want it. 

Click on the image of Dame Sally (in the handsome black hat) consulting with the WHO below, to read her summary report. 

LUMINATE

On the 14th November, director of Arts and Health Australia Margret Meagher will be speaking at the Luminate Festival in Scotland. I’m thrilled to be attending the 6th Annual International Arts and Health Conference in Melbourne where I will be giving a keynote on the I AM: Art as an Agent for Change work on addiction recovery. I’ll be giving the first public outing of the Recoverist Manifesto and working with people in recovery in Australia to contribute to Recoverism.

Community Arts as Social and Psychological Medicine? 
2.00-5.00pm, Saturday 8th November, 2014, Birley Fields Campus, MMU
This event explores the potential benefits of arts participation in relation to health, wellbeing and social inclusion. Attendees will have the chance to find out about arts for health projects led by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) from the perspective of social science researchers and artists, and to try out various arts activities for themselves. Creative music, dance and Javanese gamelan (percussion orchestra) taster workshops will be on offer, with additional opportunities for those taking part to feedback their own experiences and contribute to a wider discussion. The event is open to anyone with an interest in the topic, no previous experience is required
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-arts-as-social-and-psychological-medicine-tickets-12287071963?aff=eorg

Useful work versus useless toil
Please join us for the launch of a new site specific installation on Great Ancoats Street, Manchester by artist Lucy Harvey on Thursday 9th October, from 6-8pm.

Useful work versus useless toil reinterprets the collection of Thomas Horsfall's Ancoats Art Museum through artefacts and vitrines made in co-production with young people from mental health charity 42nd Street.

The processes and forms of the arts and crafts movement, industrial production and plant taxonomy have been appropriated to create a collection of objects of ambiguous function. Taking its title from the William Morris lecture of the same name, useful work versus useless toil considers the contemporary function of the decorative arts and museum collections in interpreting the natural world and our industrial heritage.

Useful work versus useless toil is installed across the facade of 42nd Street, located at 87 Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, M4 5AG. The work can be viewed from the street and is lit between the hours of 9.30am - 7pm, Monday – Thursday (5pm on Fridays) until December 2014. http://42ndstreet.org.uk/news/press-release/ 

ArtWorks: Developing Practice in Participatory Settings
Reaping the benefits of helping artists learn
Shared investment in the learning and CPD needs of artists working in participatory settings will reap benefits for everyone, from commissioners and training providers to employers and funders, new ArtWorks research shows. The latest ArtWorks paper, ‘What do you need?’ Learning approaches for artists in participatory settings, sets out the key features of learning opportunities which artists say work best for them. Read more at: http://www.artworksphf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/What-do-you-need-learning-approaches-report.pdf 

What will survive of us...

I went along to the opening of the Asia Triennial on Friday night curated by friend and colleague, Alnoor Mitha. The event took place in the bowels of the Imperial War Museum North and alongside the relics of war and violence, the triennial with its subtitle of ‘conflict and compassion’ was entirely suited to such an forbidding space. 

Not being the most eloquent art critics, and having not yet seen the galleries all around Greater Manchester where much of the work is happening, I can only report being inspired by the great effort led by Alnoor and his always friendly team. Brilliant people.

My one disappointment is that the real gem of the show didn’t materialise. That was the physical presence of Iranian born, Afghan street artist and friend of Arts for Health, Shamsia Hassani who I had the pleasure of introducing to Alnoor last year. Her projected images in the space and large welcoming banners outside the museum only served to frustrate and amplify her absence.

Why was Shamsia not with us? Bureaucracy and maybe just a touch of hysteria on the part of the British High Commission, who oh so helpfully insist that for local Afghani's to travel to the UK they need to first travel to either Pakistan or India to obtain a visa! For someone teaching full time and being an artist of significance in Afghanistan, you’d think that some effort might have been made to make this happen more easily for her. An opportunity for British diplomacy to shine - lost! Shamsia, you were missed!

Separate to the curated works and sat amongst the weapons of war, was a dark and truly grizzly object - deformed steel girders from the ‘twin towers’ - like some exhausted brutalist giant in the corner. Compelling, and for my part, something that called out for me to touch it. I didn’t, because all the signs said not to. Would it have been disrespectful?  

Like some medieval tomb of long-dead lovers, rubbed smooth by a thousand patinating hands, to me, this monolith demands some physical connection. More than that, it uncomfortably conjoins the triennial with the bleakest aspects of humanity. What, I wondered, would sound-artists make of this, the most potent of objects? I imagined it ‘amped up’ with pickups and played to a silent auditorium, its various struts and disjointed spurs of metal caressed, stroked and plucked, raising up some deeper melancholic symphony. 

ASDA Foundation Community Grants Programme

Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available for not-for-profit organisations to develop stronger better connected communities across the UK by targeting the key social issues that are affecting local communities. Grants are available for not-for-profit organisations to develop stronger better connected communities across the UK by targeting the key social issues that are affecting local communities. Funding is available for initiatives that will support local communities and meet the following criteria:

• Will make a significant difference benefitting the wide local community.
• Addresses the needs of the local community.
• Tackles the underlying issues in the local community.
• Has used evidence of community needs and aspirations to develop an existing model.
• Will transform the community, improving the lives of those who live there.

Read more at: http://www.asdafoundation.org/grant

...the void

.

Scotland - what can I add to this debate? Nothing - other than 84.5% of elegible voters cast their votes! Amazing. Isn’t there something of a philosophical and moral debate to be had about why so many people don’t vote in general elections? Disconnected - lost - uninspired? Public art and Amy Winehouse - what can I add to the debate? Nothing - other than disconnected and uninspired?

Make of it what you will...

Wellbeing analysis makes stronger case for the arts

Following a year-long inquiry, a cross-party group of MPs has concluded that investment in arts and culture, mindfulness in health and education, a focus on stable jobs rather than growth and more green spaces in our cities are all key to improving wellbeing. Wellbeing in four policy areas, a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics, concludes that the DCMS and the arts sector more generally should use ‘wellbeing analysis’ to make a better case for public spending on the arts and culture, as this approach is better able to “value nonmarket goods, and goods which we value for reasons that have little to do with the market”. Read more at: http://b.3cdn.net/nefoundation/ccdf9782b6d8700f7c_lcm6i2ed7.pdf 

Funding for Projects that Address Urban & Rural Deprivation 

The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation has announced that capital and revenue funding is available to support the work of local and national charities and not-for-profit organisations that address rural and urban deprivation. Within these two main headings, the Trust is interested in helping established projects which work in the fields of:

• Community Support
• Arts, Education & Heritage
• Disability & Health Care.

The type of projects the Trust are interested in funding include projects providing transport for the elderly, disabled or disadvantaged; contact networks for the young disabled; projects which encourage a sense of community such as community centres and village halls; employment training schemes especially those promoting local, traditional crafts; projects addressing issues such as drug/alcohol misuse or homelessness.

There are three grants schemes. These are:

• The Large Grant Scheme, with grants of between £10,000 and £30,000 to cover capital costs
• The Small Grant Scheme, grants of between £5,001 and £9,999 to cover capital and revenue costs;
• The Fast Track Scheme with grants of up to £5,000 to cover capital and revenue costs.

In addition, the Foundation also provides funding to support capital projects at hospices throughout the UK; and on local projects providing support for mothers and babies in the first two years of life. The Grants Committee meets quarterly to consider applications at the beginning of February, May, September and November. The deadlines for submitting applications are generally 2 months before the date of a meeting. Read more at

http://www.trusthousecharitablefoundation.org.uk/ 

From Micro-Chips to Oven-Chips...

Lo, and it came to pass, that a micro-chip was created that could cure all life's ills! Well, not quite, but it seems that as a counter-blast to low fat oven-chips, scientists have their eyes on providing us with the ‘magic-bullet’ to tackle the big beast of potential money-makers - obesity. You see, it’s all to do with our hormones and not those irresistible itsy-witsy fast-food offers that are thrust down our throats at every turn that we just simply can’t resist. 

Obesity is one of the greatest burdens on the NHS increasing the risk of conditions including diabetes, some cancers, heart, liver and kidney disease, gallstones and reduced fertility. The National Obesity Forum says that a quarter of adults are now considered obese and that, based on current trends, this could exceed one in every two by 2050. About 12,000 hospital appointments every year are for obesity-related conditions, the group says.

Behind the much fabled micro-chip is Professor Steve Bloom, who has combined the disciplines of physics, psychiatry and chemistry to tackle what he describes as the greatest killer of the modern day. His career has been focused on gut hormones and the discovery that the oxyntomodulin hormone reduces appetite and could offer a potential new treatment for obesity, This led to the creation of his company Thiakis, which was sold to the US pharmaceutical company Wyeth in 2008 for $150 million! Wyeth has significant ongoing research in metabolic diseases and is a ‘leader in the development and commercialisation of biotechnology-based drugs.’

As well as your gastric band, your weight-watchers, your faddy diet, packets of pills and mindfulness, we’re now on the brink of having, ‘an "intelligent microchip", which can send signals to the brain to stop the urge to eat.’

So, bugger the guilt and purchase your implant and I’m sure there’ll be shed-loads of data gathered from your inner recesses that might be sold-on to other sales teams. Who knows, if all else fails, google-glass might come up with a canny way of making us see ourselves as the perfect svelte creatures we’re told we should be, whilst harvesting shed loads of your personal data and flogging it on to the highest bidder.

Remember obesity is absolutely nothing at all to do with cheap supersized meals, cheep booze, sedentary lifestyles, lack of aspiration, poverty, being made to feel like dirt and told all your dreams need to be purchased and paid for on credit - a 4x4, flat-screened, double-glazed, upgraded, index-linked lifestyle! Our phone-ins, small-add lonely hearts, lottery fixated, overpriced care homes, privatised sports centres, comfort eating, disconnected, too thin-too fat obsessed tabloids, page 3 ‘girls’ side by side with anorexics, booze guzzling, armchair-phone-voting-TV-addicted, technologically deluded spoon-fed nanny-state-sponsored prescriptions, market-driven consumer lifestyle, has no part whatsoever in this ‘obesity epidemic’ - honestly.

Oh, and I understand that dear old MacDonald's has started an oh-so-needed delivery service for those of us so unable to leave our armchairs, and they'll bring super-sized slops straight to us. Hey, one day they may purée it and provide us with our very own clown-carer to spoon feed us to. 

Obviously, this is a serious issue and innovations like the micro-chip are potentially groundbreaking, but continuing to pathologise ‘diseases’ that are socially influenced, divorces us from personal choice and the consequences of our actions and our glib dependence on mopping up after the event. What about the governments ‘nudge unit’ that I understand has been part privatised! Where’s the evidence of the Behavioural Insights Team on affecting systemic lifestyle change? Obesity is a public health issue and a political issue.

Tracking study reveals public interest in the arts
A slightly higher proportion of UK adults have an interest in arts and culture (87%) than have an interest in sports (84%), according to the latest research into attitudes to the arts, although there are significant differences between men and women, with sports interest biased towards men, and arts and culture skewed towards women. Among young adults, almost as many think of themselves as an ‘arty person’ (49%) as a ‘sporty person’ (51%), and whilst only a quarter of all adults rate their general knowledge of arts and culture ‘much better’ or ‘a bit better’ than most, this figure is much higher (36%) among 16 to 29 year olds. The under-45s are also far more likely than those aged 45 and over to agree that arts and culture are important in helping them to understand the world around them. Find out more at:

http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/tracking-study-sheds-light-attitudes-culture

Youth Arts and Health Conference

Rochdale Youth Service are looking to hold a Youth Arts and Health Conference in early March 2015. They are looking to develop a programme of young people’s health related projects, including a visual arts exhibition and a showcase of dance, drama and music. With interactive young people’s workshops and a series of speakers who could talk to professionals and young people on related themes, they are very interested to hear from anyone who might like to contribute to this conference. Please email Vicky Lomax at Rochdale Borough Council vicky.lomax@rochdale.gov.uk

Conrad Botes. Secret Language II. 2005. Lithograph, composition: 17 11/16 x 14 15/16" (45 x 38 cm). Publisher and printer: The Artists’ Press, White River, South Africa Edition: 30. The Museum of Modern Art. General Print Fund. © 2011 Conrad Botes

From our own correspondent... 

More from Victoria Hume in South Africa.

"...communities and patients seem far more open to arts as a tool for allowing their voice to be heard, allowing them to become empowered."

http://artshealthsouthafrica.wordpress.com/ 

Granada Foundation Grants Programme 
(North West England)

The Granada Foundation has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 24th September 2014. Through its grants programme, the Foundation wishes to encourage and promote the study, practice and appreciation of the fine arts, including drawing, architecture and landscape architecture, sculpture, literature, music, opera, drama, cinema, and the methods and means of their dissemination. The Foundation also welcomes applications which aim to engage and inspire young people and adults to take an interest in science. The Advisory Council meets three times a year at regular intervals to consider applications. There is a clear preference for new projects; although the Foundation will support festivals and other annual events, this should not be regarded as automatically renewable. Prospective applicants are advised, in the first instance, to provide a brief outline of the project for which funding is sought by completing a short enquiry form or by telephoning the Administrator for an informal discussion, on 01244 661867. Read more at: http://www.granadafoundation.org/howtoapply/tabid/80/Default.aspx 

Digital Projects with a Social Impact

Next grant deadline: 22 September 2014

The Nominet Trust which provides funding and support to imaginative social technology ventures has announced that the next funding round of its Social Tech Seed Investment Programme will open for applications on the 22 September 2014. Social Tech Seed is an investment programme that offers early-stage investment of between £15,000 and £50,000 to entrepreneurs who are looking to develop new ventures using digital for social impact. This programme provides funding and support to help entrepreneurs nurture, develop and test their ideas. The Trust is looking for applications that demonstrate the potential of technology to tackle some of the big social issues in sectors including education, employability, healthcare and the environment.The Trust are hosting a series of pre-application events and web chats to give potential applicants the opportunity to find out more about what the Trust are looking for in a social tech venture and ask any questions about their project. Read more at www.nominettrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/our-investment-programmes-0 

Dementia Hub Project Manager 
(West Cornwall)

The essential requirements for the job are:

• Knowledge and experience of cutting edge practice in person centred dementia support
• Knowledge and experience of the role of participatory Arts in enhancing quality of life and wellbeing
• Knowledge and experience of support work
• Capacity to self direct, research and build supportive connections between formative evidence based learning and service improvement
• Experience at working in partnership with multiple agencies and stakeholders.  http://m.monster.co.uk/138858875 

➘➘➘➘➘➘➘➘➘➘ ➚➚➚➚➚➚➚➚➚➚

Arts for Health are about to embark on an exploration of the impact of arts interventions on the mental health and wellbeing of nursing and care staff in the UK and further afield. We would be interested to read any papers, academic or journalistic in style, or have a brief outline of your work in this field. We are particularly keen to hear about the efficacy of measurement tools like WEMWBS. Just email artsforhealth@aol.com Thank you. 

The Bland Middle-Ground of Arts and Health...
A few years ago I posted this short clip of the actress Queenie Watts imposing something of her characters personality on the day-to-day tedium of a residential care-home. I share it again, not just because it makes me smile, but because as well as the Dementia and Imagination project that I have the pleasure of working on, it seems that at every corner I turn, people are scrabbling around to create the worlds greatest arts project with people affected by memory loss. Every conceivable art form is being sold as the next great breakthrough in dementia care - quite often bland and poorly conceived - driven by well intentioned, but deluded self-belief. 

Although I work in the field of arts/health, I have a dark fear about the wholesale reduction of culture and the arts to some bland wellbeing formula for older people. Isn’t it obvious that access to the arts will have a profound impact on people? But isn’t it even more blindingly obvious that lots of people don’t access the arts because they don’t think it’s relevant - can’t afford it - haven’t experienced it - or it’s not something offered in their postcode? (well, perhaps some nanny-state-sponsored Legz Akimbo might be). This week I saw the blistering Helen McCrory as Medea*. Sitting not too far from me, was a woman I know to have dementia. It was thrilling to see her absorbed and moved by this violent and deeply harrowing tragedy. A dangerous theatre visit for someone affected by dementia perhaps? I think not. Let us up the ante in our creative thinking.

I’ve spent too many hours in care homes, hospitals and other waiting rooms to know that the most isolated older people would probably enjoy a bit of decent company and conversation more than anything else. We’ve got ourselves in a bad way, when we’re forced to house our elders in overcrowded terminal transit depots, whilst we work all hours possible to line the pockets of owners, who pay their underpaid, uninspired bank-staff to sing prescription songs of bygone days, to the rheumy-eyed depressives, who we’ll all ultimately replace. We should be concerned - deeply concerned. Well, Queenie does it for me every time. It’s that determined look in her eyes, the defiant hammering of a sub-standard piano, the self determination and just a little bit of frustrated rage at this sub-standard experience of living. Forget worrying about purgatory in the 'after life', it's here on earth and just around the corner.

The Art of the Phone Booth in Remote Northern Territory

Anyone over the age of 20 may just remember the tail-end of a time, when to talk to friends and lovers, (beyond the prying ears of the family) we were dependent on phoneboxes on street corners. Foul piss-smelling places, scrawled with scratched-out names and numbers and more often than not, non too sophisticated renditions of genitalia. Bob Gosforth has written a neat little article on the phone booths in the remote Northern Territory of Australia, which reflects on these last out-posts for people who need to communicate from the middle of vast empty spaces, but who might not have credit or can’t afford, or access a mobile. Click on the image below to read the article.

The Chandelier of Lost Earrings... 

...has been named as the winner in the Best Arts Project category of the 2014 National Lottery Awards, following a public vote. Made from more than 3,000 single earrings, donated by people who have lost the other half of the pair, the sculpture is 2.5 metres tall and was first exhibited in the courtyard of St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester before going on to tour the country. Big congratulations to Lauren and Sharon and click on the image below for more info.

Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust

The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust which awards grants to registered charities in the United Kingdom has announced that the next closing date for applications is 1 November 2014. During 2014, the Trust is seeking to fund projects that promote Music and the Arts and help the elderly. Grants are usually between £1,000 and £3,000 and are awarded for one year. Read more at: http://www.austin-hope-pilkington.org.uk/

Interactive Health Care Fund Opens for Applications 

Creative England has announced a new £1million fund for regional based Small and medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), designed to stimulate creative and digital innovation in UK healthcare. The fund aims to encourage small creative and digital businesses in the North, Midlands and South West regions to develop innovative concepts or prototypes using digital technology to improve patient care and health services. The first of four programmes to open as part of this fund is the West Midlands Interactive Healthcare Fund. This is a £250,000 fund that will offer five £50,000 investments to support projects that focus on:

Improving quality of care

Caring for people with dementia

Supporting people with long-term conditions

Data visualisation.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis and the fund will close on 31 October 2014. Read more at http://www.creativeengland.co.uk/business/interactive-healthcare-fund

Media Therapy Developer

An exciting opportunity has become available for a motivated media graduate to apply theirproduction and project management skills and expertise in a unique environment. The post has been created as a result of an innovative Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project, The Nottinghamshire healthcare NHS Trust and The Lincoln School of Film and Media at the University of Lincoln. The successful candidate will be based at The Peaks Unit which is located within the high secure Rampton Hospital. The Peaks is a centre for the treatment of men with severe personality disorder and the project will form part of the unit’s “Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)”. 

The project aims to design and produce a system for patients to create interactive drama and then disseminate that drama to others within the hospital via the units secure media system. There will also be the expectation that the associate will work with clinicians and academics to produce a system for measuring patient engagement with the process and products. http://jobs.lincoln.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=EL1101

*Medea, written in 431BC by Euripides. Even though I didn’t want to think any more about what psychosis might, or might not be, this play provokes a deep questioning of what constitutes ‘insanity’ in the face of abuse by the individual and by society. Bloody brilliant. 

☆ ☆

Great to see the work of Sarah Corbett and the Craftivists Collective thriving. Here’s her latest posting on the #wellMAKING Crafitivist Garden. I particularly like her update on the 5-Ways to Wellbeing!

Craft. Connect. Reflect. Challenge. Grow. 

Calling all Guerrilla Artists

Following the huge success of our first Guerrilla Arts Workshop in July, Alternative Futures Group are now inviting artist submissions for their 2014/15 Guerrilla Arts Project. - See more by clicking on the poster below.

The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation

The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation has announced that capital and revenue funding is available to support the work of local and national charities and not-for-profit organisations that address rural and urban deprivation. Within these two main headings, the Trust is interested in helping established projects which work in the fields of:

•  Community Support

•  Arts, Education & Heritage

•  Disability & Health Care

The type of projects the Trust are interested in funding include projects providing transport for the elderly, disabled or disadvantaged; contact networks for the young disabled; projects which encourage a sense of community such as community centres and village halls; employment training schemes especially those promoting local, traditional crafts; projects addressing issues such as drug/alcohol misuse or homelessness.

The Grants Committee meets quarterly to consider applications at the beginning of February, May, September and November. The deadlines for submitting applications are generally 2 months before the date of a meeting. Read more at: http://www.trusthousecharitablefoundation.org.uk/ 

Comic Relief

Comic Relief's grant making programme has moved away from funding in specialist areas, to supporting a wider range of work that meets with one of its four themes:

• Safer Lives 
• Better Futures 
• Healthier Finances 
• Fairer Society 

Comic Relief will make grants for up to 3 years, for a minimum of £10,000.   There is no maximum grant size, however an average grant size is for £130,000 over three years.  Comic Relief will consider applications for core costs from organisations where the entire work of the organisation fits strongly with the theme.  All applications must also fit with one of Comic Relief's priorities. For further information click on the beautiful Robert Walser quote above. 

(thanks Mark P for the image)

A sparse blog this week - swamped and slightly disconnected. Big fat blackberries picked from hedgerows and scratched purple hands as a distraction from all that lies ahead. The green, green fields and trees somehow overbearing.