"…the quiet attention of others."

Coral Mallow

An evening with George Khut
So after all the brilliant feedback from last week’s Chaos & Comfort event, and keeping my promise, I’m pleased to confirm that we'll be hosting three FREE events over the next few months - another 'big event' in June and before that, another visit from Vic McEwan in later March, but before that the Australian artist, academic and interaction-designer, George Khut! 

George is part of the forthcoming exhibition at FACT, Group Therapy - Mental Distress in a Digital Age and a friend of Arts for Health. For the past 12 years he has been working with biofeedback technologies, creating intimate, body-focussed interactive artworks experiences, that re-frame our experiences of embodiment and presence. In addition to presenting his work in fine-arts galleries and museums, he has been developing new audiences for interactive and participatory art with exhibitions and research projects in hospitals, starting with The Heart Library Project at St. Vincent’s Public Hospital in 2009, and more recently with his collaboration with Dr Angie Morrow, Staff Specialist in Brain Injury at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Kids Rehab. George will be sharing his work on Tuesday 3rd March at 6:00 until 7:30pm at Manchester School of Art. As with most of our networking events, if you want to share your own practice or research, we'd welcome input from those of you exploring digital art and new technologies. There are limited places at this event. Find out more and register for a place by clicking HERE. Watch one of George's films about pain relief for children undergoing painful procedures below.

“...the quiet attention of others”
Again I recommend the reflective and poetic blog of Mike White as he shares the day-to-day realities of his palliative care. 

MAPSI CONFERENCE CALL

Conference and study visits
Insights and Tools for Managing Arts Projects with Societal Impact
July 7th 2015 in Tallinn
A vital question today is how art and culture can interact with and enrich the society. The first MAPSI (Managing Art projects with Societal Impact) international conference, held in Tallinn, July 7th 2015, aims to bring together researchers, academics, students and educators as well as practitioners involved with artistic and societal activities in order to explore the emerging issues around the managing art project with societal impact topic. We are focusing on contributions where arts and cultural issues are managed to achieve public and societal objectives from various disciplines; all management approaches, cultural policy, social sciences art and economics. As a part of the conference, the study visits to organisations involved with societal impact of art will take place. The program will be also enriched with the optional study visits on July 6th and showcasing of Estonian music. Click on the photograph of Linnahall, the former V.I. Lenin Palace of Sports and Culture, to find out more.

Get Creative
Perhaps as a reward for diligently paying your TV Licence fee, the BBC feel compelled to do something for the larger public good - whatever - here is their current public engagement offer...

Get Creative is a major celebration of the nation's arts, culture and creativity. Led by the BBC and What Next? in collaboration with a huge range of arts, cultural and voluntary organisations, everyone is invited to get involved and share their creative talents. Get Creative will launch on 19 February 2015 with a week of debates and activity across the BBC and around the UK and will last for 12 months. The campaign will culminate in a celebratory weekend over 20 & 21 February 2016. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/sections/get-creative 

Ambition Giving
Grants of up to £2,000
Deadlines: 2 March 2015, 30 April 2015, 31 July 2015, and 30 October 2015.
Ambition, a leading national youth charity, has launched Ambition Giving. As part of the charity’s 90th anniversary celebrations it is offering grants throughout 2015 to groups in the UK to help deliver activities to young people (under the age of 24 years) in their community. The funding will support a wide variety of projects and is open to applications from young people, youth clubs, charities, community groups, resident associations and voluntary organisations. Ambition has at number of overarching outcomes for all of its programmes including, Improved health (both physical and mental).

http://www.ambitionuk.org 

Grants to Help New, Innovative Visual Arts Projects (UK)
The Elephant Trust has announced that the next deadline for applications is the 13th April 2015. The Trust offers grants to artists and for new, innovative visual arts projects based in the UK. The Trust's aim is to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when confronted by lack of funds. The Trust supports projects that develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the fine arts. Priority is now being given to artists and small organisations and galleries who should submit well argued, imaginative proposals for making or producing new work or exhibitions. Arts Festivals are not supported. The Trust normally awards grants of up to £2,000, but larger grants may be considered. http://elephanttrust.org.uk/docs/intro.html 

Oliver Sacks talks about his recent terminal prognosis 

"Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure." Read more by clicking on the image below.

                                                                                                 

“...one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star…”

New research suggests health benefits of cultural activity

Last Thursday the 12th I had the wonderful opportunity to see the last few months work with MA - Art, Design, Health and Wellbeing students come to fruition. The 14 students who come from a variety of disciplines showcased their work at the launch of a new report; The Long-Term Health Benefits of Participating in the Arts, published by Arts for Health and which reveals that engaging with the arts and culture generally has a positive long-term effect on health and wellbeing. I was thrilled too, to welcome just under 200 people to the Manchester School of Art to share their practice and encourage some lively debate. Part of the day was an Open Space session which enabled us to re-visit the Manifesto for Arts and Health and imagine where the field might be in 2020. Hey 20/20 - is this all about having perfect vision?? More of that when I’ve collated the extensive notes from the day. But a huge THANK YOU to everyone who presented, came along and took part. All North West Arts and Health Network events are free and made possible by your inspiration and input.

Now, back to the research undertaken by Dr. Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt which has uncovered evidence, stretching back a number of decades, that shows a significant association between engaging with the arts and longer lives better lived. All this despite being consistently told that there are no long-term studies! Under the auspices of the Cultural Value Project – initiated by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the UK’s main academic funder in the field – Rebecca has compiled an evidence base comprised of fifteen longitudinal studies. These international studies collectively suggest that attending high-quality cultural events has a beneficial impact upon a range of chronic diseases over time. This includes cancer, heart disease, dementia and obesity, with an inevitable knock-on effect upon life expectancy. 

Many possible reasons for this positive association are speculated upon by the researchers brought together in this report – from increased social capital to psycho-neuroimmunological responses – all of which are interrogated in detail. One of the most compelling potential explanations for any positive association observed between arts engagement and health comes from the field of epigenetics, specifically the idea that environmental enrichment (in this case, cultural activity) can cause certain harmful genes to be switched off, enabling health-protective effects to be communicated from one generation to the next.

In an era in which arts organisations are repeatedly urged to account for themselves in economic terms and we have largely lost sight of the individual and social value of culture, it is hoped that these combined findings will be heeded by policy-makers in the arts and health. This work highlights that there is every chance that any positive health effects attributed to arts engagement are the result of a hidden factor, most likely a socio-economic one. As such, this compelling report urgently incites further research into the inequalities that mediate our access to health and the arts.

The report is available free online by clicking on the issuu image above. Thank you to Rebecca for sharing this work at our event and presenting it so compellingly - and eloquently. 

Women Make Music grant scheme

Deadline: 27 April and 28 September 2015

The Performing Right Society’s Women Make Music grant scheme offers financial support of up to £5000 to women musicians. You can create new music in any genre, from classical, jazz and experimental, to urban, electronica and pop. Support is available to:

  Individuals and organisations / groups including solo performers

  solo songwriters or composers

  promoters or event producers

  bands/ensembles/orchestras

  local authorities and schools

For more information, visit http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Funding/Women-Make-Music

New Building Better Opportunities Fund from Big Lottery (England)

Subject to approval from the European Commission, the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is planning to put up to £260m of Lottery funds against a similar figure from the European Social Fund (ESF) 2014-2020 in order to support communities and people most in need across England. Projects delivering against the ‘Promoting Social Inclusion and Combating Poverty' part of the ESF can receive funding in Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas according to local priorities, which have been set by the LEPs. LEP area partnerships have made provisional decisions about how much of their ESF allocation to devote to this strand of work, meaning that the amount of main funding available will vary widely across different areas. Ahead of the main funding becoming available from 2015, BIG will also offer Lottery development funding in each of the LEP areas it is working with. Read more at: 
https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/programmes/england/building-better-opportunities 

Arteffact Manager (Freelance): North Wales

Duration: 60 days  Fee: £12,000  Start date: April 2015  Closing date; 23rd Feb 2015.

Arteffact is the project name for a partnership of museum and archives across north Wales working together to use historic collections and exhibitions to inspire creativity and self-expression to promote better mental health. Arteffact helps people suffering from depression and other forms of negative mental health to begin to feel better about themselves and to start making positive changes in their lives. It does this by engaging professional artists to run creative activities in museums or galleries, providing a supportive way to engage with culture and heritage. The absorbing art activities, the stimulating settings, the social interaction and the connection to the stories and lives of others all help to achieve this positive impact.

Arteffact is also a unique way of opening up museums and galleries for groups of people who may never have thought that such places had anything for them. It is a partnership between museums, galleries, archives and community art services in north Wales that collaborate to deliver positive creative experiences for people with mental health needs. Our courses of art workshops are inspired by the artefacts and records held in the museum and archive collections. Full details & job description http://www.gwyneddgreadigol.com/eng/newyddion/290115c.html 

Less is More...

Radium223
“So I am now in the curious position of looking towards some life beyond treatment at the same time as doing a coda on my life through palliative care…” Catch up with the as-ever erudite Mike White on his new blog, as he discusses his journey “into a sub-atomic wonderland.” Click on the Incredible Shrinking Man above to link to Mike's absorbing and deeply personal blog.

New Arts Council England Research Grants (England)
The Arts Council England has launched a new Research Grants Programme to help build collective knowledge and deepen understanding of the impact of arts and culture; and to also promote greater collaboration and co-operation between the arts and cultural sector and research partners. In the first round (2015-16) organisations can apply for funding of between £50,000 and £100,000 for projects that last for up to three years. A total of £700,000 is available for 2015-16, with indicative budgets of £900,000 available for 2016-17 and 2017-18. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 12th March 2015. Read more by clicking on the filthy lucre below. 

Comic Relief Care Home Challenge Fund (England)
Comic Relief has announced that its Care Home Challenge Fund is open for applications. The aim of the fund is to improve the conditions for older people and staff in not for profit care homes and hospitals. In particular, the fund wants to support projects in not for profit care homes and the wider voluntary sector to develop and try out innovative ideas. Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 will be provided for up to 12 months to try out new approaches to creating communities of care and strengthening relationships between all people living and working in the not for profit care home environment. Comic Relief want to provide a range of grants of different sizes and welcome partnership bids. Applicants must be working either directly in or in partnership with a not for profit care home in England and they are particularly interested in applications from care homes that have been rated as good or requiring improvement by the CQC. The closing date for applications is the 28th February 2015. Read more by clicking on Scoopy the Clown! 

Wear Red Day: Promoting Healthy Hearts and Healthy Minds 

Erik R. Vanderlip, MD, MPH 

Researchers today are putting together what it means to truly have a “broken heart.” As we adorn our favorite red apparel for “National Wear Red Day” to raise awareness of the untold stories of millions of women experiencing strokes or heart attacks in our country, we must consider the contribution of poor mental health to this burden. 

Clinical depression has repeatedly been linked with accelerating the onset of heart attacks and strokes and severely complicating recovery. People with depression often lack the concentration and energy to effectively exercise, eat healthfully, and engage in rehabilitation to optimize recovery. Several studies 1,2 have suggested significant reductions in heart attacks and improved rehabilitation after stroke with proper depression treatment, yet these practices are not yet standard care. Proactively managing our moods and emotions should be granted the same time and effort as lowering our cholesterol, losing weight or dieting. From taking a daily aspirin to taking a walk, keeping tabs on our emotions and addressing them head-on should be an essential part of heart and brain health. 


There are a number of reasons this hasn’t caught on. Cardiologists and primary care physicians are happy to roll up their sleeves to manage cholesterol and lower blood pressure, but when it comes to emotions, many lack the training and expertise to feel confident in diagnosing mental illness, much less manage it. Mental illness is often seen as very subjective, making it challenging to measure or assess. 


Furthermore, mental illness is too often stigmatizing, and many people are embarrassed to admit they’re struggling to cope. Or they may feel as if the overwhelming hopelessness they’re feeling is a natural consequence of having a heart attack or stroke. While it may be common, we know it’s not healthy. Solid, effective treatments exist that we know can help improve our quality of life as well as, perhaps, extend longevity. 


We’re not scared to talk to our doctors about high blood pressure or aspirin, and we shouldn’t be scared to talk to them about our mood. It may be one of the only ways we can begin to mend our broken hearts. 

More information from the American Heart Association:

• Mental Health and Heart Health


• How Does Depression Affect the Heart? 

References: 

1. Jorge RE, Acion L, Moser D, Adams HP, Robinson RG. Escitalopram and enhancement of cognitive recovery following stroke. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(2):187-96. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.185.

2. Stewart JC, Perkins AJ, Callahan CM. Effect of Collaborative Care for Depression on Risk of Cardiovascular Events: Data From the IMPACT Randomized Controlled Trial. Psychosom Med. 2014;76(1):29-37. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000022.

→ → → ☁ ← ← ←

What a line-up!
Short and sweet this week, as your blogger is out of the country. More on that soon. I’m thrilled to announce some of the line-up for our free one-day event here at Manchester School of Art on the 12th February. Alongside Dr Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt, who will be publishing her new report on the long-term health benefits of participating in the arts, we will hear from/about:
  WordPlay with Michelle Green and Harriet Morgan-Shami 
  42nd Street with Julie McCarthy 
  Red Balloon Pop with Sandra Bouguerch
  I Care with Kate Bevan 
  The Art Room at The Christie Hospital with Patricia Mountford
  Medical Waste with Coral Mallow 
  Gemma Climbs Her Mountain Gemma Christie and Chris Salt
  Look200 with Lucy Burscough
  Well into Words with Julie Walker 
  Outside In with Jennifer Gilbert 
  Pool Arts and St Lukes with Alison Kershaw
  I AM - Art as an Agent for Change and a Recoverist Manifesto
  Mark Prest and Clive Parkinson
The event is fully booked, but you can join our waiting list by clicking on the winter scene above.

BBC Children in Need Main Grant Programme
BBC Children in Need has announced that the next applications deadline for its Main Grants Programme is the 15th May 2015. Funding is available to organisations that work with young people who are suffering from:
 Illness 
 Distress
 Abuse or neglect
 Are disabled
 Have behavioural or psychological difficulties
 Or are living in poverty or situations of deprivation.
The Main grants programme is open to applications for grants of over £10,000. find out more by clicking on the image of the bizarre Ms Beatrix Potter taking her poor rabbit for a walk.

Healthy Hearts Grants for Community Projects
Heart Research UK has announced that its Health Hearts Grants Programme is now open for applications. 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 £5,000 and £10,000 are available to community groups, voluntary organisations and researchers who are spreading the healthy heart message. The closing date for applications is the 28th February 2015. Read more by clicking on the tickety-boom-boom below.

That's it for this week. Short and Sweet.                                          

...

Each week through this blog, I try to bring you new opportunities for funding, events and some gentle social comment. This week’s sees a hideous car-crash of polemic and funding, as I caught sight of a new government fund for a pot of gold and a ridiculously short run-in time! Still, the monstrously titled: New Character Education Grant Fund has to have a mention, doesn’t it? I fear it may just be me, but it sounds like some bastard hybrid love child of the government’s Nudge Unit and Quack Psychiatry. It seems only a moment ago that simple religious conversion/treatment or behaviour modification techniques and a cocktail of prescribed meds, could cure you of being gay! Then of course, there are people who by their very nature, question the status quo - we can’t have that. 'New Character' - good grief! 

Still this agenda to change ‘character traits, attributes and behaviours’ is probably innocent stuff designed to give future generations more ‘perseverance, resilience and grit.’ Ahh - True Grit - I guess it’s what our children need battering into them by the state. I whole new generation of John Wayne’s, or else - heaven knows - John Wayne Gacy, Jr’s?

So artists and free-thinkers - be the instrument of the state - you have the power to be the next generation of behaviour-eugenicists. And we’ll have absolutely no discussion of the social determinants of health and well-being, let’s just focus on all the idiosyncrasies of being human, being different, having opinions and hearty dissenting voices. Let’s not question authority and instead, just focus on creating children who are wholesome, fresh-faced and utterly, utterly, compliant - the 'stupid athletes of capitalist productivity'.

Government Launches New Character Education Grant Fund 

The Department for Education has announced that schools, colleges, universities, local authorities and voluntary organisations can apply to a new £3.5 million character education grant fund to support projects in character education. The Department want to ensure that more children develop a set of character traits, attributes and behaviours that underpin success in education and work, such as perseverance, resilience and grit; confidence and optimism; motivation, drive and ambition; etc. The funding is available to encourage the expansion of existing projects that demonstrate effective character education. The funding will also support new and innovative projects to develop promising approaches in this area. Up to £3.5 million is available to grant fund projects in the 2015 to 2016 academic year. There is no predetermined level of grant award, but as a guide grant awards are expected to be in the region of £50,000 to £750,000. The closing date for applications is 12 noon on the 6th February 2015. Read more by clicking on those athletic, javelin-throwing, G.M.  women at the top of the page.

Making Mental Health Fashionable

Senior Lecturer in Psychology at University of the Arts London and friend of Arts for Health Dr Victoria Tischler writes, that outsider art can refashion how we think about mental illness. Read her article by clicking on the Adolf Wolfi drawing above. If you like what you read, why not check out an event that Victoria is planning called Making Mental Health Fashionable on 27 February. Find out more by clicking on the crowd of everyday people below.

BMA Patient Information Awards 2015
The British Medical Association has run a Patient Information Awards for the last twenty years in order to recognise excellence in the provision of information to patients and to support the valuable work which is done by many charities and agencies,   It is free to enter and shortlisted agencies are invited to an awards ceremony at BMA House in London in September. The closing date is the end of February 2015 but if you have resources you wish to enter then please do it as soon as possible.  You can find more information by clicking on this link. http://bma.org.uk/librarypia



ARTS MENTORING FOR ARTISTS IN MANCHESTER
Are you an artist in the Manchester area that has experienced mental health needs? If so, you may be eligible to take part in a limited number of mentoring sessions with Pool Arts. Our mentor, James Bloomfield offers one to one sessions where you can show your portfolio, discuss how to progress with your practice and explore opportunities that may be available to you. You will also find out more about Pool Arts and the benefits of becoming a member. 
We are offering up to two mentor sessions per person for a small fee (to cover admin costs) on a first come first served basis. Just e.mail us a short paragraph about yourself and why you would like a mentoring session and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Sessions take place in our central Manchester studio facility from February 2015. Cost £10 (for up to two sessions) Contact Alison Kershaw poolarts@gmail.com and put MENTORING in the subject bar. Alternatively call our office on 0161 273 1492 and leave a short message and we will ring you back as soon as we can. Find out more by following this link.

http://poolarts.org/blog/arts-mentoring-for-artists-in-manchester/

De Profundis – From the depths

“I was diagnosed with Cyclothymia (considered to be a milder form of Bipolar Disorder) in my early twenties. It was a dark point in my life. I was struggling, spending months in bed without leaving the house, completely isolated from society. Thankfully from the depths of depression, I was given a camera. The camera has over the years transformed my life. In this project I explore how the arts can help people who are suffering, as I was. Beauty can be found in the smallest of things and I attribute the camera for seeing beauty and purpose in life again…” Pete Regan. An exhibition starting Saturday 7 Feb 2015 - Saturday 2 May 2015. More details by clicking on the flyer above.

PRN

Artist, illustrator and nurse Anna Magnowska is developing a new web resource and magazine making connections between art, medicine, culture, science, technology and history whilst also focusing on the practical elements of nursing. Anna says: “we aim to create something beautiful that explores what it is be human, and what it is to be a nurse in the 21st century.” We say - this looks superb. Click on the logo above for more.

A brief footnote from history 
The US-based Arts and Health Alliance, formally The Global Alliance for Arts and Health, formally The Society for the Arts in Healthcare, has currently ‘...has ceased functioning as a going entity due to management and financial issues.” More soon…

You want to do what?!?! The importance of informed consent in treatment

By Gail  A. Edelsohn, MD, MSPH

We come across ads in print, on television
and on the Internet for medications and therapies that promise to make your child
do his homework without a screaming match, behave better and generally restore
harmony to home life. Not so easy, taking a medication raises a host of
questions:  How long does the therapy
take? Should I as the parent sign off on this? What about the possible serious
side effects, such as significant weight gain, thoughts about suicide, risk of
diabetes or a life-threatening condition?

Parents and legal guardians make
decisions about psychosocial therapy and medication treatment for children and
adolescents every day. But who should give permission and sign informed
consent?  What should parents, advocates,
guardians be looking for or consider before signing informed consent? Is
signing a form enough?  What about the child
or teen - do they have a voice regarding their own treatment?

What is Informed Consent?

Psychiatric informed consent
involves a parent or legal guardian giving
permission for his/her child to undergo evaluation and treatment.  It is a
process which partly involves receiving sufficient relevant information about
the condition, prognosis, risks and benefits of treatment to be given and other
types of treatment available. Informed consent is NOT simply a signed and dated
form. Parents and guardian should expect informed consent to include:

  The purpose of the treatment

• To address a specific condition or diagnosis?

• To lessen symptoms?

•  To change behaviors?

  The effects of treatment

• How will you know if it is working?

•  How long till you see an effect?

  Risks of treatment

• Side effects of medications

• Consequences of psychosocial treatment (e.g., therapy
  can be emotionally difficult)

  Risks of NO treatment

• Will symptoms improve over time without
  treatment?

• Will things get worse or lead to other
  consequences? (e.g., Untreated individuals are more likely to use substances,
  get into legal trouble)

  What alternative treatments are available?
  

For medication

• Is it FDA approved for this age and condition?
  (i.e., prescribed FDA on label)

• If it is prescribed off-label, why?

• Are there any FDA warnings about the medication
  and what do they mean?

• What is the plan for stopping or phasing out the
  medication?

     Parents and legal guardians are
asked to give legal permission or informed consent for treatment.  If a child is in foster care, it may be the
parent or it may be child welfare service or court that can give consent.   Where a child is living (home, out of home
placement) does not tell you who the legal guardian is.  In some states an adolescent may give
informed consent for psychiatric treatment depending on the state’s legislation
about mental health procedures. Ideally the parents/guardians and the child
should be involved in treatment decision making.

Children also have a voice in
this process.  Children and youth should
be involved in giving assent.  Assent involves providing the child or teen
with information about the therapy or medication in terms appropriate to their
age and stage of development. The assent process should include opportunities
for the child/adolescent to ask questions and have their concerns addressed.

Gail A.
Edelsohn, MD, MSPH, is senior medical officer with Community Care Behavioral
Health, clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior,  Jefferson
Medical College, and clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science,
Temple University School of Medicine.