This month’s Arts, Health & Wellbeing bulletin highlights some important developments in this rapidly evolving field, both within the university and beyond.
As we look towards a very different future, the arts, health & wellbeing world continues to build strength through collaboration across disciplines and finding common cause. Increasingly researchers, practitioners, participants and policymakers are coming together to exchange knowledge and combine expertise to dramatically improve people’s lives.
In line with this, a first-year student nurse at King’s, Kendall Robbins, considers how Disability Arts and the Social Model of Disability can contribute to future healthcare practice on Diversity Digest. This month at King’s, the SHAPER team hosted a seminar providing an insight into the challenges of working across disciplines and to the delivery of their research programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wide-ranging initiatives are demonstrating how to be responsive to the changing context whilst preparing for long-term growth. Breathe Harmony NHS choir continues to help frontline staff combat stress, promoting health and wellbeing through singing. As the CHWA conference will highlight, there is still much to do to support practitioners and in tackling health inequalities. Activated as part of the World Health Organisation’s solidarity events, Culturunners will present a global COVID-19 response through the arts to address the growing mental health crisis. | |
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New King's Artists projects exploring arts in health The 2021 King’s Artists cohort will be exploring the theme of ‘Intelligence’ in eleven new collaborative R&D projects across four King’s College London faculties. The King's Artists programme supports researchers from departments across the university to host artist residencies. By enabling collaboration, it contributes to the development of new thinking and creative outputs connected to research. Developing and researching arts in health interventions at King’s The seminar introduced the SHAPER programme to a wider King’s audience, setting out King’s intention to build the university’s reputation as a major contributor in the arts, health and wellbeing arena and inviting collaboration from interested academics and those working with the arts from a multitude of disciplines for future arts and health programmes. What it’s like living in a world not built for you Kendall Robbins is a first-year student nurse at King’s who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (Hypermobility Type). Reflecting on 10 years of working in the Arts, she considers how Disability Arts and the Social Model of Disability can contribute to future healthcare practice and the building of an inclusive world. Arts Cabinet Arts Cabinet is a pluri-disciplinary research platform that functions as a space to experiment with different forms of artistic knowledge production. Fuelled by curiosity, uncertainty and rigorous thinking, Arts Cabinet’s aim is to highlight the quirks and messiness inherent in the real life of research. Arts Cabinet works in partnership with the Higher Education sector and is currently working closely with King’s College London on Imaging Social Justice, a new project developed by King's Visual Embodied Methodologies Network, based in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy. Arts organisations required for new online platform Aesop plans to launch a new online platform this summer. Primarily focused on people over 60, it will enable users to quickly and easily find a wide variety of high quality arts programmes that provide health benefits. Aesop is currently seeking organisations to help develop and then appear on the platform. To find our more or to get involved please contact Sharon Sanderson. The Big Draw Festival announces 2021 Theme: “Make the Change” The 2021 Big Draw Festival theme, Make the Change, is a timely development on last year’s exploration into the relationship between people and our living environments. In 2021, The Big Draw desire is to take action, to explore and discover ways to live in balance with the world around us, to reconnect with each other and create a better world for future generations. Research, Articles & Publications Using dance to prevent falls This CultureCase article relates the findings from an evaluation of ‘Dance to Health’: a scheme designed to integrate known physiotherapy falls-prevention exercises into a creative dance programme. The programme was shown to have supported and enhanced physical, mental and social health. It was particularly effective in fostering group bonding and improved physical control and coordination. People who took part felt welcome, valued and safe, not judged, and enjoyed the connections made with other participants and the dance artists. They saw improvements in their balance, strength, flexibility, mobility and stamina – all of which are important to prevent falls. Resources, Funding & Events Ethical Dilemmas in Arts and Mental Health practice The UK MARCH Network’s Special Interest Group in Ethics and Evaluation in Arts and Health will host this online seminar on 29 March 2021 in collaboration with the ATTUNE Consortium. Three 60-minute presentation sessions will explore ethical dilemmas in research and practice under the themes: Consent, Confidentiality and Power; Redefining Concepts of Care through Arts, and Risk and Responsibility for Adverse Effects. Bodies of Evidence On 19 April 2021 the Wellcome Centre for the Cultures + Environments of Health will host a virtual symposium for researchers, practitioners, participants, policymakers and others interested in how we research and evaluate the contribution of dance to health and wellbeing within the wider arts and health landscape. A Culture of Care: Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance national conference The conference hosted on the 21-23 April 2021 will delve into conversations about the big topics that have been amplified by COVID-19, including practitioner support and grappling with the sector’s role in challenging health inequalities, reflecting on how to work more collaboratively and more intersectionally to address the multiple emergencies we face; a global health pandemic, the climate and ecological emergency, and rising inequality. CULTURUNNERS Healing Arts London The Healing Arts 2021 campaign, a call to action by the world of the arts in response to the mental health crisis caused by COVID-19, is being launched in the UK on 22-26 March 2021 by CULTURUNNERS as part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) series of solidarity events. Healing Arts London brings together a cultural coalition of partners including UCL, Tate, The Art Newspaper, Community Jameel, Castello di Rivoli, Hospital Rooms, and the National Centre for Creative Health to present a five-day programme of events alongside a charity auction. Wayward Conversations: Backstage Nursing Stories Brought to Life On Saturday 27 March, theatre company Wayward Productions is hosting a panel discussion about arts and healthcare to accompany their production of The Language of Kindness. Sasha Milavic Davies, co-adaptor and co-director of the production, will be in conversation with actor and doctor Esh Alladi, actor Adjoa Andoh, comedian and former psychiatric nurse Jo Brand, and Christie Watson, former nurse and best-selling author of The Language of Kindness and The Courage to Care. | |
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King’s Arts, Health & Wellbeing Hub aims to bring together the many initiatives and achievements across the university and create a network of colleagues interested in research and education at the interface between arts and health. Any feedback on this bulletin, or contributions for future editions, would be welcome.
To find out more about the Arts, Health & Wellbeing hub, feedback, suggest contributions or unsubscribe, please contact Nikki Crane, King’s Programme Lead for Arts, Health & Wellbeing via artshealthwellbeing@kcl.ac.uk |
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