National News

The EAC (Elderly Accommodation Counsel) Art Awards offer prizes for the submission of work by amateur artists over the age of 60 and living in sheltered accommodation or care homes. A selection of the best entries from around the country will also be displayed in a London exhibition later this year. For more details, visit: www.parkerharris.co.uk/artists/awards

Creative Space, the fifth annual meeting of the Association for Medical Humanities, will take place at the University of Glasgow from the 7^th - 9^th July, with a range of seminars and key note addresses looking at issues in medical humanities and the healing environment as well as a number of tours to arts in health projects in the Glasgow area. For more information, visit www.amh.ac.uk

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare (www.thesah.org) based in Washington, DC and Routledge Press have teamed up to launch the first international journal of arts and health. The new journal is designed to be peer reviewed and to support research and good practice in arts and health.

The executive editors of the new journal are Dr Paul Camic and Prof Stephen Clift of Canterbury Christ Church University (UK) and Prof Norma Daykin, University of the West of England. The first issue is due out in March 2009 with initial plans for two issues per year initially and then expansion to three issues. The journal welcomes contributions from artists, academics, arts administrators, designers and architects, policy developers and practitioners.

Clive Parkinson has been appointed as Director of Arts for Health at Manchester Metropolitan University, following the retirement of Peter Senior, MBE. For the past three years, Clive has been project leader for the Invest to Save: Arts in Health project in Manchester and was previously Development Director of Arts for Health Cornwall.

CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment together with Arts and Business has published Artists and Places, a new publication which highlights the pivotal role of artists in making great places.

The publication is designed to represent a legacy for PROJECT, an initiative which deployed artists in a strategic role on regeneration schemes. The publication will be of interest to anyone involved in the public art arena.

For more details, visit: www.publicartonline.org.uk/archive/project

On March 6th, the House of Lords debated what progress had been made in facilitating the use of the arts in health since the publication of the Department of Health’s prospectus last year. Speakers singled out specific examples of arts in health activity for particular attention and all speakers extolled the merits of integrating arts activity into healthcare provision.

Speaking for the Government, Baroness Thornton suggested that the new Health Minister Andy Burnham would be encouraged to make a public statement in support of arts in health.

A full transcript of the debate can be found at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80306-gc0005.htm

Joking Aside is an international conference on humour, health and learning which will take place in Liverpool on June 2nd. Hosted by The Comedy Trust, the conference will feature speakers from a wide range of fields and disciplines and will include themes such as children’s health, mental health and clinician/patient interaction.

For more information, e: jenny@thecomedytrust.com
w: www.liverpoolcomedyfestival.com

The seventh Exeter Arts & Therapies Conference will take place on May 16th in Devon. This year’s theme of Nature and Nurture will investigate the links between art and psychotherapy and the application of different approaches to creativity and health. The theme will be approached with speakers and artists who work with text, visual art and the arts in health and psychotherapy.
w: www.insiderart.org.uk

The Voluntary Action Media Unit has produced a free guide to dealing with the media called Clever Communication. The book which is free to charities includes a directory of key media contacts. w: www.vamu.org.uk

The University of Glamorgan is offering a new MA course in arts and health from this September. The course aims to support and develop innovative practice and research with an emphasis on interdisciplinary working. It is a two year, part-time course during which, students will undertake live projects, alongside study of concepts and theories informing arts and health.

The course will develop students’ professional skills and position their practice within appropriate critical and contextual frameworks. e: chiles@glam.ac.uk