West Midlands

How can people and organisations survive and thrive in mental health and the arts? The Culture Health & Wellbeing Alliance, funded by the Baring Foundation, are running a six-month project to understand more about work with creativity and mental health. They are searching for participants who can answer yes to the following questions:

Wolverhampton School of Art is commissioning two artists to undertake an influential faith, arts and health project. The Gift of Giving: Organ Donation as Seva and Kirat Karo project is funded by the NHS Blood and Transplant Community Investment fund

This project aims to raise awareness of Organ Donation and English Law Change in Sikh communities by reflecting lived experiences of donor recipient and donating individuals/ families. Proposals are sought to reflect these experiences through the artist's chosen medium.

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Public Health is looking for artists or an arts organisation to deliver two separate commissions.

The first project involves producing an innovative piece of work that will encourage the uptake of Covid-19 vaccinations, particularly focusing on communities who are engaging less with the vaccination programme (deadline 5 April 2021).

Two new posts are being created within the Air Arts team to support their programme as they expand to work across the Burton, Lichfield and Tamworth sites. The two new members of the team will help Air Arts to support staff and patients at all of their Hospitals sites.

For further information please check the NHS jobs site:

• Arts Coordinator 
• Visual Arts Manager 

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is seeking a coordinator for their Barber Health programme, to help to deliver its new project to directly address societal issues highlighted by Covid-19. The project will involve a creative arts, health and wellbeing programme for hyperlocal communities and innovative cultural contributions to medical education. The post holder will also be responsible for the administration, logistical planning and communication of Barber Health.

Find out more. 

Warwickshire County Council is seeking to commission a provider to develop and deliver a comprehensive Singing for Lung Health programme for adults with chronic respiratory conditions, to improve their quality of life. This will involve developing courses of group-based sessions led by an experienced singing specialist. The initial contract is for 18 months with scope for extension for a further 12 months. This is the second of six tenders the council will be procuring over the coming months all focused on creative health social prescribing.

This event, produced by Midlands Arts Centre on behalf of The Baring Foundation and Arts Council England, will explore the role of creativity, arts and cultural change in the experiences of growing older and ask if a medical model of old age can address the creative and cultural realities of our lives. It will offer insights from 10 years of research and experiment and provokes questions that affect all of us.

This Dementia Pathfinders course uses techniques from Circle Dancing developed during the 1970s from traditional folk dance from around the world.

The Community & Applied Drama Laboratory (CADLab) at Newman University Birmingham in collaboration with the UNIMA Research Commission and the UNIMA Commission for Education, Development and Therapy are hosting a 2-day symposium exploring ways of training professional performers and health practitioners in approaches, techniques and embodied empathic relationships between performers, puppets, healthcare professionals and audiences.

When: 17th -18th April 2019

Where: Newman University Birmingham, England.