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Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance bulletin
November 2020
#CHWA2020 Award-winners!
Our first award-winners were announced on 20 November at an online ceremony hosted by Lord Howarth of Newport. Selected from over 80 applicants from across the UK, the winners demonstrate real commitment to nurturing and shaping cultures of care for each other, our communities and the planet. Read on to see the video of the ceremony and a special blog from Ideas Alliance celebrating the winners of the Collective Power award.
International conference: deadline for abstracts 30 November!
The digital international conference is being held 21–23 June 2021 and is now open for submissions of proposals for digital presentations, workshops, films and performance. Conference themes are Inequality, Power, and Sustainability.
Thriving Communities Fund information session: 2-3pm Thursday 4 December
This session with John McMahon (Senior Manager, Policy & Research, Arts Council England) is designed for organisations working with the arts, creativity and culture, who would like to apply to the new Thriving Communities Fund from the National Academy for Social Prescribing and Arts Council England. (Deadline for applications is 8 January 2021.)
Guest blog for Disability History Month: How far have we come? How far have we to go?
Esther Fox, head of the Accentuate programme, discusses their work with Curating for Change and D4D (with Bristol Robotics Laboratory), as well as the potential opened up by our newly flexible, remote working conditions.
Guest blog: The intersectionality of culture and nature and wellbeing of minoritized groups in the UK
Environmental journalist, academic, and founder of the Sheffield Environmental Movement, Maxwell A. Ayamba explores the barriers associated with reconnecting minoritized communities to the natural environment. This is the second in a new series of blogs exploring the relationships between culture, health, wellbeing and nature.
Day in the Life: Viv Gordon
"We’re planning the launch event and catching up on the related social media campaign #MyLineInTheSand that invites people to post words of hope, rage and solidarity to stand with survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). We’re busy contacting anyone and everyone who can help to promote the work - arts colleagues, survivor charities and survivor artists, activists and academics."
Become a LENs Director – deadline 18 December 2020
Do you believe in the power of creativity and culture to transform health and wellbeing? Are you passionate about and committed to amplifying the voice of lived experience and challenging inequality? Do you have the time and expertise to guide a fledgling organisation with co-production at its heart? Apply to become a Director of The Lived Experience Network (The LENs).
MARCH Network Research Corner
The Research Corner is back! This month's featured studies focus on theatre-based interventions for older adults, group singing for carers of people with Parkinson’s Disease, volunteering and wellbeing in older people, arts-on-prescription for adults aged 25-75, and group music and movement classes for emotional development in young children, and parental wellbeing.
Creativity & Wellbeing Week: 17–23 May 2021
London Arts and Health and the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance will be partnering for the third year to host Creativity & Wellbeing Week 2021.
The week is again coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week, and is also part of a season of culture, heath and wellbeing activity that takes in the national (22-23 April) and international (21-23 June) conferences. We are planning to focus on three categories of events: online/digital; remote (eg. post/phone) and face-to-face.
General Sector News
Welsh NHS Confed and Arts Council renew agreement
The Welsh NHS Confederation and the Arts Council of Wales have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) after three years of successful investment to support a network of Arts and Health Co-ordinators in each Welsh Health Board area.
Award for civic arts organisations: deadline 30 November 2020
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) and King’s College London are offering awards of £100,000 and £25,000 "to shine a spotlight on the vital role that arts organisations play in society ... From delivering arts packs with food parcels to staging socially distanced carnivals".
The myth of 'hard to reach'
Writing for mental health charity Mind, journalist, dance artist and poet Isaac Ouro-Gnao explores the ways in which the term holds us back from addressing systemic racism in organisational structures.
New commission for D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled artists
The UK's arts councils and the BBC are commissioning 10 new works to mark the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. The works will appear on a range of BBC platforms. Deadline: midday 12 January.
New inclusive online dance programme
Disability Arts Online reports on StopGap's new "Home Practice" programme to support dance practitioners with limited or no access to classes. "Research began with their disabled stakeholders in mind and expanded out to explore how their inclusive approach could cater for a wider range of people in the dance industry."
Reimagining museums for climate action
For MuseumNext, Colin Sterling and Rodney Harrison (UCL) discuss a new international competition for "practical solutions and speculative concepts". Finalists are developing their ideas for an exhibition ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.
Design the official Christmas card for the Rugby League World Cup 2021
The Rugby League World Cup 2021 has teamed up with Community Integrated Care (a national social care charity) for a compeition for anyone who accesses social care to design the official Christmas card for the tournament. Deadline: midnight 9 December.
Policy updates and news
Mental health crises increase during pandemic
Mental health charity Mind's analysis of NHS Digital figures shows an increase of 15% in urgent and emergency referrals between March and July. The NHS has launched a new 'Help Us Help You' campaign in response to rising mental health needs.
April 2022 target date for reorganisation of NHS
The CEO of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has announced that integrated care systems will be on a statutory footing by April 2022 if legislation can be passed early next year.
Public health loses out in spending review
The Royal Society for Public Health has criticised the government's "continued refusal to adequately fund the public health services provided by local councils", saying the burden will fall on the most deprived.
Birmingham Museum opens up digital curation
Occupy White Walls, created by StikiPixels, currently has over 75,000 users who are collaborating to curate exhibitions at Birmingham Museums Trust.
Community sector "barometer" data
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations regularly shares data from its "Barometer" on the voluntary/community sector - currently showing huge variation in terms of immedate consequences of the pandemic on the finances and reach of organisations.
Changes to Nesta development fund for arts and culture
Nesta has announced changes to its Cultural Impact Development Fund, which offers loan-based investment of up to £150,000 for arts and culture organisations. The fund will now include grants up to 50% of the total investment.