We are excited to welcome our new regional champions for the West Midlands; Keisha Grant (Arts) and Helen Fountain (Museums)
Following a call-out in May, both expressed interest in standing for the Regional Champion posts.
Keisha is the Artistic Director and founder of Keneish Dance. She is a qualified Yoga Teacher and is currently delivering the wellbeing service at Selina Hotel in Birmingham. Keisha is very passionate about bringing arts and wellbeing to all communities. She is collaborating with a group from America on delivering 'Afro Flow' which is an accredited Yoga - Dance qualification which encompasses meditation, yoga, and African - Caribbean Dances. The practice supports her belief that creative wellbeing has the power to bring about positive change for society and the physical, psychological and emotional health of communities. Through her work at Keneish Dance, supporting young people at apprenticeship academies and working as a freelancer in this sector, Keisha brings solid relationship brokering and project management skills to the role.
Helen is based in Coventry has been working in the museum sector for 14 years and is passionate about the role arts, culture and heritage play in supporting the wellbeing of people, communities and society. She is working with Age of Creativity as the Age Friendly Cultural Coordinator in Oxfordshire and working on a sessional basis in Museums in Coventry with the Learning Teams. Helen is a Dementia Friends Champion, was a committee member for the Jodi Mattes Trust (Awards for Accessible Digital Culture) supporting communications for over 4 years and in her spare time supports a music group for adults with learning disabilities (The Notables Band) in Coventry. Since April 2018 Helen has also worked on freelance projects and was due to start a reminiscence project in Rugby with Arts Uplift but this has been postponed due to lockdown.
Keisha and Helen will be introduced to the National Steering Group on the 16th July 2020 and begin developing the regional steering group over the coming months.
We would like to extend our thanks again to the their predecessors Kate Gant and Rosie Barker who's support throughout the process of electing new champions has been invaluable. Click here to read more about the progress they made as the inaugural regional champions in the West Midlands.
