Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Older Adult service at Edward St Hospital, West Bromwich would like to offer the opportunity for a volunteer to work with our Occupational Therapy  team to facilitate a creative Arts Group for older adults with poor mental health and/or dementia. The applicant will need to have good communication skills, have an understanding of, or willingness to gain knowledge of mental health and dementia and a good level of creative arts skills suitable for this patient group.  Read more... (149 words, 2 images, estimated 36 secs reading time)

You will work with the Sound It Out team as well as a broad number of
external agencies and stakeholders to develop Sound It Out’s programme of
work in the cultural cohesion and refugee arts sectors (refugee arts in this
case encompasses refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants), and
will coordinate delivery of activity. You will also be responsible for attracting
funding to the strand and for administering this. You will be a dynamic
individual with project management, fundraising and refugee arts and/or
cultural cohesion experience.  Read more... (201 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

An opportunity has arisen for a part-time Arts Co-Ordinator post to create and develop a programme of community arts events based on the new Village Square  at All Saints Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham.  The post holder will have experience of working with and designing art programmes for community groups, schools, youth, older people  and other user groups. The selected person will be competent using  a range of media and be able to recruit and manage volunteers. Knowledge of, and demonstrated success in funding applications will be useful in order to sustain the arts activities programme once established. The post holder will be required to work flexibly over 15 hours per week, varied depending on the workload, and be prepared to travel when necessary. An understanding of faith-based groups will be an advantage although the focus of the tasks will be with a variety of mixed community and church groups. Much of the activities will draw inspiration from the new facility which is outdoors but there is provision for cover for events in the new community buildings. Salary: £5,000 p.a.gross.  Read more... (227 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

We are currently looking for applications from artists and creative practitioners who wish to undertake this exciting three-day residency in West Bromwich. This programme aims to explore how new or existing connections to and from Dartmouth Park to West Bromwich town centre can be established, highlighted and improved. This programme of Action Research will therefore invite each artist to explore the context and issues relating to physical and social connectivity to and from the park.

There are six short-term residencies available for February/March 2012. The residency will delivered from 28 February to 1 March 2012. Subsistence and accommodation over the three days will be provided. Please note that travel costs will not be provided.  Read more... (170 words, 1 image, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Wednesday 1^st February, 6.00pm – 8.30pm

Mitchell Arts Centre, Stoke-on-Trent

Staffordshire Creative Health and Wellbeing Network’s events programme continues with a practical guide to how to write a case study about an arts and health project. Case studies can be an excellent way of recording examples of your work and effectively communicating its benefits to potential employers.

The event is a practical, hands on workshop where you will begin to write your own case study based on a project you have already carried out. You will be asked to prepare a short project outline before the event and bring a laptop if possible to carry out a range of exercises aiming to help you to capture and communicate relevant information.  Read more... (236 words, estimated 57 secs reading time)

praXis and Creative Remedies are pleased to announce the winning and highly commended projects for the Arts and Health Awards 2011.

We had a fantastic response to the Awards and were really impressed and inspired by the innovation, energy and dedication shown in so many of the projects that entered.

All the winning, highly commended and long-listed projects will be featured in full on the new West Midlands Arts, Health and Wellbeing being website when it launches in February.

The Arts and Health Awards have been a real success and they will run again in 2012, details will be announced in Summer 2012.  Read more... (109 words, 1 image, estimated 26 secs reading time)

Wolverhampton Looked After Children’s Services participation Team and Wolverhampton Arts and Heritage Service are working together on an exciting new project. We want to produce a film for children aged 9-11 about what it is really like to be in care.

The aim of the film is to dispel myths about what it is like to be a child in care and so to help looked after children to integrate fully with their peers. It is also hoped that this will deter bullying they may result from perceived difference.  Read more... (338 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Tuesday 28 Feb 2012, 1.30 – 4.30pm, Oakengates Theatre, Telford

The personalisation agenda in Social Care means that service users are being given their own personal budgets, effectively becoming individual commissioners. It is predicted that by April 2013, over a million people will have a personal budget.

The opening up of service provision means that artists now have the opportunity to develop and offer services that creatively meet the needs of individuals. This event offers an introduction to personalisation and how to prepare for this growing micro market.

Contributors will include Tony Nottingham, independent consultant and support broker working in the area of personal budgets.  Read more... (117 words, estimated 28 secs reading time)

Home is a bold, inventive new dance production that will move through the streets of Birmingham city centre as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012. We are looking for 1000 individuals to contribute towards the creation of, and be involved in, the performances that will take place between 23 April & 13 May 2012.

This bold and ambitious project can only happen with the help of individuals and communities from the West Midlands and beyond! We’re looking for 1000 people who want to share their thoughts 
on home, identity and belonging to be part of this flagship project.  Read more... (213 words, 1 image, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Writing a Case Study

Wednesday 1st February, 6pm, Mitchell Arts Centre, Stoke-on-Trent

The first event in this year’s programme is a practical, hands on workshop on how to write a case study that effectively communicates your work and its benefits to potential employers. You will need to bring a laptop to write and upload your completed case study to the Praxis website.

To book a place or for more information on this event and the rest of the programme for 2012, contact Sarah-Jane Watkinson on sarah-jane@praxisartsandhealth.org.uk