Staffordshire Creative Health and Wellbeing Network

Writing a Case Study event notes

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

The event was a mainly practical, hands on workshop where attendees began to write their own case studies.

Practical exercise  Read more... (460 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Monday 7^th November, 2011, Heartlands Hospital

This well attended event was put together in response to the growing use of volunteers in delivering a range of arts and health work, both directly delivering creative workshops and in planning, support etc. It was attended by a wide cross section of independent artists and staff from arts, health and social care organisations involved in delivering arts in health.

Presentations were as follows:

Advinder Gill, Volunteer Manager, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

Practical considerations on the recruitment and management of volunteers, including how to make the experience mutually useful.  Read more... (457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The latest in the series of professional development events took place in Stafford on Tuesday 8th November. The session was led by Kate Gant of Creative Health CIC.

Notes from the session are available to download here.

At the end of the session, attendees identified ten top tips:  Read more... (139 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

1. Think about the type of work you want to do.
2. Read the brief thoroughly at least twice
3. Ask relevant intelligent questions of the contact on the brief.
4. Include lots of evidence of all of the submission criteria.
5. Include your relevant past experience.

The latest in the series of professional development events supported by Creative Remedies and Praxis was held on 27th September. The presentation on branding made by Mark Yorke of Born Communication is available to download here.  The presentation on Social Media by Alison Finn of Audiences Central is available to download here.

Following the event, attendees compiled the ten top tips that they had gained from the session:  Read more... (220 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

1. Make the most of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Linked In.
2. Create a brand – make sure your logo is scalable to be used on all marketing materials

Monday 14^th November, 2pm

Heartlands Hospital, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham

Praxis’ popular series of Insider Guide events continues with An Insider Guide to Working with Volunteers, in partnership with Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.

Volunteers are becoming an increasingly important resource in a range of arts and health work. Presentations and case studies will explore some of the issues of working with volunteers including:  Read more... (169 words, 2 images, estimated 41 secs reading time)

• Recruiting volunteers
• Keeping volunteers motivated
• The different roles volunteers can play in your work
• Balancing the needs of volunteers and participants
• An overview of your responsibilities

praXis currently manages two major arts and health partnership commissions in the West Midlands, with NHS Dudley and Wolverhampton Arts & Heritage. 

Joint commissioning at a significant level in the region was originally established through the Black Country Arts and Health Commissioning Partnership.  Read more here

Here is an interesting article reflecting the work of one artist working on two related projects, one based in Dundee, the other at North Staffordshire hospital.

The article describes the challenges, excitement and emotions of working as an artist and arts manager working in a healthcare setting.

Taken from the website:

In this article for PAR+RS, Rose discusses the differences between the planning structures and outcomes of these two contrasting projects. Concentrating on the challenging Rebirth commission, Rose reveals how the journey toward the work’s resolution at times took unexpected directions.

Free development and networking events for artists working in Staffordshire

Each event includes themed, practical workshops led by experienced professionals followed by networking opportunities to meet new people and share ideas.

Marketing – Explore how to market yourself as an artist in health and wellbeing contexts and how to use social networking to promote you and your work.

Tuesday 27 September, 10am – 12.30pm, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke-on-Trent

Tender Writing- Changes in the NHS mean that artists will be invited to tender for health based work. Find out how to go about this process, who to contact and how to write a tender that helps you get an interview.  Read more... (218 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

Creative Councils is a new programme from NESTA, working with the Local Government Group, to support local authorities to develop and implement radical innovations that meet the challenges of tomorrow.

The chosen councils are:

• Brighton and Hove
• Bristol
• Cambridgeshire
• Cornwall
• Derbyshire
• Essex
• London Borough of Havering
• London Borough of Islington
• Leicester
• Monmouthshire
• Reading
• Rossendale
• Rotherham
• Stoke on Trent
• Westminster
• Wigan
• York

Over the next few months, these councils will receive practical support to challenge and develop their idea.  Read more... (125 words, estimated 30 secs reading time)