PLEASE NOTE A RICHARD CREME SPECIAL WILL BE POSTED LATER THIS WEEK. HIS SHOW WILL RUN AT THE LINK GALLERY HERE AT MMU BETWEEN 2nd AND 11th MAY.

THE CHANDELIER OF LOST EARRINGS
A brand new project went live on the people fund it web site. Our idea is to create a very large chandelier using all the single earrings that linger in drawers after people have lost its matching pair. It will take over 5,000 earrings to complete the artwork. The project is a response to the feedback we have had from the staff at Manchester Central Hospital where we have been installing mini exhibitions in the Summerhouse (another artwork of ours). The chandelier will be dedicated to them and to the patients who view the work from the windows.

Over the last year or so Sharon and Lauren have been installing art in the Glass Summer House that they created for a commission in the Manchester Central Hospital Women’s Courtyard.

Sometimes funny, sometimes eccentric, sometimes plain pretty, the art has caused a stir and discussion. Staff and patients have watched us come and go. We have almost become part of the scenery.

So, in February we asked the hospital community what they thought of the exhibits. We listened, we heard and this artwork is our response to what people said. ‘We want colour, light, movement and to able to take part in the making’. This, then, is our gift to them; an antidote to the hospital experience.

Art in hospital is good for people. It is well researched and documented that it improves healing and recovery. Lauren and Sharon want to make sure that art is still made for the hospital environment so that is why we continue to put in these exhibitions.

The Chandelier of Lost Earrings will be our next installation and then we hope to continue to make more.
http://www.peoplefund.it/the-chandelier-of-lost-earrings http://thesummerhouseblog.blogspot.com

IN THE ZONE
For all those of you familiar with the Invest to Save: Arts in Health research and the idea of Flow posited by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, you may be interested in this short film by film-maker David Bickerstaff and our friend and collegue Dr Victoria Tischler.This builds a very neat connection between what we in the arts reffer to as flow, but from a sporting perspective. Great work.

 

WHICH ARTIST HAS JUST SAID THIS...?
"I can't be the only one who's thinking that the present government are using the recession to push through policies that sew it all up for the privileged few. It's like they're kettling the rest of us in every way, closing us in and closing us down – shutting down libraries, restricting access to further education, hacking away at the NHS. I'm not a soapbox merchant but what defines a civilised society for me is that we look after the sick and the elderly, educate our kids, nourish and cherish the next generation and give them ideals that are worth sticking to."

Answer at the footer of next weeks BLOG.

Thanks as ever...C.P.
The Zone from David Bickerstaff on Vimeo.

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WOMEN ARE HEROES, Art in the Public Realm and a Free Conference

Thank you for the responses to the ‘Olympic’ themed Richard Creme competition. I’m pleased to say that the winers will be notified by email this week, and disconcertingly, a certain Lord Coe won one (hmmm, be interesting to see if he turns up!) Next weeks blog will be a Richard Creme special to coincide with the opening of his show at MMU.

For those of you who have commented on FCnK a big thank you, and its interesting to note a few things that link into it from the popular press and the streets of Liverpool this week.

Zoe Williams in her ‘saturday sketch’ further expands on Olympic histrionics and in particular takes the bell theme further. Here’s a snippet of her conversation with Loughborough resident, John Stevens. "Have you heard about the Olympic bell?" he asks. Nope. "So there's a giant bell, and the (local) Taylor Bell Foundry put in a tender to make it. But instead they gave it to a firm in London, who subcontracted it to a firm in the Netherlands. Now," he finishes darkly, "we all call it the Dutch bell". Oh yes – moaning, in an anti-authoritarian, not entirely serious but not exactly joking, way – that's another thing we're really good at.

SEA ODYSSEY

The streets of Liverpool have been filled with teary eyed spectators, watching the progress of the Royal de Luxe produced, Sea Odyssey. An Olympic sized extravaganza, but polarizing opinions. Lynn Gardner in the Guardian commenting that, ‘...the result is inclusive theatre where young and old rub shoulders with the giants. We walk together in their footsteps, and we walk taller because they are with us.’ Chris Bradley in the online Liverpool Click is more scathing, noting the huge expense of the performance, suggesting the event cost around £2 million, and focusing on the Little Girl Giant urinating! The horror and outrage at the urinating has produced some blisteringly funny responses and in both the Gardner and Bradley articles, it's worth scrolling through the readers comments to get a balance of views, including the role and place of the local arts communities, comparisons to Notting Hill Carnival (or not) and of course, relieving yourself in public. 

I can see the thrill in this kind of event. People being together, technical skill, pathos etc - but I do think Gardner is perhaps over egging it a little suggesting ‘we walk taller because they are with us’ - how so, and what’s the long term impact? I’d like to know if anyone has been undertaking any research on the impact of this kind of street theatre, and once the carnival is gone and the streets have been scrubbed up and the Little Girl Giant, her dog and her uncle and packed off to the next city, what’s the legacy? Each year the firework shows just get bigger and I for one, love them (I think its in our nature), but just how big and spectacular can all these events get, and don’t they leave us unable to be satisfied by smaller moments and greedy for increasingly larger helpings - moving towards a super-morbid cultural obesity? 

WOMEN ARE HEROES

This BLOG has shared a number of street artists over the years in an attempt to show that the work of people like Banksy is a bit more than a superficial tag. Recently images of spray-painted walls in Afghanistan, Russia and now Bahrain have taken this potency much, much further. French artist JR takes a different perspective on participatory art, that he explains as simply, ‘Raising questions...’ That said, he did win the TED 11 prize and his work really resonates when thinking about art in the public realm. I’m mindful of comments made by Mike White on the publication of the Derek Wanless report to the Treasury in 2004: Securing Good Health for the Whole Population. Mike drew from this report and other work he’d been scrutinizing, that it is women's health and particularly women's education, that has the greatest impact on society. More than that - female literacy rates are the most significant indicator of mortality.

So, Women are Heroes is a book and a film by JR - but more than that, its an artist illuminating something of the world beyond the narrow confines of individual experience.

Here is an interesting quote from an article reviewing the book. When one onlooker in Monrovia didn't know what an art exhibition was, another person explained it thus: "You have been here for a moment looking at the portraits, asking questions, trying to understand. During that time, you haven't thought about what you will eat tomorrow. This is art."

Панк-молебен Богородица, 

Путина прогони PUSSY RIOT в храме 

Discerning readers may be picking up on how art in the public realm may have an impact that reachers wider than narrow sensationalism and potentially has political implications, that in turn, have clear implications on well-being. Since February three women from the punk-rock collective, Pussy Riot have been held in detention in Moscow, for performing a protest song against president elect Putin and what they see as the Russian Orthodox Church collaborating in politics. 13 more people were arrested over the weekend for demonstrating outside the Moscow courthouse, where the band members face up to seven years in jail.

“Five masked members of Pussy Riot performed a protest song entitled “Holy Shit” at the altar of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in downtown Moscow on February 21. The lyrics included lines such as “Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin, chase Putin out!”

Pussy Riot said the performance was a response to Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill’s backing of President-elect Vladimir Putin in the run-up to his landslide March 4 election victory. The patriarch called the 12 years of Putin's rule a "miracle of God" in a televised meeting. Putin’s press secretary said the president-elect reacted “negatively” when told of Pussy Riot’s protest.”

MUSIC AND HEALTH FREE CONFERENCE 

10 + 11 May 2012

Music in Healthcare Settings Seminar

Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

RNCM Music for Health is pleased to invite people working in the cultural and health sectors to attend a FREE 2-day seminar about music in healthcare.

The seminar will

1. present the experience and learning from the EC funded ‘Music in Healthcare Settings: Training Trainers project’ (Leonardo Transfer of Innovation) at a local, national and European level;

2. highlight the importance of working in partnerships across the cultural and health sectors;

3. compare and discuss policy frameworks in the UK and France;

4. present case studies of musical interactions in healthcare settings and outline the training offered by RNCM, including the Medical Notes project funded by Youth Music;

5. present evaluation and research findings from the RNCM Music for Health programme.

The seminar is FREE, but booking is essential as places are limited.

To reserve your place for either one or both days, please fill in the booking form attached and return by email to lilli.brodner-francis@rncm.ac.uk no later than 1 May 2012.

For info on the project and seminars in our partner countries, go to  http://www.music-in-healthcare.eu/

Women Make Music Opens for Applications (UK)

The Performing Right Society (PRS) has announced that its Women Make Music grant scheme is now open for applications.  The second year of Women Make Music comes after a successful pilot programme in 2011.  Through the programme, financial support of up to £5000 is available to women musicians; and new music in any genre is welcome, from classical, jazz and experimental, to urban, electronica and pop. 

The aims of Women Make Music are:

• Break down assumptions and stereotypes within the music industry by encouraging role models for future generations
• Raise awareness of the gender gap and to ensure that women are aware that support for new music is available to them
• Increase the profile of women who are creating new music in the UK
• Stimulate new collaborations between organisations and female music creators

There are two funding rounds in 2012 and the application deadlines are the 17th May 2012 and the 10th October 2012. For information visit: 
http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Partnerships/Flagship-Programmes/Women-Make-Music 
As ever, thanks for looking...C.P

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RICHARD CREME

The Richard Creme exhibition will be open to the public at the Link Gallery at MMU from 2nd May until 11th May. You can find out more about this show by clicking on the image by international fashion photographer, Richard Burbridge below. More details of the show will be announced next week.

Four members of the North West Arts and Health Network have the opportunity to attend a private party on 1st May with Richard and his special guests...! This is a very, very special event and the nearest the network gets to exclusivity. To have your name entered into the prize draw, simply think about your answer and email it to artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk before 2:00 on 25th April.

1. Which multinational and Olympic Partner do you associate with image 1

2. Which multinational and Olympic Partner do you associate with image 2

3. Which multinational and Olympic Partner do you associate with image 3

....................................................................................

DEBASMITA DASGUPTA

Originally set up as an informal regional network for people living and working in the North West Region, The North West Arts and Health Network has members in a range of countries including amongst others Afghanistan, Canada, India, Lithuania, Mexico and Sweden. Once in a while, its good to share some of the work that’s happening in other countries. One; because its just good to learn more about what we’re all up to and two; because we can be a little myopic in the UK. So, please feel free to get in touch if you are outside the UK and want to share your work, and once in a while we can share. Today, I’d like to introduce some of the work of Debasmita Dasgupta who creates graphic novels for children, and here is her ‘mini fish tale’ published as a blog, which she’s also developed as a free android app for children, with the not-for-profit grassroots organisation; the Bakul Foundation in India. Click on the photo to go to the story-blog.

This work has also been recently developed this into a free android app for children https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.bakul

DEATH TALKER

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Molly Carlile at the First Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, International Conference in Australia. Molly describes herself as a Death Talker: someone who through her professional nursing career, has expended her perspectives around how we live and die. Molly Carlile lives her motto ‘The more we talk, the less we fear’, by encouraging informed conversations about death and grief in order to demystify and de-stigmatise these experiences.  Molly has initiated a number of projects to engage and empower communities to deal more openly with terminal illness. Particularly interested in how the arts can play a part in peoples dying, she is a strong and charismatic voice in rethinking, how we approach are own, and others death. I quote:

“We don’t talk about death because we think of ourselves as immortal. We have faith that no matter what is wrong with us, there will be a treatment that will fix it. We tell our kids that death is something that happens to old people. And so we live in a bubble of denial, hoping that if we don’t think or talk about death, we can avoid it. So when death happens we are poorly informed, badly prepared and often suffer our grief in isolation because we have no one to talk to about how we are feeling.

The time has come for us to face death, to inform ourselves and to build our ability to show compassion to the people around us who suffer in silence and isolation.”

I recently nominated Molly for the 2012 International Journal of Palliative Nursing Awards, Educator of the Year Award. I am thrilled to say - she won it! Well done Molly - and justly deserved. Click on her photo above to see her website.

THREE STORIES ON DEMENTIA

I’ve been trying not to join the ‘viral’ world, but after Claire Ford shared her work in the USA with us at the last networking event, it would be silly not to share this video that has had almost 5,000,000 hits since we last shared it!!! You can find out lots more about this work and more at www.musicandmemory.org  

Here’s another story about he Tricycle Theatre, Improvisation and Dementia. Just click on the photo below.

And finally on the dementia front, here’s yet another feature from the Guardian about music and dementia. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/15/power-song-helping-people-dementia 

PHD OPPORTUNITY

An opportunity for a fully-funded PhD scholarship studying the effects of music making on the health and well-being of young disadvantaged people. Click on the crumhorn above, or link below, for details.
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/research/postgraduateresearchstudy/studentshipopportunities/healthandlifesciences.aspx

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, I AM ALIVE

Last week I read a small book by Tom Lubbock who was the arts critic for the Independent and who died last year. It’s a book about his dying and as such, is a wonderful account of what it is to be confronted by your mortality and is neither mawkish or sentimental. What is particularly strong is his account of losing his own word-finding and word-making and how ultimately, for me, this makes the book beautifully considered and nigh-on poetic. He also makes me realise what a bloody wonderful thing the NHS is.

Thank you as ever...

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