Make A Mark CIC and Willow Gallery CIC Assistance from the Mary Hignett Bequest Fund

Make A Mark CIC and Willow Gallery CIC joined together (with the aim of providing a range of creative workshops for all abilities, allowing the development of new skills and art education in Oswestry and the surrounding area) to deliver an Art for Wellbeing Project and received a grant from the Mary Hignett Bequest Fund.  An amount of £800 was approved and this is how the partnership described their venture on their application form.

Approximately 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in any one year (Mind, 2015). There is a significant and substantial evidence base for the positive impact of arts and culture on both physical and mental health and wellbeing (Arts Council England, 2015). Art making offers a place to create and play, to go beyond words, to boost self-esteem and autonomy, and promote expression.

Oswestry has a rich heritage of local art and cultural activity, much of which is now focussed in and around the Willow Gallery. The gallery provides a welcoming space for people to come, look at objects and images, and take part in making. There are many examples nationally of improving health and wellbeing through art making in a gallery (Arts Council England, 2014). We believe that this project can fill an important gap in health and wellbeing provision locally, and offer a new way of managing mental health and wellbeing for Oswestry.

In September/October 2015 Make a Mark CIC (promoting health and wellbeing through creativity and arts based interventions) and the Willow Gallery CIC (providing a platform for local artists, societies and organisations to showcase their work and for the local community to engage with arts and crafts) ran a not for profit pilot Arts for Wellbeing course at the gallery. Between 10 and 12 participants accessed the course each week, recruited via the Willow Gallery, with attendees coming for a variety of reasons including anxiety, depression, caring responsibilities and long term health conditions. Feedback was extremely positive, with one group member saying “I never thought I could do this …it has given me confidence in myself again”. Friendships developed across the weeks with people making new connections and rediscovering old ones. Feedback indicated that participants would not have accessed other arts workshops, as these were perceived to be for “good artists”. However after the course many people felt that they would now access other workshops and activities at the gallery.

This project aims to expand on this pilot and offer a more sustained service provision across 2016. Participants would be recruited from a variety of local partners including 3rd sector organisations, primary care and other health and social care providers. We aim to offer each participant four sessions free of charge, since in the current economic climate finance may constitute a significant barrier to engagement (Mind, 2015). Each four week course would guide the participant through different art making activities, including clay, paint and pastels, offering them a space to create without any pressure. Sessions would be led by a trained arts and health practitioner, and built into each course would be elements of mindfulness, solution focussed approaches and the five ways to wellbeing. The work made would be the creator’s to take home. Pathways into other arts interventions would be developed as an exit strategy for participants, and the project would be robustly evaluated.

Arts for Wellbeing Project

* Four blocks of four-week arts for wellbeing courses delivered across 2016, for the people of Oswestry and the immediate surrounding area, to be held at the Willow Gallery.

* Courses will be targeted at people with stress, low mood and depression, anxiety, long term health conditions, caring responsibilities and those experiencing social isolation, through partnership work, referral and signposting with local statutory and voluntary agencies as well as general promotion

* Each course will comprise four weeks, with each week exploring a different media. The focus will be on the process of art making rather than the aesthetic value of the end result.

* Each course will be led by an experienced arts and health practitioner who will incorporate evidence based methodologies such as mindfulness and the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
There is a considerable and growing evidence base to support the role of the arts and creativity in promoting wellbeing, building self-esteem and self-efficacy and reducing social isolation (Arts Council England, 2014). Evidence also suggests multiple benefits to wellbeing by visiting a place of arts and culture (Arts Council England, 2014). This project aims to be an example of good practice by seeking to improve the wellbeing of people in Oswestry through creative interventions within a creative space.

The images are from the art produced on the courses run in 2016.