Sunday 3 September 2017

...hey ho

So - this blogger is taking a little research leave over the autumn, to finish off some big work and embark on all things new. More of that very soon, if you can bear it!

I am thrilled to be asked to speak at the
Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney as part of The Big Anxiety Festival this year. It's a great line-up and I'm honoured to be part of the largest arts and mental health festival on the planet. My presentation will be all things obsessive and compulsive - but not in the slightest - disordered! Read more by clicking on my lucky kitten below. 


For those of you from the arts, health and other connected communities of interest, I plan to facilitate a follow-up event to the APPG Creative Health launch, which is planned to take place at Manchester School of Art on January 5th 2018. So keep that date in mind. Of course we’ll have some special political and cultural guests, but we really want to dig down into that report and see what it means to us - and what we want to take forward as a region. So whether you’re a researcher, activist or artist - look out for calls for expressions of interest in sharing, provoking and shaking up the system.

I’ll be posting explicitly about this event in November.

UNSEEN: Simultaneous Realities
For now, a big congratulations to Mark Prest and all his ongoing work as part of PRIDE and some incredibly exciting Recoverist work across Greater Manchester. 

Film Still. Fruit Bowl. courtesy Amanda Ravetz & Huw Wahl

UK Arts Threatened by Planned £39m British Council Cut!

The British Council could be forced to scale back its activities in developed countries if a planned Government funding cut takes place. Should the cut be confirmed, the organisation’s funding for so-called ‘developed economies’ without access to official development assistance would be reduced from £39m in 2016/17 to £13m in 2018/19, and to zero by 2019/20. A British Council spokesperson confirmed the reduction could have some impact on the arts in Europe and the across wider developed world, but said there would be “no impact” on the UK’s Creative Europe programme, which is managed by the Council but funded by the European Union. Thanks to Arts Professional for their reporting. Click HERE. 

St Helens Local Cultural Education Partnership Development Officer for St Helens Council
Salary: From £25,951 to £27,668 per annum, pro rata
St.Helens Council is looking to appoint someone who is knowledgeable and passionate about arts and culture in education to the newly created role of Development Officer for the St Helens Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP), which has recently been named as the first Artsmark town in the North West. The successful candidate will have knowledge of a wide variety of creative and performing arts and the workings of arts practitioners and the cultural industries alongside a deep understanding of the school curriculum and the current issues affecting schools.  You will have strong organisational and communication skills and will be an excellent negotiator and advocate for the arts with a wide variety of audiences.   Key tasks of the role will include:  the finalising of the activity plan and schools’ offer; encouraging buy in by all schools and academies, brokering activities and training for schools with a wide variety of artists and cultural providers; formulating an evaluation framework to measure impact and other outcomes and outputs; manage the LCEP project budget and make regular progress reports to the LCEP steering group and its funders; and being able to successfully draw in additional external funding.
The post was created in partnership with St Helens Council and Curious Minds with funding from Arts Council England and Public Health. Whilst the post has been advertised on a temporary basis till March 2019 there will be the possibility to extend the role beyond this point subject to the success of the candidate in this respect. The post is for 22.5 hours over 3 days per week term time only plus three extra weeks to a total of 42 weeks per year, temporarily until March 2019, and is subject to a satisfactory DBS and other pre-employment checks.

Deadline for applications: Tuesday 5th September 2017; Interview date: Thursday 21st September 2017. Further information is HERE. 


Design for the Future
”I am now completely convinced that the GP within the NHS will have no enjoyable or creative future until the arts led “libraries and health“ partnership work is understood, valued and firmly supported in every possible way by both GPs and Librarians across the whole of the UK” – Dr Malcolm Rigler

You can see a presentation called Design for the Future, by the brilliant Dr Malcolm Rigler, a NHS GP and member of the Cilip Health Group. Malcolm is co-founder of the Health/Art/Libraries (HAL) project, which aims to design and deliver arts projects, events, publications, workshops, and training to help patients and carers in their search for information and understanding about health, social care and life changes working along the theme of ‘Libraries on Prescription.’ Read more by clicking HERE. 



Aviva Community Fund
The Aviva Community Fund is due to re-open for applications on the 12th September 2017. Community organisations will be able to apply for funding of between £1,000 and £25,000 to support their projects within one of the following four categories:
  Health and Wellbeing
  Skills for Life
  Community support
  Inclusivity.
Applicants will need support from the community for their application in the form of votes and the most voted for applications will go through to the final to be judged. Voting will start on the 23rd October 2017 and applicants will need to have submitted their project by the 10th October 2017. The fund is open to anyone over the age of 18 living in the UK. If the applicant is under the age of 18 and wishes to submit an entry to the Awards, they must provide the consent of an appropriate adult associated with the project they are entering. Read more HERE.

The Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund
The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association, funds projects that can demonstrate the inspiring and engaging potential of their collection to deliver social impact for people and communities. Museums, galleries and heritage organisations from across the UK can apply for a grant of between £20,000 and £120,000 for projects that:
Engage local communities and/or those who aren't typical museum attendees
Improve the understanding of an existing collection or collections
Are developmental for the organisation or sector; etc.
Projects can last up to three years. There is a two-stage process with shortlisted stage one applicants invited to make a full application. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 6 September 2017. Read more HERE. 



Gannett Foundation Grants
The Gannett Foundation, which is the charitable arm of Gannett Co Inc., owner of the Newsquest Media Group, one of the UK's largest newspaper publishers, is inviting applications to supports projects that benefit the local community. Applications are welcome for specific items of equipment, anything from a box of toys for disadvantaged children, to sophisticated medical equipment for cancer research. Applications must be by registered charities. The grants available can be up to £10,000. Please note that grants are not available for salaries, professional fees or day-to-day running or maintenance costs, general appeals, political or religious objectives, state or privately run schools (other than special needs), hospitals (other than hospices) or projects that do not bring benefits to the local community. Groups that have received an award from the Foundation within the last two years cannot apply this year. The closing date for applications is the 9th October 2017. Applications need to be submitted via the local Newsquest Media Group papers. Read more HERE. 

£15 million Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund
Towns and cities across Northern England are able to bid for a share of a new fund that aims to boost the region's technology, creative and cultural industries. The UK Government's Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund aims to help build a lasting regional legacy from the Great Exhibition of the North planned for summer 2018. Grants of up to £4 million in each of three financial years (2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21) will be available to eligible Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the 11 Northern Regions of England. The funding will support capital expenditure on major culture and tech projects like, for example, opening a new tech start-up centre or renovating live music venues. LEPs are each invited to submit one bid for up to £4million to the Fund. Applications should be for a single capital project that fits within the overall priorities for the Fund and evidences the need for the project and the rationale for intervention in the local area. All projects supported will be expected to increase opportunities for people to experience, benefit from and contribute to culture and creativity. The deadline for LEP bids is 30th November 2017. Read more HERE.    




 

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