creativityandwell-being the engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Awards 2005 creativityandwell-being the engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Awards 2005 Sponsored by The Scottish Executive’s National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being This publication celebrates visual arts education projects in Scotland which bring participants and artists together in memorable ways. The eleven winning projects exemplify good practice according to criteria set for the engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Awards’ 2005 focus on creativity and well-being. Published by engage Scotland, 2005 © engage Scotland, the artists, photographers, organisations and authors, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Compiled by Rebecca Marr and Clare Watson Designed by Elizabeth McLean Cover image A Knitting Bee Jeanette Bell, p.14 Photo: Kirsty Macdonald, Functionsuite, Artlink being involved ‘’ with the engage awards has certainly been good for my mental health and well-being Gregor Henderson Director National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being contents 04 Arts, mental health and well-being: Getting the green light in Scotland? Paul Murray 06 Creativity and well-being: a partnership Gregor Henderson and Rebecca Marr 10 The visual arts gives voice to all Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care 12 The award winners 36 Journeys beyond… The Awards background; eligibility for entering; application process; selection criteria; selection process and panel; the Awards event 42 Preparing to engage Brian Morton 44 In boats and on paper Molly McGlone 46 Listening to images Lesley Milne 48 The Crime of Uglyfication Jeanette Bell and Michelle Naismith 50 Half way around the world Roy 52 I am here. This is where I am. David Harding 54 Visiting writes Comments and exchanges from elbowroom’s visitors’ book 56 engage in the visual arts 58 National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-being 60 Project details 64 Cheers Our many thanks Arts, mental health and well-being Getting the green light in Scotland? In Scotland, a special set of circumstances is raising our awareness of mental health and of the positive impact of the arts on mental well-being. With a number of Scottish Executive initiatives bringing mental health issues to prominence on the public agenda, Scotland is ready to go: the lights are amber… When you read about the projects in this publication, examine the supportive words offered by Scotland’s Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care, and consider the resources being committed to the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well- being, you will perceive that mental health and well-being are being increasingly regarded in socio-cultural as well medical and clinical terms. Social care, education, employment and health agencies are recognised as being contributors to individual and community well-being. And many agencies are recognising the arts as an important tool for delivering improved mental health for Scots. Health- promoting aims which underpin mental health strategies in Scotland are being recognised across sectors. They go hand-in-hand with the social and developmental aims of community and collaborative arts projects. Our sense of connectedness with our communities, our vitality, our freedom to do things we enjoy, developing our confidence and skills, having good social relationships and being creative are all experiences that contribute to our mental well-being. And they are experiences which involvement in visual arts projects can promote. This publication helps the arts and mental health communities articulate the cross-cutting benefits of the arts to mental health and well-being to new audiences. The winning projects give a taste of the variety of ways in which the arts can send messages, draw attention, make statements, change attitudes and behaviours…and stop traffic! Sometimes that traffic is a constant flow of common assumptions and misunderstandings. For example, stereotyped notions of people experiencing mental health problems. The Awards offer an arena for fresh viewpoints: projects challenge misguided stereotypes and deliver informed perspectives on people experiencing mental health difficulties: perspectives which embrace articulate, strong, insightful, intelligent, artful, creative communicators. Good art will always challenge us. It takes risks, goes beyond what we imagine things to be, shocks and surprises us, shows us our world from a new 4 perspective, casts new light on the every day. Good art opens new worlds of possibility to us. The following projects demonstrate that art, and involvement in its creation, can give people suffering mental health problems an avenue for addressing, understanding, reinterpreting and communicating their reality. Art offers us all a voice we might not know we had. It values creators’ opinions and allows individuals to challenge their self- perceptions as well as the perceptions of them held by others. By recognising the achievements of these award- winning projects, we are celebrating the ways participants have found power and learning through their own creative development. By being and becoming artists, people can discover paths towards recovery. The Scottish Arts Council’s National Arts, Mental Health and Well-Being Programme thanks everyone who has been involved in these projects and is proud to have played a small part of giving them the green light. We hope that this publication helps increase appreciation for these projects and others like them, and that it prompts other agencies to increase their support for collaborative arts projects. The potential for enrichment, recovery, regeneration and development in collaborative projects is huge. And there’s great creative energy to tap in both the arts and health sectors. But positive participatory arts experiences need decision-makers to interrogate their objectives and priorities. Only significant and sustained funding will change those red and amber lights to green. Paul Murray, Director, Art-full: Arts, Janie Nicoll, Johnny Gailey and Tessa Dunlop North Edinburgh Arts Centre p. 24 Mental Health and Well-being in Photo: Peter Sandground Scotland, Scottish Arts Council 5 Creativity and well-being A partnership Developing and maintaining good and positive mental health and well-being is important for everyone. Participating in the arts and culture can help encourage improved mental health and well-being and help build confidence, self-esteem and a greater feeling of involvement with others. People often feel that their involvement in arts and culture helps them gain a positive outlook, enabling them to reflect on, challenge and express how they feel about themselves, others and the world. Good mental health and well-being enhances our resilience and our ability to cope. We need greater awareness in Scotland about both mental health and mental ill- health. One in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some time in our lives. So, if a mental health problem does not happen to us it will happen to someone we know. The visual arts can heal negative and damaging stereotypes about mental health sufferers by promoting awareness and understanding of mental health issues and by supporting people’s recovery from mental ill-health. The potent role of the visual arts in supporting our general well-being is articulated by the engage Visual Arts Education Awards’ ongoing celebration of access for all to the visual arts. The Awards’ 2005 focus on creativity, mental health and well-being underlines the key role of culture and the arts in: • raising awareness about positive mental health and well-being and contributing to it; • helping to address stigma and discrimination around mental ill-health; • supporting people’s recovery from mental health problems through increased access to arts and cultural activities. Ten awards of £1,000 each were available for the 2005 Awards. The selection panel, however, was so impressed by the standard of the projects entered that they made eleven awards. Applicants entered projects under one of two categories. Category one awards were for projects which promoted positive mental health and well-being, improved quality of life and social inclusion for those affected by mental ill health. Four awards had been available for projects that challenged stigma and discrimination, or supported recovery from mental illness. But it was in this category that the panel found such high standards that five awards were made. Category two awards were for projects which promoted 6 elbowroom p. 26 Photo: Katie Bruce GoMA well-being and creativity through the visual arts. Both sets of awards recognised projects that offered participants quality engagement. Rather than rewarding individual talent, the Awards applaud the galleries and arts organisations that enable individuals and communities to engage with art and artists. The engage Scotland Visual Arts Education Awards celebrate and promote good practice and professionalism in participatory visual arts projects. They recognise visual arts education work that increases access to and enjoyment of the visual arts. Creativity can build well-being; and well-being can inject energy into creative enterprise. This partnership can give power to the innate need in us all to express ourselves