CHWA 2020 Collective Power Award

The need to work collaboratively and share resources and knowledge to address both local and national challenges is clear. This award aims to recognise a project or programme in which partnership working has improved the health and wellbeing of individuals or communities.

In collaboration with the Ideas Alliance, we were looking for inspiring projects or programmes that had brought together different fields. Submissions had to involve culture or the arts, and they also needed to demonstrate how they engaged with health, care or wellbeing partners. Partnerships could also involve organisations or individuals engaged with activism, education, social justice or any other relevant sectors to bring about change. The key focus was meaningful partnerships across different fields or disciplines. 

Judges: Rich Driffield (Ideas Alliance), Moira Sinclair (Paul Hamlyn Foundation) and Mah Rana (artist/ researcher/ writer/ curator / LENS champion)

Head to Ideas Alliance Ideas Hub to read the series of blogs written about each shortlisted project.

*Winner*
Daughters of Fortune, Mind The Gap

Daughters of Fortune is a groundbreaking, co-created arts and science project exploring the largely invisible subject of learning disability and parenthood. Underpinned by a research programme in collaboration with learning-disabled parents, medical experts, social workers, council officers and advocates, DOF is a world-class artistic programme that aims to reduce stigma, raise awareness and ultimately improve the experiences of learning-disabled parents.

Partners include:  

  • Research Partner: Royal Holloway University
  • Health and Social Care (HSC) professionals including: Calderdale NHS, Working Together with Parents Network.
  • Advocacy & LD Parents’ Groups including: Elfrida Society, WomenCentre, Geordie Mums, CHANGE, Cloverleaf. 
  • Artistic partners including: Walk the Plank, Emergency Exit Arts, Illuminos. 
  •  Community Casts of over 200 . 
  • Funders including: Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence, Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fund. 
Read more

*Highly Commended*
Loudspeaker, Nottingham Contemporary

Loudspeaker is an art project for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire women based at Nottingham Contemporary. We support groups of women on personal journeys to value themselves and their creative ideas. Together women discover new ways of seeing and making contemporary art, meet new people, develop self-confidence and move towards volunteering, training, education and employment.

Partners/collaborators include:

Community organisations: Framework, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum, Nottingham Womens Centre, Emmanuel House - Nottingham, Double Impact - Nottingham, YMCA - Nottingham, Women’s Work - Derbyshire, Derventio Housing Trust, Derby , Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire, Improving Lives – Nottingham, Derbyshire Law Centre, Acorn Training – Derbyshire.   

Read more

*Highly Commended*
Our Day Out, Creative Arts East

Our Day Out is fortnightly programme of dementia-friendly, inclusive and interactive music and movement workshops for older people, catering particularly for those who may face barriers to participation such as carers, people living with a dementia or other health conditions, and those experiencing rural and/or social isolation or loneliness.

Partners include:

  • Spirit of 2012 Trust 
  • Research: Dr Paul Camic (Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Public Health at the Salomons Institute for Applied Psychology), Sarah Stromaier (Psychology Research Assistant in Psychology and PhD student, Salomons Institute for Applied Psychology) and Dr Hannah Zeilig (Senior Research Fellow, University of the Arts London, and Visiting Research Fellow at University of East Anglia) 
  • 35 professional artists and creative facilitators including Anita Staff (photographer), 414 participants and 34 volunteers 
  • Steering Committee: Stevie Spencer (Breckland Council), Lucy Bayliss (DanceEast, Mary Muir (Norfolk County Council), Sonia Shuter (North Norfolk District Council), Jonathan Clemo (Community Action Norfolk)  
  • Funders: Big Lottery Community Fund, The Earl of Northampton Trust (via Mercers’ Company) 
  • Local Authority: Norfolk County Council , Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Breckland Council and North Norfolk District Council 
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Feels Like Home, Barnsley Museums

Feels Like Home is for anyone new to Barnsley who doesn’t speak English as a first language, including refugees and asylum seekers, often with difficult stories of trauma and loss. Together we share cultural experiences, creating new stories with happier endings.

Partners include:

  • Barnsley Refugee Council 
  • Local (and regional) special interest groups and organisations, including: Qdos Creates (community arts); Barnsley Longsword Dance Team, Barnsley Libraries,York Castle Museum, Barnsley Education Learning Support Hub, Barnsley Town Centre Events Team 
Read more

The Intergenerational Project, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust & Royal Central School of Speech & Drama

The intergenerational project creates joy by linking healthcare, education and the arts. The project brings local school children together with older adult patients to build intergenerational connections through an exciting range of arts and humanities workshops in acute hospital settings.

Partners include:

  • Organisations/Venues: Wallace Collection, Vauxhall City Farm, Imperial Health Charity
  • Freelance community arts practitioners and organisations: Paperbirch, Intergenerational Music Making, Starling Arts, Akademi,
  • Schools: St Mary Magdalene CE Primary School, International Community School, Sir John Lillie Primary School, Melcome Primary School, St Augustine’s Primary School.  
Read more

Making Musical Bridges, Intergenerational Music Making

IMM is the first Music Therapy intergenerational organisation bringing together the old and young to tackle social isolation and social exclusion whilst improving the mental health and wellbeing of both generations through unique music projects. Making Musical Bridges brought together targeted Year 5/6 children with residents living with dementia from their local care home.

Partners include:

  • Education: International School, London and undergraduate music students from the Academy of Contemporary Music, London
  • Older People Organisations: Age UK, Surrey, Bernard Sunley Nursing/Dementia Care home and Friends of the Elderly (Fote) 
  • Local Authority: Surrey County Council
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Museums Northumberland bait and The Bridge partnership

“I never used to leave the house.  Now, I don’t want to stay in.”

Museums Northumberland bait and the Bridge Project teamed up to offer a series of arts workshops as part of a programme to remove barriers to work for people living in South East Northumberland.  Over eighteen months, the group of 12 people selected artists, made artworks, co-curated and presented an exhibition called 'A Picture of Mind' exploring the theme of mental health and wellbeing. 

Partners include:

The Bridge Project, itself a partnership, led by Northumberland County Council alongside seven voluntary sector organisations 

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Tracing Autonomy, The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice and University of Glasgow

Tracing Autonomy has grown out of a series of conversations around autonomy, creativity and end of life care, between artists Jeni Pearson and Kirsty Stansfield (Creative Arts Service, The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, Glasgow) and philosopher Prof. Ben Colburn (University of Glasgow). The project foregrounds autonomy as a model for supporting reflective practice for clinical and arts and health practitioners.

Input from practitioners working in the areas of palliative care, clinical practice, learning disability, autism and the creative arts have been key in shaping two transferable resources: Tracing Autonomy Framework and Tracing Autonomy Workshop Guide, available to download from the website below...

Partners include:

  • Knowledge Exchange & Impact Award, University of Glasgow
  • Health: Clinical Staff, Grade 7+, The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice 
  • Community Sector: Enable Scotland and Sense Scotland 
  • Arts/Culture: The Studio Pavilion, House for an Art Lover, Glasgow and Uilluin West Cork Arts Centre, Skibereem, Ireland 
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