In 2014 the Bluecoat Display Centre launched a new outreach project in partnership with social care charity Person Shaped Support (PSS). Taking place between 28 March 2014 – 10 February 2015, the new programme of artist-led workshops demonstrated the benefits that craft can have on a person’s overall health and wellbeing.
Participation in creative activities can bring a sense of achievement. It allows for stretching the imagination, putting our own stamp on things, making our mark and expressing something significant and personal. Working in partnership, PSS and the Bluecoat Display Centre offered inspiring and accessible arts and crafts sessions to diverse under-represented groups at PSS partner locations.
Craft workshops took place across two days with eight different craft makers, and introduced participants to a new skill, helped them to interact with other people, and demonstrated how arts and craft activities can help to relieve stress and anxiety. Rachael Howard taught screenprinting at Enable; Nawal Gebreel taught silk-painting & John Ayling taught wirework sculpture at The Avenue, Belle Vale; Jeanne-Marie Kenny taught memory box making with the Dementia Befriending Service; Robbie Manning taught ceramics at the Leeson Centre; Sian Hughes taught cyanotype printing at the Umbrella Centre; Mike Badger taught recycled sculpture making with Family Impact; and Alison Little taught papier-mâché sculpture with Mi Champions.
PSS works to support and empower some of the most vulnerable groups in the community through the provision of a diverse range of community, health and social care services. They are proactive in building partnerships with partner organisations who share their commitment to the use of innovative approaches to enable people who use their services to achieve personal growth and positive outcomes.
The PSS workshops were funded by Arts Council England Lottery Funding and the Ernest Cook Trust. With this generous support, Bdc have been able to host workshops with some of the North-West’s leading makers exploring textiles, ceramics, printing and weaving.
For more information about the individual workshop series, please follow the links at the below.
