Throughout the year we’ve formed some exciting new partnerships with a number of organisations that are passionate about the benefits that creativity brings to people’s wellbeing. These have opened up some great opportunities for our artists to expand their businesses into new fields and reach out and touch the lives of others.
Colostomy UK
Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been working closely with Colostomy UK, delivering therapeutic art sessions to Stoma Support Groups across the country as part of their “active ostomates” programme – designed to empower people with a stoma to participate in activities to increase both physical and mental wellbeing.
These sessions have been hugely popular – some with as many as 35 participants attending! These always make for a wonderful social occasion, and we’ve had some great feedback from attendees on how much they’ve enjoyed it, and how therapeutic the sessions are. Our artists have thoroughly enjoyed delivering sessions at the Stoma Support Groups too.
CM Artist David delivered a session in Salisbury and said; “Everyone loved working with watercolours – it was a lovely atmosphere with lots of fun and banter.”
CM Artist Rhiannon delivered a session in Sheppy and she said; “It was a pleasure working with the Stoma Support Group in Sheppy. They astounded me with their positivity and creativity. They really encouraged each other and gave great feedback on each other’s work. Some fabulous art was created!”
To find out more about Colostomy UK, visit: http://www.colostomyuk.org/
MindForYou
Back in the summer, we formed a partnership with MindForYou, a wonderful company who organise holidays for folks living with dementia to enjoy with their nearest and dearest. Their holidays span across England, Scotland and Wales.
CM Artist Tracy ran a session in Hathersage, Derbyshire. Holiday goers used soft pastels and inktense pencils to draw views of the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.
CM Artist Liz ran a lovely session near Honiton in Devon. The sun shone into the room as holiday goers had a great time creating bold sunflower canvases.
Throughout the summer we delivered sessions at holidays across the country, with groups from anywhere from 15-35 participants, and our artists will be delivering sessions at many future holidays to come!
To find out more about Mindforyou, visit: http://www.mindforyou.co.uk/
Chatty Art Cafe
The Chatty Café Scheme is a brilliant initiative, founded by Alex Hoskyns, in which cafes can join the scheme and allocate a table or two within the establishment to be a ‘chatter and natter’ table to encourage people in the community to talk to one another reducing loneliness and isolation.
The scheme has really off and in just two years, there are now over 1000 cafes across the UK and globally, in the US, Canada, Gibraltar, Malta, Australia and more!
CM Artists Caroline and Judy set up their own Chatty Art Café at Greengages Coffee Shop in Salisbury earlier in the year. Since then, Creative Minds founder James got in touch with the founders of the Chatty Café Scheme and they loved the idea of forming a partnership to run Chatty Art Cafés as part of the initiative. This has opened up another exciting avenue for CM Artists to pursue and we’re looking forward to seeing Chatty Art Cafes popping up across the country in the coming months.
In the meantime, CM Artists Caroline and Judy’s Chatty Art Café in Salisbury is continuing to grow from strength to strength. They have a solid group of regular attendees and some wonderful new friendships have formed. It’s lovely to hear that some of the regulars are already making Christmas plans together!
To find out more about the Chatty Cafe Scheme, visit: https://thechattycafescheme.co.uk/