Arts organisation near Lancaster launches mental health and wellbeing programme

That’s why Green Close, working in partnership with Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) is delivering a new visual art mental health and wellbeing programme.

‘The Phoenix Project’ will provide a range of free, online and interactive workshops, accessible from home.

Funded by Arts Council England’s Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund, The Phoenix Project will launch in August for three months, as a series of creative workshops, offered as part of LSCft’s Recovery College online programme. These sessions will test the effectiveness of delivering visual arts online to increase positive mental health and wellbeing, and in some instances help people manage pre-existing conditions.

The partnership is currently seeking to appoint 21 contemporary artists to plan and deliver engaging remote visual art workshops across a series of core themes including bereavement and loss; stress and anxiety and isolation. Information on how to apply to work as an artist on The Phoenix Project can be found on the Green Close website – www.greenclose.org

Sue Flowers, Artistic Director of Green Close, who has previously worked within the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University said: “Green Close are an artist-led organisation with lived experience of helping others manage their wellbeing and mental health needs. We chose the name Phoenix for this project as it is a powerful symbol for strength and renewal and one of its known powers is empathy.

“We hope this project will be a safe, supportive space for people to come together to be creative whilst learning how art can help us understand ourselves, express our emotions and support our wellbeing; visual art has so much to give!”

Suzie Smith, Senior Operations Manager for Recovery and Resilience at LSCft added: “The Lancashire Recovery College is thrilled to be working in partnership with Green Close again. Our organisations shared values, to develop empowering and recovery focused arts programmes for Lancashire and South Cumbria, have enabled us to offer The Phoenix Project at a time when our communities will greatly benefit from social learning opportunities whilst maintaining physical distancing measures.

“Many of our community of artists will be feeling particularly isolated, so we are proud to be supporting and engaging in arts programmes which will demonstrate the need for therapeutic art interventions within mental health care services.”

The Phoenix Project is being delivered as a pilot programme.

If successful the project will seek funding for longer-term delivery of creative interventions, workshops and courses.