 August
2008
NEW PROJECTS FOR 2008/2009
  Clown
'Round
Funded by Children in Need, this pilot project will allow
two female clowns to work once a week for six months on
the Children’s Ward in the James Paget
Hospital, in Gorleston.
Hospitalised children will be able to take part in
artistic play that aims to bring fun and new skills
and relieve children of fear and insecurities.
Skills4Jobs
Artlink is a member of Creative Learning in Partnership
(CLiP), a consortium led by Theatre Resource, which
has secured funding from the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC).
Artlink will work with 20 young unemployed adults
in Suffolk to re-engage them through creative workshops,
work experience and work placements in the creative
sector.
blueprint
Artlink is a member of a consortium led by The Garage
in Norwich which has secured three year funding from
V for volunteering projects across the region.
Artlink’s project will
involve people with learning disabilities from Hadleigh
who will devise and implement a project within their
community.
Lap
of Honour
Part of the Suffolk Cultural Olympiad, this four year
project will celebrate, document and record the achievements
of past Olympians and Paralympians with Suffolk connections.
Oral history and memory gathering on film and the
sourcing of original Olympic artefacts will lead up
to three annual touring exhibitions beginning in September
2009.
 Culture
Club
It’s a busy year for Culture Club, we are working
with new partners to develop work in more areas of
the county, giving more opportunities to raise the
profile of older people’s creative potential.
Reminiscence work with the Museum of East Anglian
Life has developed not only to work with the residents
of local sheltered housing schemes (creating a museum
display in the schemes) but also with their staff,
offering training in using reminiscence in order to
develop activities with their clients.
 At Home Library Service Reading
Groups will expand to more libraries across the county
after the success of a creative writing project that
took place earlier this year. Members of the Bury
St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Halesworth, Ipswich, Lowestoft
and Woodbridge
Reading Groups had the opportunity of working with
poet Michael Laskey who edited the work and life recollections
published in the book “Full of Life”.
 Full of Life is a wonderful record
that will be enjoyed for years to come.Recordings from
the sessions and selected readings have been made into
a podcast which is stocked in all of the county’s
libraries and is available to download from www.suffolkartlink.org.uk.
A new Culture Club leaflet with
details of all
the exciting opportunities and events happening near
you is distributed through the county’s libraries
and GP’s surgeries or contact Hayley at Artlink.
Open
Doors
 The aims of the
course were to facilitate either freelance or part
time job opportunities for people with learning disabilities
within the creative sector or to inspire and sign post
further study.
Open Doors also offered learning disability awareness
training to partner organisations and has started to
create a legacy of awareness of learning disability
issues with a range of creative sector organisations.
 100% of students achieved their
OCN accreditation in July ’08. 80% of students
completed work experience by June’08. 4 participants
have been taken on by arts organisations on permanent
work placements during the course. These will potentially
become paid employment at a later date. Musical Extravaganza devised
and designed by course participants in Betty’s
Nightclub, Ipswich.
 10 Arts Organisations have been involved in the delivery
running workshops and professional freelance tutors used
to give specific training in the creative arts resulting
in 50 per cent more desirable work opportunities for
people with learning disabilities.
Youth
Activities
 Junk Funk goes to Latitude Festival
Junk Funk, the wheelie bin drumming project, continued
in partnership with Whitton Life in Lowestoft. A second
band was formed in Eye in April 2007.
Junk Funk bands gave a number of public performances
and the Lowestoft band made a CD.
 Circus Skills in Southwold
As part as Lowestoft activities week a group of young
people attended circus skills workshops in a big top
on Southwold common.
The culmination was a performance involving both drumming
and circus skills as part of Ipswich carnival.
 Music for Excluded Young People
Six wheelie bin drumming sessions were delivered in
partnership with Connexions at the Moreton Road Centre.
In January thanks to a grant from the Suffolk Foundation,
Artlink was able to offer weekly music workshops to
Hampden House Pupil Referral Unit in Sudbury.
Artlink received the High Sheriff’s
Certificate of Commendation for the Junk Funk Wheelie
Bin Band
 Creative
Carers
This summer Suffolk
Artlink is piloting a version of the Creative Carers
training programme targeted at carers working with
people with dementia. As well as working with carers
from two centres in Ipswich, occupational therapy assistants
are also taking part.
So far, a total of 10 carers, managers and occupational
therapy assistants have taken part in two training
sessions with artists Caroline Wright and Helen Rousseau.
These sessions have focused on the carers own creativity
and how they can use their skills to plan creative
activities for their clients.
 In September, two artists will visit the centres to
deliver best practice workshops with the older people
with dementia in order to inspire the care staff with
new ideas.
Following the completion of the dementia pilot Artlink
is looking to continue delivering the programme across
the county with elements of dementia focussed training
included within the programme.
After the success of the first year, plans are now
in place for the second year of the Alzheimer's Society
Creative Activity sessions programme. Starting in West
Suffolk in the Autumn, three artists will be leading
creative activities for people with dementia and their
carers. Sessions will also take place in Ipswich and
Waveney later in the year. |
