What is happiness...?
An exciting new opportunity has arisen for us to build on our existing partnership with Walsall Councils Creative Development Team.
In 2006 a joint Arts and Health Commissioning Partnership group was established in the Black Country. This includes representatives from Walsall MBC Creative Development Team and their counterparts from neighbouring boroughs, as well PcTs (Primary Care Trusts), Arts Council West Midlands and NHS West Midlands.
Between 2006 and 2008 the Commissioning Partnership decided to develop a joint approach for Arts and Health initiatives and they have since developed annual themes.
This year the focus is on metal health and wellbeing. Multistory, a multi-media arts organisation based in Sandwell, have been contracted to deliver an innovative arts & health project entitled ‘What is Happiness?’ The focus of the commission is to use visual arts as a medium to explore the concept of what happiness means to different people.
Multistory will work with a range of target groups across the Black Country to create ‘stories of happiness’ that will be interpreted using photography, illustration, crafts or animation. Individual works of art will then be transferred onto pre-made cardboard play houses to create a ‘happiness estate’ that will form the basis of a Black Country wide touring exhibition. Multistory also plan to work with participants to create a series of visual happiness indicators that will be used to create a ‘Happiness Map’ of the Black Country to visually represent what makes people happy in different parts of the sub-region. Alongside the workshops, they will be running a text service to enable people to respond to the question ‘Happiness is……..?’ These responses will then be added to the Multistory website.
We are delighted that we at Caldmore have been given an opportunity to get involved in this project and particularly as it is the women and children in our refuge accommodation who will benefit with a series of arts workshops.
