Walsall Council Creative development Team- Arts into Health is working in partnership with Walsall Council Social Care and Inclusion, Cannock Chase Arts Development Team and Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to develop and deliver a creative arts, health and environmental participatory project with Short Street Learning and Community Centre in Brownhills.

Participants of the project are young adults with autism and learning difficulties ranging from moderate learning difficulties, severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties who currently access the centre’s residential and day support services. The aim of the project is to make links with other community and mainstream services and to enable the young adults to overcome barriers they currently face to accessing mainstream public venues and avoid social exclusion.

During the short time Short Street Community and Learning Centre has been formed the centre has worked to overcome the lack of opportunities for the young adults with autism who live in Brownhills Walsall and search out opportunities to support them to access the wider community and outdoor activities. Some of the young adults have previously expressed their desire to improve their physical wellbeing and asked for help to achieve this.

The project will provide the opportunity for young adults at Short Street Community and Learning centre to:

• Participate in a range of creative arts activities that encourages awareness of the outdoor environment
• Develop awareness of self- favourite natural objects, everyday experiences, express feelings in response to outdoor environment
• Access new and different community settings and work with new people
• Experience and appreciate the outdoor environment
• Encourage sensory experiences to develop fine and gross motor skills
• Raise awareness of the health benefits of the outdoor environment on mental health and physical health and well-being
• Have a sense of achievement and pride in art work created and exhibited in a public place
• Contribute to the creation of pieces of art work for inclusion in the Cannock Chase ‘Route to Health’ trail and educational pack for the visitor centre

The project partnership recently appointed an artist to deliver this project.

The project has been made possible by a number of funders:

Cannock Chase AONB- Sustainable Development Fund

Cannock Chase Council

Walsall Council- Communities for Health Funding

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Visual artist Karen Woods has be commissioned to lead 12 weekly creative participatory arts workshops. The workshops are being delivered through July-September 2010 at both Short Street Community and Learning Centre and on site at Birches Valley Centre on Cannock Chase. The creative workshops will provide the opportunity for participants to experience a variety of visual art mediums from drawing, collage, sculpture, clay and textiles to create pieces of semi permanent art works for inclusion on the ‘Route to Health’ trail at Cannock Chase. Participants involved in the project will explore the surrounding natural environment on the chase through gathering and collecting natural objects and using these within the creation of sensory art pieces.

The project is being documented through photography to be used as visual prompts and reminders of the project in between weekly workshops, and as a visual legacy for staff and young adults at Short Street Centre once the project is finished.

The project will culminate in a celebration event on site at Birches Valley where the art work pieces and documentation of the project process will be installed on the ‘Route to Health’ trail.

The project aims to have an number of positive impacts on all those involved :

Staff Development:

Build of staff’s existing arts and creative skills in visual arts, ICT and photography to develop further links with arts practitioners and organisations and to develop individual creative skills and arts practice for use within the day centre after the project finishes

Artist Development:

Opportunity to develop artist skills and awareness to working with people with autism. Through support on the project by the centre’s staff

Personal development :

Specific  Outcomes for participants:

• Reduce stress anxiety levels through providing meaningful experiences and activities
• Physical development: fine-gross motor co-ordination, affects individuals as part of their autism
• Social Inclusion – accepting of new people, and new environments and increasing self esteem in these situations
• Developing socially acceptable behaviour within the community
• Through participation in creative arts – explore a variety of sensory experiences, appreciation of the environment and through education develop care and understanding of the outdoor environment and habitats
• Through skilled instruction of the artist- developing communication skills, social interaction, listening and responding, making choices and learning to express themselves
• Using materials appropriately through structured activities, tools for correct purposes and tasks and following a sequence of events

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The wonderful art work created is now situated on site at Birches Valley on the ‘Route to Health’

“The group have began the sessions by walking the route to health trail and observing the art work, collecting natural objects and exploring textures and shapes, through the senses. They have also taken rubbings, using oil pastels and wax, from some of the existing art work and from natural objects i.e. tree bark, leaves. They have experienced the open spaces and explored the natural beauty of the area. 

The artist has engaged the group during the workshop sessions, within the Hideaway classroom, making moulds from clay, from the natural objects (leaves, cones, bark) to then fill plaster of Paris. When the moulds have set the group have poured liquid latex into the shapes to create latex shapes to go on the art work. The participants have been involved in every stage of the process, mixing the plaster, latex mixture and modelling clay. Although they do not all have much verbal language they have interacted within a group setting, which has encouraged social inclusion. I have had really positive feedback both from the group and the staff supporting them, the students have responded well, appeared to be enjoying the experience, they have been relaxed and through sensory exploration participated in producing some creative art products which will contribute to the final piece”

Reflections by the Centre Manager on the project process

Feedback 1 year on…..  “The service users still talk about it (the project) and we have the wonderful art work in frames displayed in the art room, which they often refer to. We have been up to Birches Valley a few times and added our own art work to the sculptures.” Staff/Centre Manager

The project will also focus on developing an educational pack/resource to be produced for Cannock Chase and Walsall. The resource will be produced to inspire people with learning difficulties to make the most of their open spaces and woodlands etc, using makaton signs, photographs from the project etc to help communicate in accessible way ideas for making the most of enjoying and appreciating the outdoor environment (green spaces, parks and woodland)- activities and things to do in relation to health and wellbeing, things to find in the outdoor environment, ways to look after the environment etc

 (The resource will be distributed via Cannock Chase Visitor Centres as well as a PDF for inclusion on the ‘Friends of Cannock Chase’ website and www.walsalltogether.net Walsall’s website for the Learning Disability Partnership Board