Whale Arts - Arts, Wellbeing and Core Funding Report - for William Grant Foundation March 2022 by whalearts

2021 -2022

ARTS, WELLBEING & CORE FUNDING REPORT FOR THE WILLIAM GRANT FOUNDATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS None of the work in this report would have been possible without the generosity and support of the William Grant Foundation. We are very grateful to The William Grant Foundation for their understanding of the importance of both core and unrestricted funding as well as project specific funding focused on long-term conditions which funds our arts and wellbeing programme. It is so important for us to acknowledge this because this level of flexibility from our funders is crucial in enabling us to really meet the needs of our community.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 01

Introduction

Where we are now

Spotlight on groups

Ideas going forward

The importance of

Conclusion/how the

Thanks

unrestricted/core funding

funding has helped

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of 2021, we met with William Grant representatives to discuss funding for our Arts and Wellbeing Programme through their Health & Social Causes funding strand and some additional funding towards our core budget. This strand fits well with the work we do at WHALE Arts. Many of our participants are living with long term conditions including complex and enduring mental health problems, wide-ranging physical disabilities and other chronic health conditions. These conditions, disabilities and mental health problems are often exacerbated by the impacts of living in poverty and for many, the covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have aggravated things even further. The overarching aim of our Arts and Wellbeing Programme is to promote, nurture and enhance people's well-being by providing opportunities to make positive social connections, through a range of social, creative and therapeutic groups.

At the start of 2021, we had 6 groups on our Arts & Wellbeing Programme Smartcraft - a visual arts group for adults with additional and complex needs Let’s Create - a therapeutic art group for Women with complex mental health problems Stitch N’ Time - a highly social ladies sewing group who engage in a range of textile-based projects and often donate their work to other community groups Men’s Makers - a group where men can come together and make things predominantly woodwork based at this stage Mums into Business - a creative, social, supportive and entrepreneurial group for Mums who want to set up their own businesses - with a free creche Let’s Dance - a Ceilidh dancing group for adults (This group has not been running since lockdown March 2020 due to covid restrictions) We had a total of 67 people on our project registers across all of our groups and a further 21 people on waiting lists. We had just received funding from the People’s Post Code Lottery to set up two new groups – Art in the Open and Open Studio. Art in the Open - an outdoor, therapeutic, creative group for people with mild to moderate mental health problems. Set up to run in 8-week blocks, allowing us to target specific groups and respond to community needs. Open Studio - a twice-weekly dropin session where people could come and work on their own projects. With an artist on hand to support and offer advice where needed.

Covid aside, one of our biggest challenges at the start of 2021 was that most of our groups were full, our waiting lists continued to grow, and few people ever wanted to leave. Even if they did want to leave a group, there was nowhere for them to move on to. Our biggest hope at the start of 2021 was, that with the setup of our two new groups, we could start to create flow within the Arts and Wellbeing Programme. We hoped to achieve this by trialling some limited groups, alongside other less structured groups to provide new opportunities where people could move on to. We hoped and anticipated that this would help us shorten our waiting lists and create an environment where people feel safe and supported to move from highly supportive to less supportive groups (and back again if necessary) as needs, interests and aspirations change. This report is a reflection of our journey over the past year. We hope to show where we are now and how your funding helped us to get there. We will also give you a snapshot of each of the groups, share some of our participant's experiences and will wrap up by outlining our next steps and our vision for how we want to further improve our service.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We now have 7 groups on our Arts and Wellbeing programme - Let’s Create, Smartcraft, Stitch N’ Time, Men’s Makers, Mums into Business, Art in the Open, Open Studio and we are hoping to restart Let’s Dance very soon. We also have Pod Press - our Riso printer and publishing project which is a fantastic resource that all of our groups can access as well as any member of the community in Wester Hailes.

‘I’m really glad I got the chance to try that’

WHALE Arts Progress Report 2022

We have re-structured our groups into three different categories Therapeutic/Creative, Social/Creative & Self-Directed/Entrepreneurial. Groups in the therapeutic category include - Let’s Create and Art in the Open. Following the success of Art in the Open, we decided to move Lets’ Create to a similar time-limited model. The key differences are that while Art in the Open runs in 10-week blocks and the participants start with the knowledge that at the end of that 10 weeks their block will finish. Let’s Create now runs in 12-week blocks but at the end of the block, participants have the option to think about where they are and whether they feel they need or would like another 12 weeks in the group. Current participants are now supported to set simple goals at the beginning of each block, they are encouraged to keep these in mind during the sessions and at the end of the block, they have a reflection session to look at how far they feel they have come and whether they feel ready to move on to a different group. An easing of restrictions means Let's Create have returned to their pre-covid format of sharing a meal at the end of each session. A slight increase in room capacity means we can now support up to 8 members in the group.

The Creative Social group sinclude Smartcraft, Stitch N Time and Men’s Makers … These groups are well supported by highly experienced group facilitators but place a heavy focus on the social interactions and connections – the sense of community within these groups is as important as any work produced. Self-Directed/Entrepreneurial groups include Open Studio and Mums into Business – these are groups for individuals needing less support but ready and looking for

opportunities to work on and develop their own creative projects and ideas. In some ways, these groups are our moving on groups.

"Thank you for today. Loved seeing you all. Could have stayed for hours just chatting!!"

WHALE Arts Progress Report 2022

SPOTLIGHT ON THE GROUPS

It's thanks to our incredible team of freelance artists and creative that we are able to deliver such a range of high quality groups, activities and events. Each freelancer has contributed to this report and we are deeply grateful to them all for the hard work and dedication to the individuals they support

LETS CREATE

ART IN THE OPEN

SMARTCRAFT

STITCH N' TIME

MEN'S MAKERS

OPEN STUDIO

MUMS INTO BUSINESS

POD PRESS

facilitated by Lillian Shipton, ceramicist and art psychotherapist

facilitated by Rachael Hunter, artist, arts facilitator & outdoor youth worker

facilitated by Deborah Wright, multi-talented textile creative with her own business making bespoke home furnishings

facilitated by Mark Carr, mixed media artist, sculptor, filmmaker, performer, musician specialising in community arts

facilitated by Julia Davies, incredibly talented textile creative with her own business - WHALE participant, volunteer & freelancer

Business sessions facilitated by Yvonne Bostock - industry expert, mentor, life coach

facilitated by Mhairi Braden printmaker, illustrator and Risoprint technician

LET'S CREATE

The Let’s Create group was really impacted by the lockdowns. Few participants engaged in the remote sessions and motivation was really low. It has been challenging to encourage some participants back into the group. Initially in-person sessions felt fractured and as a facilitator, I struggled to mitigate the rupture of the group dynamics when individuals were struggling. That aside, the creative activities for the most part present a positive

"I wouldn’t miss it [the group] for the world. I haven’t even slept yet but I really wanted to make sure I came"

focus and outlet for challenging feelings and emotions. Participants have created works they are really proud of and their mood and the way they relate to one another noticeably increases at the end of the session. When participants are particularly engaged in the creative activity the room falls silent and at times, there is a shared sense of calm and tranquillity. Unfortunately, at times some participants even struggled to engage in the art-making when they were particularly overwhelmed. What works well The meal at the end of the sessions is such a nice way to reflect on the session and for participants to share and bond. Participants putting forward their own ideas for creative activities; it's lovely to see folk feeling proud to do their idea and excited to try something they have been wanting to try for some time. Individual creative activities It feels important for everyone to have their own materials and space within the room, then they can invite others to share if they feel able to do that.

ART IN THE OPEN

The 3 main achievements of this group so far have been:

"Just what you Creativity relieving mental health struggles and supporting participants to understand and express their emotions. Group dynamics providing a social experience to alleviate loneliness, isolation and provide a space for sharing and collaboration. Art activities giving participants an opportunity to try new things, learn new skills and apply them outside of the group.

can do with the different flowers and leaves making portraits, just using what your find"

The main challenge of this group so far has been engagement. Initial internet has been really high with blocks being fully subscribed and also people on waiting lists. Despite this, attendance has been low with an average of 50% turning up regularly, however, those participants who have attended frequently felt very dedicated to the group and seem to have got a lot out of the sessions. "The group gave you permission to explore/fail where at home you wouldn’t want to mess it up. It’s all 'See where it goes!' Pushing yourself. " The creative activities have been working well and it has been so interesting to repeat them over different blocks and to spot differences and similarities. Some people were very creative and had maybe done a few of the activities in one way or another while others rarely, if ever, engaged in art-making. Initially, the group ran in 8-week blocks but during the first block, it was felt that this wasn’t enough. We shifted to a pattern of 10-week blocks with the first 3-weeks, a type of induction period where new members could still join This has worked really well and gives the participants time to integrate into the group.

SMARTCRAFT

Smartcraft is a very well attended group, one of the few groups of its kind in the city and its participants are very committed. Once they start, they generally keep coming for many years. The calm atmosphere of the class allows people to concentrate on creating art, in peace. Participants seem to find solace in connecting with others who have diverse needs and as people who can sometimes feel excluded from society, I feel they benefit greatly from being part of a really inclusive group.

“The marbling is my thoughts in the universe. The colours when I feel sad, these colours make me feel uplifted."

The Smartcraft participants are a wonderful, warm, funny and talented group of people who thrive in the atmosphere that the group provides. The group seems to bring participants great joy, as they are able to create art and crafts with the freedom to go in whatever direction they like and be part of a group that share similar lives to themselves. I believe this greatly helps their well-being.

MINI CASE STUDY B B is limited in her verbal capacity but is so talented in her creative skills. She has attended the group for upwards of ten years and is always so happy to be here. Her support workers report that she is very excited to come to the group and seems more comfortable in this atmosphere than in other groups. Her well-being is improved from regularly attending and her paintings bring her a lot of enjoyment. MINI CASE STUDY F F has long term health issues and limited physical capacity, she is a wheelchair user. F greatly enjoys the social aspect of the group and finds the process of making art very relaxing. She has experienced significant trauma and sometimes struggles with her mental health and memory. Coming to the class is her favourite part of the week, her mood visibly changes when she's in the session. Smartcraft offers F a safe and inclusive space to work on creating art, with a level of support that allows her to do much more than she believes she is capable of.

STITCH N' TIME

It has been a busy time for the Stitch N’ Time ladies since returning to the building last year. We were very excited to see each other again and enthusiastic to get working on a group project. Sadly, during the pandemic, we lost one of our much-loved members, M. Unable to attend the funeral we decided to mark her passing by creating a special artwork. M loved hugs so we created a string of hugging cushions linked together with arms. Everyone decorated a cushion with something that reminded them of M.

“I honestly do not know what I would do without this amazing group to come to. It’s the happiest part of my week.”

The ladies come to this group primarily to learn to sew. While learning, they make things for the local community. We have a lot of fun on Tuesday afternoons, we share a lot of laughter and sadly also some tears. One of the benefits of being such a well-established group is that good friendships are made and trust is built up. This model of learning and giving while chatting seems to improve people's mental state. We've made Fat Caps from offcuts of Harris Tweed - inspired by a trip I had to the island and a visit to a weaver's shed. We've made tool bests out of old jeans that we gave the Men's Makers group and we upcycled the somewhat dingy benches at WHALE giving them a new lease of life using some striking orange fabric. Using woollen blankets, fabrics and creative stitching, we contributed to an art project that involved the whole of Wester Hailes with the aim of identifying what was important to the residents of the area. And at Christmas time we made lots of lovely pillowcases using a variety of Christmas fabrics - the ladies made two each, one to keep and the others were donated to a clothes bank where they were very gratefully received. With the offcuts from pillowcases, we made stockings and filled them with goodies which we gave to volunteers who work at the centre.

MEN'S MAKERS

Men's Makers was one of only two groups that we were not able to continue during lockdown. Since returning to the building, the group has faced many challenges including the lack of dedicated workshop space at WHALE, some challenging interpersonal dynamics and the perception - by some - that the group exists to mend stuff around the building. Despite this the group has started to settle, using their movable workshop within the performance space.

The Men's makers group is a creative social group for individuals who want to use their skills, learn new ones or just socialize with others. We lean towards woodworking but are open to any suggestions for different crafts. After a slow start with only one or two members attending in the first few weeks, new members started coming and they've been cracking on with their own projects. One man has been doing portraits on wood and another has been using the new tools to make music stands. We invested in a scroll saw and a router to make more elaborate woodwork pieces. A work in progress is the tool cupboard, a mobile unit on castors, we're improving it each week to contain the necessary tools for the project. Re-introducing a shared lunch as an integral part of the group has made a positive difference. It's been a good chance to get everyone to sit together and an opportunity to chat or just hang out a bit. It brings a bit of a focus to us as a group, rather than individuals just going their own way. While the current members seem keen to crack on with their own creative work, we are planning a few trips to visit other exciting projects with the hope that this will inspire individuals and give the group ideas about the sort of workshop space they would like to create in future.

OPEN STUDIO

Different to our other groups Open Studio is a drop-in group, it's not taught and is simply a held space where people can come and work on their own projects. Initially, some found this challenging however people quickly grew accustomed to working independently. Being given the space to do something for themselves, in a supportive and encouraging atmosphere seemed to have a very positive effect on individuals' wellbeing.

‘I love this group’

The popularity of the Open Studio has surpassed all expectations. 31 different individuals have attended so far with 14 coming from other groups at WHALE and the rest being new to the organisation, or aware of WHALE but had never joined a group before. The majority of people attending the Open Studio have long terms conditions and the group is now led by a formed Stitch N ' Time member who also has long term health conditions. Friendship and togetherness are the key elements in making open studio work as well as it does. Some friendships had existed prior to the group and many new ones have been made within it. The informal and unstructured nature of the group has encouraged lively discussions, and participants largely see it as being a safe space. Although untaught, participants are always keen to learn new skills and informal skill sharing between participants has developed This has brought increased confidence both to those learning new skills and those who've been teaching and sharing with others. Strengthening independent working has been another huge success for many in the group alongside increased self-esteem through the repeated achievement of completing a task without the need for assistance.

MUMS INTO BUSINESS

Mums into Business is one of the few groups that really thrived during lockdown. They continued to meet every fortnight on zoom with specialist sessions being delivered by mentor, life coach and business industry expert Yvonne Bostock, who developed an incredible series of 'Business in Bites' sessions that condensed every aspect of setting up a business into small digestible chunks. So that even those mums with small children crawling over them could understand and implement.

"I started from 0 thanks to Mums into Business help me create a Logo, social media and materials. Now I sell a range of traditional Earrings with Fiji design internationally. Being a mum of 6 is not easy trying to combine but the creche was a massive help"."

Mums into Business is all about providing highly creative and tailored business support to a group of women facing multiple barriers who want to set up their own businesses. At the heart of this is helping the women to increase their confidence and self-esteem alongside their knowledge, abilities and skills. Our provision of a free creche has been both groundbreaking and essential to the success of the group. During lockdown, we even trialled a virtual creche so as to allow our mums a chance to focus on the zoom sessions. Mums into Business has grown dramatically. Prior to lockdown, we had 12 members and an average of 5 children attending our weekly creche. During the height of lockdown our numbers dropped down to 4 but today we have an incredible 23 members. In order to best meet our needs, we are currently re-structuring the group. Going forward we are looking at fortnightly business sessions on zoom, monthly drop-in sessions with a free creche at WHALE, inspirational guest speakers, two yearly trips and the possibility of MIB members using space at WHALE Arts to trade.

POD PRESS

In 2019 we had the opportunity to buy a Risograph printer. We immediately saw the artistic, creative and enterprise potential of this new opportunity and quickly snapped it up! Our goal is to establish a community printing facility that will not only be an investment for local people and the community of artists and creative people associated with WHALE but will provide much needed local skills development opportunities for our staff, volunteers and participants.

"She is an inspirational woman and I'm so grateful for her time, wisdom and input"

Since acquiring our risograph printer as part of a co-production project with artist Morvern Odling - jointed funded by William Grant and Creative Scotland - we have been incredibly busy. Our co-production Manifesto has been co-produced with the community and printed our amazing machine. All of the groups on the adult program have taken part in Riso printing workshops where participants have had the chance to design and print their own two color prints. 6 staff members and 2 volunteers have been trained up to use the machine and we've offered a number of drop-in sessions where staff, volunteers and participants could come to design and print workshops. We've hosted sessions with students from Edinburgh College, held our annual Christmas card competition and had the winning designs printed on our Riso machine, printed work for other artists, and engaged in a collaborative poetry project - Push the Boat Out. We were very sad to say goodbye to Morvern at the end of last year but delighted that we've found a new talented Riso print artist to take over where she left off.

IDEAS GOING FORWARD

We are starting to see the development of flow and the movement of people between groups on our Arts and Wellbeing programme. We've exceeded our previously predicted numbers and currently have 115 people on our arts and wellbeing project registers. With a slight easing of covid restriction on the horizon, we anticipate being able to support even more individuals very soon. Looking further we aim to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of our program by focusing on meeting people at their point of need. We plan to develop a form of Arts Triage where anyone coming to WHALE Arts will be given the opportunity to meet with a dedicated worker, to discuss their needs, wants and aspirations and moving forward, will be offered space in what together we feel are the most appropriate groups or opportunities. We've already had our core staff trained in Trauma Informed Practice Level 1 and plan to extend this this year. W're developing stronger links with partner organisations Art in Health Care and The Health Agency with whom we are seeking funding to support 1:1 counselling at WHALE Arts. This would dramatically increase our capacity to create flow and provide more opportunities for cross referrals.

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNRESTRICTED FUNDING

William Grant are a funder that deeply understands the importance of unrestricted funding for the third sector. In 2021/2022, the unrestricted funds from The William Grant Foundation have contributed to and helped us develop many valuable projects including: Continuing to develop our Community Asset Transfer which is allowing us to work closely with an architect and our community to re-design, rethink and future-proof our building; Work collaboratively & locally on the Wester Hailes Local Place Plan and contribute to the wider council-led Regeneration Framework Be part of and co-chair a number of local networks such a Living Well Wester Hailes, the South West Voluntary Sector Forum and the new South West network Go Beyond. It has also helped us to expand our building and operations team, increase room rentals, develop our co-working space and recruit a number of local people into new employed roles. And on top of the incredible support for our Arts & Wellbeing programme, these funds had allowed us to set up monthly and supervision and drop-in sessions for the freelancers to support them in the valuable work they do with our participants

WHALE Arts Progress Report 2022

FINAL THANKS

To everyone from the William Grant Foundation, from all of us here at WHALE Arts we just want to say Thank you! We are so grateful - not just for the funding, which has been instrumental in enabling us to provide this level of service to our community, but also for the trust we feel you have placed in us as an organisation to deliver what we said we would do. On top of that we really appreciate the understanding and flexibility you've given us, allowing us to adapt as needed when circumstances change beyond our control; And your refreshing approach in terms of reporting. We hope that this report gives you a idea of the level of benefit that your funding has brought to our community and we look forward to working with you further in the future.

'This is my special place where I can do my own thing and I really value my time here'