LAHF is pleased to be joining forces with partners in Lambeth to present an evening to celebrate wellbeing through art and creativity with a programme of performance, dance, art and photography.

The event will take place at The Lillian Baylis Old School Centre in Kennington on Wednesday 26^th November from 6.30-9pm. Refreshments will be served.

Full details will appear in the next newsletter but to reserve a place, e: Damian@lahf.org.uk

As part of our season of events looking at community arts in health practice, LAHF is planning an event to celebrate world mental health day on 8th October and also an event from 3pm -6pm on 11th November focusing on Be Creative Be Well, the arts and creative practice strand of the Well London programme.  This will be a chance to discover how the programme is going, hear about some of the projects funded by ACE and meet some of the artists involved.

More details and dates for all the events in the community arts season will be in the September newsletter or, for more information, e: Damian@lahf.org.uk

The first event of LAHF’s season focusing on community arts in health is on Thursday 25th September at 1pm at Cooltan Arts, a South London charity which exists to inspire creativity and to promote mental well being through the production of art.

The event will include a viewing of the organisation’s autumn exhibition, Mindfield, performances by Cooltan’s poetry workshop group and a discussion about some of the key issues currently affecting community arts in health practice led by Cooltan’s Project Director Michelle Baharier and including project participants and other practitioners working in the field.

Places at this event are free to LAHF members but booking is necessary. For more details, contact damian@lahf.org.uk

LAHF’s next event is a lunchtime talk by portrait painter, Adam Hahn, who has undertaken a year of research into an eye condition called macular degeneration which causes deterioration of the central focus of the vision. Adam’s paintings will be on display and he will be speaking alongside Professor Pete Coffey, Director of the London Project to Cure Blindness from the Institute of Opthalmology about the project and the impact it has had on the Project’s practice. The event, in conjunction with Paintings in Hospitals and Mascalls Gallery will take place at the Menier Gallery in Borough on the 23 July at 1pm. Light refreshments will be served.

For more details about the event and to book a place, please contact  Damian@lahf.org.uk

The event is part of Paintings in Hospitals’ fourth annual summer exhibition, ‘In Search of Beauty and Wellbeing’, which runs from 23 July – 14 August 2008, and those who attend the event will have the opportunity to explore the rest of the exhibition which aims to “highlight the necessity for art as a means of communication, expression, and release, as well as its importance to one’s general wellbeing and happiness”.  

Among the events scheduled alongside the exhibition is a talk by John D Edwards, an artist who has created a body of work in response to a life threatening form of cancer. This will take place on Wednesday 30 July at 6.30pm. For more details, contact b.moseley@paintingsinhospitals.org.uk

On June 19th, LAHF is hosting an event looking at the ways in which history can be displayed in healthcare settings and the role of artifacts in developing arts programmes. Speakers include Tony van de Bospoort from Woodgate Design (www.hospitalartstudio.co.uk/) and Shirley Chubb, an artist whose work centres on the making of new images and objects in direct response to specific museum collections. Her recent piece, Thinking Path, created in response to the life and ideas of Charles Darwin is due to be installed on long term loan at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley later this year. (www.thinkingpath.org.uk/)

The event will take place at Beckenham Beacon, part of Beckenham Hospitals in Kent from 5.30 to 7pm. The nearest station is Beckenham Junction, (20 mins from Victoria). There is also parking at the venue.

For more information, and to register for a free place at this event, please contact Damian@lahf.org.uk

In April, LAHF hosted an event which brought together over 70 professionals working with arts in health and arts therapies for a half day seminar. A lively discussion brought together leading figures from all aspects of this debate looking at differences in practice and outlook and also the ways in which the practice of art therapy overlaps with other arts activity in healthcare settings.

Details of the event are available from Damian Hebron at LAHF. Discussions are now ongoing as to how this event might be used to develop further links and shared learning.

Later this year, LAHF is planning an event focusing on the role art can play in supporting wayfinding in hospitals as well as artists showcases, tours of newly developed healthcare environments and events looking at music, comedy, dance and theatre. For more details, check out our regular newsletters.

On April 8th LAHF is bringing together artists and art therapists working with a range of artforms from across the country to examine the ways in which professionals using art in healthcare settings can learn from each other.

The half day seminar (which begins at 12pm and includes lunch) will include presentations from the Northern Centre for Cancer Treatment where artists work directly with therapists and from the Birmingham Centre for Art Therapies as well as panel discussions looking at the points of overlap between arts therapy and artists working in healthcare.

Speakers include: Malcolm Learmonth (British Association of Arts Therapists), Lisa Davey (Music in Hospitals) Lorraine von Gehlen (Inspire Arts) and Norma Daykin (Professor of Arts in Health - University of West of England) as well as artists, Dramatherapists and musicians. The event will take place at Arts Council England’s offices in Farringdon.

Places at the seminar are strictly limited and more than half the places have now been allocated. To reserve a place, please contact damian@lahf.org.uk

There are a handful of places left for our event later this month which offers a free taster session of the outreach programme run by Tate Modern. This event will include an introduction to Tate Modern’s outreach programme led by Liz Ellis, Curator of the Community Programme followed by introductions to the gallery’s collection led by artist educators.

Tate Modern runs this regular outreach programme for community groups attracting a wide range of adult groups from non-formal education, social and health settings. This event will offer LAHF members a sense of how the programme works and an opportunity to debate the ways in which programmes like this can integrate with other arts in health activity in London.

The event will take place on Wednesday 12th March from 10.30am – 1pm. Places will be reserved on a strictly first come first served basis, for more details contact Damian Hebron: Damian@lahf.org.uk