Creative Quarter

A series of case studies exploring the role and effectiveness of the creative arts in supporting positive outcomes for people being supported by social services.

This series also includes Creative Bites (Bite-sized chunks of creativity). We invited 40 people to share their thoughts and ideas to inspire creativity and imagination in the social services.

Making a project contagious

One of my projects is really struggling to get going…

It is called Stories Aloud and is based on the model promoted by The Reader Organisation.

I was training staff and volunteers to read story aloud as a social activity. Then setting up placements for them in wards and day centres where they could read stories and facilitate groups or one to one interaction. The outcomes of increased social connection and some personal reflection related to the story were very beneficial.

Create visual music with Patatap

Patatap is a portable animation and sound kit. With the touch of a finger create melodies charged with moving shapes. While easy to pick up there is a wide range of possibilities. Switch between multiple color palettes and matching soundscapes on the fly. Whether its on your laptop, desktop, mobile phone, or tablet Patatap invites creators of all ages to engage the mind and senses in a different type of creation process.

What do we mean by change?

‘And that is how change happens. 
One gesture. One person. 
One moment at a time’
— Libba Bray

But what do we mean by change, and what do we want to change and why?

If sport is theatre and theatre is art

With the World Cup up and running and a family with connections to Denmark, England, Wales, Germany and France I'm left wondering who to support and what sport as a form of live theatre brings to social care.

Whilst sport may seem unscripted it conforms to all the rules of theatre. With sports, people rehearse, learn a script, play a role and then have to 'ad lib' when the 'live' performance starts.

A tea dance mash-up

"When I am an old woman," says Jenny Joseph, I shall get up to all sorts of tricks. But 50 years on, her famous poem Warning with its wearing of red hats and sitting on the pavement doesn’t seem that outlandish. A D-Day veteran makes a trip to France perfectly competently. Yet the newspapers, in a desire to evoke derring-do wartime language, talk about his "escape" from his nursing home.

Feed your mind at lunchtime

As I pondered the theme for my first Creative Bite, the name sparked a thought.

How come most workers don’t make the most of their lunch breaks?

Why do so many people just grab a quick bite, return to their desks, then carry on working through?

After a few clicks on Google, it seems only one in five people have lunch away from their desks.

I’m not sure how accurate this is, but having worked in quite a few offices it seems about right to me.

Which, when you think about it, is more work sandwiched between work and even more work.

Please Listen

Please Listen is a play about growing up in the care system in Scotland. It was written by young people at Kibble Education and Care Centre in Paisley and has been performed over 40 times with different organisations across the country - including Scottish Parliament. The play has been developed into a short film so that more people can see the work.

What do you want?

 The creative power of personal outcomes

‘Motivated people think more clearly. They focus more resources on their current project and the result is more creativity’
— Zig Ziglar, Success for Dummies.