People who live or work in either area would be extremely valuable to the group, however if you have a passion for the arts and how they can change lives, but you don’t live in these areas, we would still very much like to hear from you. Please do see further details of this role in the newsletter.

Further to these two commissions, and indeed our longstanding commission, The Mental Health Creative Support Service, we are also about to embark on a newly commissioned piece of work for Somerset Libraries called ‘Engaging Libraries.’ This will see artists working alongside adults with autism and the wider community to redesign library spaces so they are more welcoming and functional for people with autism.

This raft of work will feed into our co|Create programme over the next year, ensuring that the experience we gain is not lost, but rather disseminated to other socially engaged artists in the region. The themes of co|Create will reflect our current work, exploring mental health and autism, spaces and places, and community development. The newly formed co|Create steering group, made up of socially engaged artists at various stages of their careers, will meet in February where we will discuss and sculpt the programme for the year.

Although we have yet to confirm a venue and date, March will see a truly inspiring co|Create session from Jill Carter, one of the most highly thought of and adventurous socially engaged artists around. Jill will be leading a day on Creative Journaling, an open-ended process, which can be intuitive, practical, poetic and playful! This workshop will offer space and time to explore ideas around how to use a journal to document thoughts in relation to the self, people and place, journeys and happenings. If you are interested in finding out more about this workshop or reserving a place, please do email me (oliver@creativityworks.org.uk) or look out for more information on our website and in our next newsletter.