Venture Arts

I went to visit venture arts where I volunteered for several months during second year. Venture arts is a contact that Clive Parkinson suggested, which was a great excuse to reconnect with the organisation and visit familiar friendly faces.

www.venturearts.org

I met with volunteers coordinator Lydia Burke and Amber
Okpa-Stother ex-participant and recently employed by the organisation.

Here are some of my notes from our Q&A:

Lydia Burke,

Q- What does arts for health mean to you?
A- The Arts have many positive benefits. It’s about being involved as participants as well as practising artists. The arts has been proven to benefit your well being, reduce isolation, build self confidence and a way for people to express themselves. Arts for health is a much cheaper option rather then prescribing medication. There are also many positive benefits from being an audience member, allowing you to make connections through the work and relate it to your own life. It’s a way for us to relate to one another and realise our experiences are shared and normal.

Q- What is your role within arts for health?
A- I am the project coordinator at Venture arts, I work on logistics/ timetables/ evaluations of projects/ Funding and budgets. I also organise and plan with the external partners and organisations.
I am part of the steering group at venture arts- focusing on evaluating the organisation and helping steer our ideas and actions in a direction we want them to go.

Q-How do you imagine the future or arts for health?
A- I would like to see an increase in social prescribing/ arts on prescription for people. I feel the school system undermines the arts so people don’t get to see and experience the benefits arts can bring to your life. Most people end up feeling that you should only be involved in art if you are good at it because you are put off from a young age due to the poor standard of arts education in schools. The arts need to start being valued and taken seriously so we can start seeing the benefits and impact without having to seek it out.

Amber Okpa-Stother,

Amber has been a part of venture arts for 10 years, and she has recently started working for the organisation from September 2018.

Q-What is your role within venture arts?
A-I am a part of the steering group where we look at what is going on in the organisation, figure out how people can get involved and suggest projects.
I look what I can get involved in. I recently helped write the welcome guide for venture arts. I am doing a 10k to help raise money to help fix the floor in the studio. I help on reception, meet new people and I help with admin and the volunteering. I help out with projects, and talk at conferences.

Q- How do you think venture arts helps people?
A- The projects help to build your confidence, meeting new people. Venture arts offers great opportunities where you get to visit new places such as schools and galleries. You can get involved with many opportunities and develop new skills in art.

Q- What skills do you feel you developed at venture arts?
A- I gained a lot of confidence doing lots of different types of projects. I enjoy meeting new people. I was introduced to ‘ can do ‘
http://www.disabilitycando.org.uk/ through venture arts and that has given me lots of new experiences that I have learnt from.

Amber has been involved in a schools project that venture arts organise. This is a 10 week project led by a tutor, with 2 artists who support learning, and a mentor. Amber helps to support the children in these groups.

Venture arts also facilitate a cultural enrichment programme for their participants. This is 16 weeks long where they work on placements at galleries or museums.

Venture arts studio