Blog post written by Kat Taylor (North West AHECRN Area Representative)
On Monday 13th November, the Arts Health ECRN held a North-West LINK event at the Deaf Institute in Manchester.
Everyone was invited to share their interests and roles, and to explore some documents and literature brought by the North-West representative for the network (Kat Taylor).
Several of the event attendees were especially interested in music interventions in healthcare. As well as people working in research, two artist practitioners working in healthcare with an interest in evaluation attended the meeting. The event provided a good opportunity to share issues we have identified in research and practice, share knowledge and understanding, and to problem-solve with peers who have different experiences, expertise and perspectives. Members reported that discussing the work other people are completing, as well as projects and programmes in the wider research field, was useful.
Two members present were PhD students whose research focuses on exploring the impact of arts-based interventions for people with dementia. The group discussion evolved to consider some novel research methods, and ways in which we might adapt evaluation tools used in other related fields of study for use in our own research.
Having a mix of researchers, practitioners and artists meant that conversation helped to consider some of the issues facing arts in health as a multi- and cross-disciplinary field – and the sort of hybrid ways of working and training that might help to overcome these current challenges.
Last month the network held a Twitter chat using the #artshealthlink hashtag. The twitter chat was very successful and so we will be holding a second twitter chat on the 11th December at 6pm. You can join the conversation by using the hashtag #artshealthlink. You can also keep informed about events – either virtual or face-to-face – by regularly visiting our website. If you are interested in becoming a regional representative, you can also apply here.
Thank you to Kat for writing this blog post. If you have an arts and health event that you would like to blog about please get in touch.