Art Ventures invites everyone to continue this creative journey and to ad-venture out to re-engage with their community in a creative space. What if every community, town, borough allocated a pubic space for regular Art Ventures events where the general public can engage with the arts, facilitated by actors, dancers, musicians, artists and arts therapists? This would have direct benefit to community, repairing and reinstating connections, fostering ongoing and collaborative creative engagement, supporting mental health, relieving the pressure of depleted NHS resources.
Art Ventures will put on performances, events and exhibitions from these creative encounters, hopefully attracting more people to join in. Areas can be allocated for sculpture projects, murals and shows, improving the depressed atmosphere and invigorating our towns with colour and energy. We need to cheer people up, to invite people to play, to dance through a hall of mirrors or pick up a piece of mosaic and participate in a reparative art project.
The objective of Art Ventures is to keep people engaged in making art for healing and well-being. Funding out-of-work actors, musicians, dancers, arts therapists would extend the benefit reach to many people – if we can create a space for public engagement. This may be done best by local councils allocating spaces where people can meet to make art – 2D, 3D, music, dance – as a way to reconnect with community, forge new connections, develop trust and heal.
The increased engagement with the arts during Covid-19 has shown that creative expression is good for mind, body and spirit. Surely we must put something in place to maintain this for the mental health and well-being of the nation. It will also relieve some pressure from depleted NHS resources.
London Art Therapy Centre has an extensive network of UK (and beyond) arts therapists who would be delighted to participate in a large-scale arts project for post-Covid recovery.
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