MENTAL HANDICAP VOL. 14 DECEMBER 1986

Northgate Arts Project: providing hospital residents with access to the arts

The Northgate Arts Project (NAP) Brian Scott was set up in November, 1982 as a new initiative to bring a wide range of creative activities to the residents of Northgate Hospital, a mental handicap hospital with 650 beds. The intention was to provide additional stimulation, colour, and enjoyment for residents through the arts. Though launched with the results of specific fundraising ventures, amounting to over &40,000 in the first three years, funding to continue the basic workshop sessions is now provided by Northumberland Health Authority. Further funding is still being sought from grant-giving organisations to expand the work of the project.

As in most long-stay institutions, the residents of Northgate have had little access to the arts. The effects of institutional care, often with an attendant reinforcement of their own lack of ability, do not help people achieve a positive self-image. Most non- handicapped members of society accept as a matter of course that they have a right to certain services, and at the very least should have access to a wide variety of options. If it is accepted that involvement in some creative activity is important, both to the individual and to the community, then the real need for a scheme such as this becomes apparent.

Aims of the project The primary objective is to develop a

programme of workshops on a long- term, regular basis. The main thrust of

Anyone wishing to set up a similar scheme must, unless the host institution takes responsibility for funding from the outset, add fundraising as an essential aim.

Work pattern The work can be divided into four

mutually supporting elements. These are:

0 to develop a series of creative activities designed to afford residents an opportunity to p a r t i c i p a t e ful ly i n a programme of long-term, regular workshop sessions;

0 to complement the above by a r r a n g i n g occasional performances by local, or t o u r i n g , g r o u p s and individuals;

0 to gather information on work in this field, not only to facilitate and extend the NAP activities but also to offer assistance to others interested in setting up similar schemes;

0 to u n d e r t a k e specif ic p r o g r a m m e s / p r o j e c t s incorporating the arts and leading towards a tangible end result.

arts activities. The aims are:

0 to provide residents with access to the arts;

0 to discover, and develop to the full, the creative potential of residents;

0 to involve hospital staff in the work of the project;

0 to bring additional stimulation and enjoyment to hospital life;

0 to forge links with local artists and arts organisations.

fields. 150 residents or more take part each week some attending up to three sessions weekly. The average attendance at any one session varies between six and 10.

The artists who lead the sessions usually work individually or in pairs, though as many as six have worked together with a group of residents for a block period.

In addition to the formal sessions a hall, recently acquired for arts activities, now enables residents to “drop in”

daily, and an increasing number are taking advantage of this facility.

Work structure Residents are encouraged to acquire

skills but more importantly, as far as the project is concerned, to develop their powers of imagination and self- expression. Although educational and therapeutic advantages are inherent in the process of creative activity - skills are learned, decisions are made, and there is an appreciable increase in group communication as noted by the artists and other hospital staff involved in the project - the underlying aim of the work i s . . . fun! In practice, the educational aspect is a two-way process; the artists imparting their knowledge and skills while gaining knowledge themselves of what is a particularly challenging area of work for them.

The structure of each session varies according to the art discipline, the particular goals, and the particular groups involved; but, whether in games, improvisation, or role-play, decision- making is encouraged, facilitating both vocal and physical, individual and group, communication.

A project such as this must always remain flexible enough to incorporate different methods within workshops. Approaching a creative arts activity with the view that there is only one way to do it would be self-defeating.

Monitoring and evaluation When appropriate, artists are asked to

submit reports on the progress of their own, and the residents’ work, commenting on the sessions and any conclusions they have reached. These reports, along with those of nursing and other staff, photographs, and video tapes of sessions, all add to the record of progress. They also fulfil a useful function as training aids for others approaching t h i s work for the first time.

Evidence of progress and success, especially when working with the

BRIAN SCOTT is the Arts Project Coordinator, Northgate Hospital, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 3BP

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res idents who a r e profoundly handicapped, is often measured by the long-term worker in very small improvements, which perhaps seem insignificant to others. Such progress can range from enabling all the members of a group to succeed in striking a percussion instrument, to lengthening a resident’s period of concentration, or to encouraging a resident to cooperate with another group member in a set activity.

Specific projects Visual art is well-represented in the

project. Movement/dance workshops have resulted in improved mobility,

greater self-confidence, and a more lively interest in group activity. Drama, puppetry, and creative writing, have all been used, with varying degrees of success.

However, it is sometimes the “one off’ projects within NAP that achieve specific ends. An example of this was when NAP, in cooperation with The Three Monkeys Theatre Company and Northern Shape, set up a two week residency, the Company working with a group of 15 residents to build an environment and devise stories. This resulted in a performance which subsequently toured nationally.

Residents and visual artist working together on the set for The ThreeMonkeys Theatre Company event

Flexibility and adaptability must remain uppermost when considering work to be undertaken in a project of this kind.

Future prospects It is important to give serious

consideration to the setting up of projects similar to NAP in other institutions. The recent publication of the Attenborough Repr t (Carnegie UK Trust, 1985) emphasises the need for hospitals and health authorities to incorporate such arts activities in their planning, management, and budgeting structures. To date, few authorities have had the imagination to support such initiatives, so it is important that schemes which do exist create a useful dialogue. What they do, and how they set about doing it, can be used as a “jumping-off point” for others; and the mistakes they have made can provide valuable information, preventing repetition by others in the future. Some of NAP’S successes, hopefully, will become evident.

Using the Northgate venture as a model, and its health authority support as a precedent, Prudhoe Hospital has begun an arts project along similar lines. This means that the two major mental handicap hospitals in Northumberland will be able to offer a service to around 2,000 residents and staff.

The Northgate Arts Project remains in a unique position in the Northern Region, especially since its continuation is ensured following the Health Authority agreeing to meet the running costs. Its very existence, as a scheme where artists can undertake work in this field and gain experience, will continue to be of importance in furthering the development of this kind of work generally throughout the Northern Region and further afield.

It is hoped that as the scheme develops it will act as a catalyst, gaining benefits and achieving much more than its size

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challenge accepted norms, as well as to stimulate and provide enjoyment for residents by enabling them to participate in creative activity.

There is no real difference between what the arts offer to non-handicapped

of Northgate Hospital. As a means of expression, and of communication, the

people and what Offer to residents

Residents guide visitors around fmal exhibition arising from part ofdrama Droiect with The Three Monkeys Theatre Company

REFERENCES AND FUR'I'HER READING

Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. Arts and Disabled People - The Arrenborough Report. London: Carnegie UK Trust, 1985.

Arts Project. London: Calouste Coles, p. The MaChester Hospiral

important that thoughts on these matters are realised. It is not enough to merely watch the ripples.

Useful contacts for advice and information

Manchester Hospitals Arts Project, Hospital Arts Centre, St. Mary's Hospital, Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 OJH. (Tel: 061-224 9633). MENCAP, 115 Golden Lane, London EClY OTJ (Tel: 01-250 4105). Northgate Arts Project, Northgate Hospital, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 3BP (Tel: 0670-512281). Shape, 1 Thorpe Close, London W10 5XL (Tel: 01-960 9245). Northern Shape, 18/20 Dean Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 1PG (Tel: 0632- 6 12 1 56).

Gulbenkian Foundation, 198 1. Levete, G. No Handicap to Dance.

London: Souvenir Press, 1982. Pearson. A. Arts for Evervone.

London: Carnegie UK T&t & CEH, 1985.

Reid. S. The need for a framework.

I A& Express, 1985; AugJSept., 21-24.

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