At Arthouse we are passionate about the power of creativity and recognise the importance of giving residents access to creative opportunities within the space of their own home and within the city of London.

This year Arthouse piloted an exciting new way of getting more artistic activities into our services by utilising all of the creative skills and passion within the SHP staff and peer mentor teams!

Our Arthouse Project Grants was launched at the start of 2022 and allowed service staff to apply for support and up to £400 in funding from Arthouse to run their own bespoke in-house creative projects. Service staff were asked to consult with service users about the kind of creative activity they would like to see take place in their service and then pitch their project to Arthouse!

Ahead of our next round of Arthouse Project Grants, here’s how the four Projects got along over 2022:

Macramé Hanging Baskets South London Young Peoples Workshops

During the early Summer months in May 2022, Arthouse grant winners Lewisham Young People Pathway Services delivered three ‘Macrame Hanging Baskets’ workshops across South London services.

The project idea was inspired by the South London Greenhouse Programmes new partnership with Forest London Flower Shop in Deptford. The shop were kindly donating plants to Lewisham Young People Pathway services that needed reviving. The indoor plant collection was continuously growing in one of the services in the borough of Lewisham. This ignited conversations with residents about bringing the outside in and improving their space by creatively displaying plants from the walls or ceilings.

The two-hour macramé workshops consisted of participants working with facilitator and SHP staff member Caitlin O’Reilly to learn how to use macrame knotting and wrapping techniques to create beautiful, handmade, and unique macrame hanging baskets for makers to take away with them.  

All makers were also given a macrame starter kit to take away with them to give them the opportunity to continue making hanging baskets in their own time.  

Fantastic artist and resident Ellie picked up the macramé craft quickly and with ease and therefore joined Caitlin to co-facilitate the workshops to help and support other participants across Lewisham services.

Shout-Out Lino-Print Project

The Camden Recovery Service launched the ‘Shout-Out Project’, who used lino-printing as a medium to print motivational statements onto paper prints & tote bags as shout outs to inspire others through recovery. These workshops focused on building self-esteem, exploring positive self-talk and recognising one's abilities in order to enable recovery.

The participants engaged very well in all the session activities, were focused, enjoyed learning new creative skills, expressed their ideas creating artwork, socialised as part of a friendly group and grew in confidence.

They produced a fantastic array of print designs on posters, notebooks and Tote Bags, including positive words, short to long phrases, and drawings. They were proud to take this artwork home, and excited about the prospect of exhibiting their work with SHP.

The project brief successfully encouraged participants to generate their own ideas and artwork while reflecting on the value of positive affirmations. It was not too prescriptive and allowed for interpretation of ‘positive self-talk/ motivational statements’ that they related to personally and felt meaningful. This inspired personal reflection for emotional wellbeing and creative expression.

The grant enabled the facilitators to utilise their varied skills to develop and deliver a successful and motivational project for clients across SHP services. Focused on learning, positive self-talk, creative expression, socialising and mental health wellbeing.

CRS Peer Mentor, Jason, was a great support and inspiration to the group. Jason worked on his own lino-cut design and printing alongside participants, with passion and focus on his ideas, which motivated others. As well as some SHP Arthouse regulars, we were also delighted that there were some new Arthouse participants on this course and we’re very much looking forward to working with them again soon.

It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the creative talents of staff, peers and clients!

“Brilliant! The teaching and the atmosphere of the course was all fantastic. I learned something new with techniques of printing. Good teaching and organisation of the course with lots of support. I liked meeting people, good company and I gained confidence. The quiet atmosphere was a good environment for learning. Everyone was nice, I enjoyed the experience of working with other people so that you can support each other. It has increased my motivation and confidence. I’m interested in doing more printing, arts and crafts courses”

Stiches In Time

The Stiches In These Times Project held regular sessions across two of the Wandsworth Mental Health services to teach and support the creative use of material to design, mend and create clothing or other material-based items. The space offered a place of relative peace and focus for people to both relax and create and invited and supported residents to take a leading role in the creation and facilitation of the sessions. Some participants who were interested in creating and designing their own clothes did so in both the group and also did some 1-1 work with facilitator Yvonne.

The Project brought together a total of 17 clients and eight staff. Although the Projects have come to an end, the groups are now established and because multiple staff members and residents are able to facilitate and attend, the spaces will carry on functioning and will continue to adapt and develop according to residents’ input. As a result of this project we are delighted to be starting a regular art group at Beechcroft Road.

By having the materials equipment ready and staff sitting and maybe even just getting on with their own little projects has made the spaces very reliable and safe… the perquisite to ensuring that we are creating trauma and psychologically informed groups spaces.

For some residents the group space was the first time they had spoken to each other and has been a safe space for people to start building relationships.

"It means so much that so many people have been involved in making this pillow. It's exactly what I needed and a lovely souvenir that I'll always keep" - Danny, Participant

Willow Den Project

Residents and staff at the Finsbury Project worked together to create the Willow Den. This project offered residents the opportunity to work with others to creatively engage in a practical and mindful activity while improving their garden space.

This creative Project encouraged residents o take ownership of their space and offered the opportunity to build relationships with peers and staff through collaboration. Participants noted that they had gained a sense of achievement and pride in what they had built

With its completion, The Willow Den provides therapeutic benefits, including being a mindful, calming, outdoor space and a reminder of the all positive groupwork, hard work and creativity that residents successfully engaged in in order to build it. that included the use of natural, sustainable materials.

"I enjoyed building it, It was nice to have something to do. I like going outside and sit on the bench for a cigarette when it's raining"  - Participant

“I think the finished den looks amazing, welcoming and inviting for clients to use to be outside instead being in their rooms all the time. While helping to construct it, I felt very mindful and for that short period of time, I felt calm and enjoyed being away from my work and laptop”  – Staff member

We believe in working in equal partnership with our service users to give them a sense of ownership, to create effective team-working whilst learning new skills and improving confidence.

Over the years we have recognised that there is a large percentage of creative staff members and service users, and we are keen to encourage effective and creative cross-collaboration work within services across SHP...

We are excited that our first round of ArtHouse Grants were such a positive experience for all participants, peer mentors and facilitators. We are looking forward to what our second round of ArtHouse Grants inspires!

Arthouse Project Grants will open its next round in January 2023 – stay tuned!

Celebrating Our First Round Of Our ArtHouse Grants Initiative