Writer / Director residency, NHS – Local Communities and Minority Groups – Jan 2017 to march 2018 and beyond

Great News! Jeremy Weller has been  commissioned as a writer-director to develop a performance involving local communities around Little France and NHS staff including all levels of staff from doctors to cleaning staff. He could also make a film about the process.

A little bit about the residency:

Currently under construction at Little France on the outskirts of the city of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, a major new hospital building will be shared by two distinct acute services, the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (DCN) and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC). In addition, it will also include a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Department with its own unique needs. This artist residency forms part of the Art and Therapeutic design programme (ATD programme). The programme framework has been developed in collaboration with both the NHS project team and charitable funder (the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation) led by Ginkgo Projects Ltd.

The ATD programme is founded on supporting and promoting the experience of patients as they navigate the physical and emotional experience of arrival, waiting, treatment and staying in hospital, as well as the experiences of staff as they make the move to a new working environment.

This brief is for the appointment of a contemporary artist or artists who will research, develop and deliver a residency project which could include; artwork design and production, exhibitions, workshops, events, new media programmes, performances or publications. The focus for these activities will be on building meaningful collaborative practice with arts and wellbeing projects in the geographical vicinity of the Little France Campus and city wide community organisations, particularly those who represent minority or hard to reach groups. There will be an opportunity to set up mentoring partnerships and networks involving experts and community partners suitable to the needs of the developing project.

The artist(s) delivering this project will have the opportunity, through their collaborative activities, to build dialogue and creative channels of support between the hospital services and communities who experience obstacles in accessing healthcare services. This dialogue should promote, share and stretch artistic paradigms, approaches and skills which will contribute to Edinburgh’s inclusive multicultural arts economy across the city and beyond.