Festival of Thrift
An annual festival using workshops, exhibitions and performances to give families the confidence to create on a budget and to advance public awareness of sustainable living.
Good reads: Doughnut Economics
Kate Raworth's Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries: a compass for meeting the needs of all within the means of the planet.
“Who knew so much goodness was right here all along?”
What over 55 people told us about growing creativity in Gloucestershire. On 16 September, we convened more than 55 people for a day together at the Friendship Café in Gloucester around one question: how can we grow creativity in our communities better, together?
The space between something and nothing: learning from Create Local
The space between something and nothing: learning from Create Local
One question we get asked a lot is: “What do you actually do in a neighbourhood?” The honest answer is: often, we wait.
It's not the kind of thing you'd expect the Chair of Arts Council England, and former Director of the Tate, to leave with. But it's exactly the kind of detail that keeps drawing him back to Matson.
The Voice of Nature: speaking from nature’s perspective.
In this blog we hear from Jacqui Stearn about being the Voice of Nature on CG’s board and how Julie’s Bicycle programme alongside Jacqui’s own creative practice have supported her to speak from nature’s perspective.
FREE Bird Themed Educational Resource Pack for Primary and SEND Schools
This free pack is full of my creative dance & movement ideas for bird-themed activities.
This resource pack has been developed as part of ‘Bird Nerd and The Red List’, a dance theatre project, funded by @Arts Council England.
Future Talent: Creative Health practice in Gloucestershire
In 2022 and 2023, Create Glos teamed up with the NHS to run a series of micro experiments designed to test and build the infrastructure needed to support neighbourhood-led arts and health. Read about the process and findings.
Celebrating Creativity: The Legacy of the National Gallery’s NG200 Art Road Trip in Gloucestershire
In 2024, the National Gallery marked a historic milestone—200 years of bringing people and paintings together—with a year-long celebration known as NG200. This ambitious initiative looked both to the past and the future, launching a nationwide festival of art, creativity, and imagination to set the tone for the Gallery’s third century.
Top tips for inclusive evaluation
Barnwood's Research and Policy team shared their learning and a range of resources related to inclusive and accessible evaluation practices through one of the dataday workshops.
Find downloadable resources here.
Top Tips for Ripple Effects Mapping - on your own!
Creative Catalyst Sophia, works in the Forest of Dean for Create Gloucestershire. She has used Ripple Effects Mapping to keep track of the connections she is making through her work.
Voice of Nature
Jacqui Stearn’s workshop, on creative writing inspired by Data, produced a powerful collective sonnet, responding to the Biodiversity Stripes data visualisation.
Open Space Sessions
In the open space: we explored engaging young people in shaping data collection, co-analysis to understand data gaps, the importance of getting data sharing collaborations right, and the promise and pitfalls of presenting data through stories.
Keynote listening
Our keynote listener, Malaki Patterson, offered us a powerful set of reflections on the day.
Ripple Effects Mapping
What difference is your work really making? Ripple Effects Mapping helps you capture the wider impact of projects, organisations and your own practice, and trace how change spreads beyond the obvious outcomes. Watch our short film, download our guide to get started, and read Sophia’s tips for mapping on your own.
Creative Health: UK State of the Sector Survey
The UK State of the Sector Survey was conducted between February and April 2023, to help understand more about the creative health sector in the UK. It was conducted as a collaboration between CHWA; the Wales Arts, Health & Wellbeing Network; Arts Health & Wellbeing Scotland; and Arts Care (Northern Ireland).
National Centre for Creative Health - Creative Health Review
The Review highlights the potential for creative health to help tackle pressing issues in health and social care and more widely, including health inequalities and the additional challenges we face as we recover from Covid-19. The Review has gathered evidence that shows the benefits of creative health in relation to major current challenges, and examples of where this is already working in practice.
What we learnt from our creative conversation about HOW we work together support health and wellbeing,
In June 2023 Healthy Communities Together (HCT) Gloucestershire held a Structures of Togetherness Event in Stroud Sub Rooms, a creative conversation about whether HOW we work together in the county to support health and wellbeing, matters as much as WHAT we do (hint: HCT thinks it does).
Image credit- Myron Rogers
Thinking differently about creative health
Research shows that participation in creative activity and art can reduce stress, improve self-esteem, and promote recovery.
But the therapeutic value of participatory arts extends far beyond benefits to individual health: in facilitating and amplifying authentic creative and cultural expression by and for marginalised communities, it also has the potential to reduce health inequalities on a much broader scale.
