Month: September 2023

Service, Community and Connection

Patchworks will follow a service-based business model that is differentiation-focused.

It will follow new business model trends such as being purpose-driven, community-centered, multi-sensory, and personalized (due to the content of the multidisciplinary hands-on artistic activities, solo, and group reflective exercises and local community delivery locations).

The content of the workshops will be unique and exclusive, both in terms of being an innovative idea and their personal, holistic, and reflective nature (informed by logotherapy and psychotherapy engendering emotional connection). Product innovation and customer intimacy will be the key values.

As consumers will be users of community organizations who are interested in learning more about the arts for well-being in their local community setting, Patchworks connects with lifestyles.

An area for further ideation development is ICT. A centralized, technological element of Patchworks could be its online website, which could act as an information resource via a blog and signposting service to other arts for health organizations and professionals. Online delivery of workshops may also be a viable path for those who can’t leave their homes. It would reduce travel costs for delivering speakers, however, how to retain the experiential quality for online users requires further exploration.

Alignment with Arts Council England (ACE) = Wider Potential Societal Impacts and Funding Opportunities

‘Creative Health and Wellbeing’ (Arts Council England, 2022), part of ACE’s ‘Let’s Create’ strategy (Arts Council England, 2020) shows their commitment to social prescribing, place-based work, prevention (healthy habits, behaviours and social connection), strategic partnerships with health and social care sectors and new research. Their Evaluation of the Thriving Communities Fund report (Parkinson et. al, 2022) provides case studies and evidence of ACE’s support of initiatives like Patchworks.

Reference List:

Arts Council England (2022) Creative Health & Wellbeing. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/developing-creativity-and-culture/health-and-wellbeing/creative-health-wellbeing (Accessed: 27 September 2023).

Arts Council England (2020) Let’s Create. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-strategy-2020-2030 (Accessed: 27 September 2023).

Parkinson, A., Tanner, S., Burgess, A., Usher, S., Knight, E. and Heath, O. (2022)  Evaluation of the Thriving Communities Fund. London: Wavehill: Social and Economic Research. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/thriving-communities-fund-evaluation-report (Accessed: 27 September 2023).

‘Patchworks’ customers are local community-based organizations, consumers are their users:

• Profitable = Corporate workplaces, private schools, nurseries & care homes

• Charitable/subsidized = Others listed above prioritizing underserved community groups, low socio-economic status and the lonely/isolated

• Perception: Patchworks should be positioned as non-clinical, holistic & accessible to all

Secondary Research:
I have begun compiling reports evidencing the impact of social prescribing, how it was halted by the pandemic and evidence supporting the argument to revisit now due to a renewed understanding of its benefits.

– British Red Cross: Fulfilling the promise: how social prescribing can most effectively tackle loneliness (2019)

– UK Parliament, House of Commons: Social Prescribing Reports (2020)

– National Academy for Social Prescribing: The Economic Impact of Social Prescribing)

– NHS England: Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care (2023)

Furthermore, the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance: Creative Health Quality Framework (2023) was recently published providing a tool for best practise for arts and cultural projects focused on health and wellbeing.

Planned Primary Research:
– Consultation survey for users of community centers measuring interest and demand (quantitative and qualitative)
– Zoom calls with arts therapists – preliminary questions around their practice

Entrepreneurial Value Proposition Statements (EVPS)

Using Kolbs Learning Cycle (1984), Anna Ilishkina and I helped each other to develop these via Zoom. Upon organising, reflecting and preparing (including watching a YouTube video explaining Kolbs’ learning cycle), I discovered I have a ‘converging’ learning style.

Questions, challenges, and reflections:

-Multiple USP’s
-What’s the main USP?
-What’s the single most important factor?
-Difficult to make EVPS concise!

Reference List:

Culture, H.&.W.A. (2023) Creative Health
Quality Framework. Available at: https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/sites/default/files/Creative%20Health%20Quality%20Framework.pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

Eaton, M. (2020) Briefing Paper: Social Prescribing . House of Commons Library, UK Parliament. Available at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8997/CBP-8997.pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

Expert Program Management (2020) Kolb’s Learning Cycle Explained with Example. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rycjUldMl3k (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

National Academy for Social Prescribing (2022) The Economic Impact of Social Prescribing. Available at: https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/media/carfrp2e/evidence-review-economic-impact.pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

NHS England (2023) Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PRN00720_ii-Delivery-plan-for-recovering-access-to-primary-care-updated-summary-of-support-offer-for-practices.pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

The British Red Cross Society and Co-operative Group Limited (2019)  Fulfilling the Promise: How Social Prescribing Can Best Treat Loneliness. Available at: https://www.redcross.org.uk/-/media/documents/about-us/research-publications/health-and-social-care/fulfilling-the-promise-social-prescribing-and-loneliness.pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2023).

Patchworks

‘Patchworks’ is a potential invention as there doesn’t seem to be an organization delivering events that are both ‘educational talks come participatory workshops’ on how the arts can engender greater well-being. Using art therapies, logotherapy and neuro-arts in new ways could be an innovation of knowledge and practice.

Identified start-up business models of interest and similar businesses/potential competitors (private service-based companies, community interest companies and charities):

SET (Self Esteem Team)
The Music In You
Art 4 Healing
PoetsIN
Artis Foundation

The following problem-solving exercise shows that ‘Patchworks’ aims to meet a need for increased and more mindful engagement in the arts:

‘Patchworks’ will aim for dual advantage: customer intimacy (content of events – encouraged reflection and creative exploration) and product leadership (a new kind of event). ‘Patchworks’ will meet participants (consumers) where they are at community and arts centres, schools, halls, studios and venues.

Peer Work

In discussing the arts funding landscape in Abu Dhabi and workshopping approaches to funding for Cristina O’ Hanlon, I shared the business model of Independent Venue Week. I suggested how this may be replicated in a visual arts context via arts residencies with emerging artists in non-studio settings. For Anna Ilishkina’s idea of an ethical fashion online platform, I suggested a blog showcasing sustainable fashion approaches (upcycling, ethical styling).

Drawing on her Psychology degree, Mackenzie Walchuk suggested I read the DSM5, looking at what disorders could be helped through each art form, symptoms and definitions. She shared her knowledge of ‘frontal lobe’ development and how establishing one’s core values and attaching oneself to a mission relates. Mollie Pulte kindly introduced me to Chet Bentley (Musician and Sound Healing Practitioner).

Reference List:

Art & Creativity for Healing Inc (2023) Workshop FAQs: Learn About Our Workshops. Available at: https://art4healing.org/faq/ (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

Artis Foundation (No Date) About: Our vision is for a world enriched through the arts. Available at: https://www.artisfoundation.org.uk/about/ (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

GOV.UK (2022) Guidance: Social prescribing: applying All Our Health. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health#:~:text=Recognising%20that%20people’s%20health%20is,control%20of%20their%20own%20health (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

Independent Venue Community (2022) ‘The Music In You’ Comes to Isle Of Wight. Available at: https://independentvenuecommunity.com/2022/07/14/the-music-in-you-comes-to-strings-isle-of-wight/ (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

PoetsIN (2023) Home: A Charity Created For People Struggling With Their Mental Health By Two Poets Who Have Struggled Too. Available at: https://www.poetsin.com/ (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

Self-Esteem Team (2021) Mental Health School Speakers: Award-winning Wellbeing Classes to Help Young People Navigate Their Minds. Available at: https://www.selfesteemteam.org/ (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

Interests

•  Arts in health

• Communities

• Spirituality and wellbeing (human-related, non-religious)

Research: developing reading list and key findings

• Arts In Health, Daisy Fancourt
– History of arts and health sectors, ‘arts in health’ movement
– Best practice: how to practically, ethically and legally conceive, plan and deliver an arts in health intervention/research project
– Randomized Control Trials (RCT)
– Research findings: how the arts support different areas of health

• Your Brain On Art, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
– How different arts activity/engagement practically affect the brain (science, anatomy, neuroplasticity)
– The arts and community development
– Arts and wellbeing case studies

• The Body Keeps The Score, Bessel Van Der Kolk
– Trauma treatment
– Arts for health case studies / projects successfully helping people recover from depression, anxiety and PTSD (e.g mask making for veterans offering an alternative step in recovery to more traditional forms of cognitive/talking therapies where they’ve not worked)

• What Happened To You?, Bruce D. Perry M.D Ph. D, Oprah Winfrey
– ACE (adverse childhood experiences)

• The Power Of Now and A New Earth, Eckharte Tolle (revisiting)
– The law of attraction
– Subconscious mind
– Ego v.s true self
– ‘Pain bodies’ (accumulated, historic, emotional pain)
– Being present, mindfulness and self-awareness
– Collective impacts of the above on a societal level

• The Doctor And The Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy, Dr. Viktor Frankl (reading)
– The spiritual dimension of Psychotherapy and our human need for values, meaning and purpose

Reference List:

Fancourt, D. (2017) Arts in health: designing and researching interventions. Oxford, England, New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

Frankl, V. (2004) The Doctor and The Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy. London: Souvenir Press, Profile Books Ltd.

Magsamen, S. and Ross, I. (2023) Your brain on art: how the arts transform us. New York: Random House.

Tolle, E. (2005) A New Earth: Create A Better Life. London: Penguin Random House UK.

Tolle, E. (2001) The power of now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Van der Kolk, B.A. (2015) The body keeps the score: mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma /. London, England : Penguin Books.

Winfrey, O. and Perry, B.D. (2022) What happened to you?: conversations on trauma, resilience and healing. London: Bluebird.