Changing the Culture around Care for Artists by Tracy Breathnach
23/09/2025 | Author: Tracy Breathnach
Reflections on the How Ya Doing? artist wellbeing programme Image: Rachel Shiamh
This is a bittersweet blog post to write as it marks the end of my work with WAHWN, which started originally as Programme Manager for How Ya Doing? back in 2021.
Then, we were emerging from the pandemic and responding to what the sector needed as the impact of the hiatus in work in the arts sector was becoming evident.
I had met Angela earlier that Spring – I had represented WAHWN in Dublin at Realta’s Check Up, Check In, Ireland’s national arts and health annual conference. The day was cut short because the airports were being closed. Lockdown was setting in.
In the months that followed, Angela and I were both invited to do some exploratory work with Wales Arts International to explore how artists and the arts and health sectors both in Wales and beyond were being impacted. We met online every couple of weeks, and we always started our meetings with a check in: “how ya doing?” It felt vital to acknowledge our own emotional and mental wellbeing as the changes in our daily lives took their toll.
That Autumn, Angela created a blueprint for a national artist’s wellbeing programme and was successful in obtaining funding from Arts Council of Wales to run a pilot project. I applied to be the Programme Manager and got the job. It was called How Ya Doing?
The first iteration lasted about 7 months – we started with a survey to ask artists how they were doing and to get a sense of what they might need. We offered programmes in Reflective Practice, Artist Gatherings (online drop-ins and in-person outdoor events) and Coaching. The outcomes and the impact were obvious: this is needed. As one participant said in the evaluation:
“I cannot think of anything more important right now than supporting practitioner wellbeing, I also think we are having to shift a culture of self-blame, shame and doubt about ourselves and how we work. It is going to take some time to make this shift.”
What we were learning was in line with the research that Nicola Naismith had produced in her work Artists Practising Well. We became aware that a response to freelance artists’ wellbeing needs was much bigger than offering some wellbeing classes – there were structural inequalities in the sector that needed to be addressed. As Jane Willis, the evaluator puts it in her evaluation report:
“Working in a precarious gig economy with few rights and little job security, freelance artists are struggling to care for themselves because they feel they need to prioritise paid work over their own wellbeing.
Whether or not a Universal Basic Income for artists is a feasible or appropriate recommendation for this evaluation, there is a clear need to address the precarity of artists’ incomes which impacts not only their ability to practice but also their mental health and wellbeing.”
This led to an application to the Baring Foundation to develop a second iteration, this time more focused on supporting artists who worked in mental wellbeing settings or with groups who are more likely to have mental health challenges.
We knew that artists wanted safe spaces for Reflective Practice, but this would be an unending need – and my project manager head asked ‘what is the point of offering another 2 years of sessions and then having to stop again when the funding runs out?’ We needed a longer-term vision. So, alongside the programme for Reflective Practice, we developed two new training programmes:
- Reflective Practice Facilitator Training: Alison O’Connor agreed to design and deliver a 2-day training course for facilitators to learn how to offer Reflective Practice sessions. We hoped this would ensure that there could be more offers for reflective practice within organisations and in the community. Over the 2 years, we trained 13 people. Alison has continued to offer this training beyond the life of the How Ya Doing? programme.
- Strategies for Wellbeing: Justine Wheatley developed a 1-day online training course for organisations to review and develop their strategies for wellbeing (for staff and artists). We worked with staff from 52 organisations across Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
Jane Willis undertook our second evaluation again, and we learned that the main outcomes were:
- Strong Impact on Confidence, Skills and Culture
- Reflective Practice Training Built a New Community of Practice
- Wellbeing Strategy Training Prompted Immediate Change
- Barriers Were Real but Navigable
- A Strong Appetite for Continued Support
Jane reported:
“HYD#2 demonstrated that with the right support, creative practitioners and organisations can develop meaningful, sustainable approaches to wellbeing. The programme has laid the foundations for a growing movement that integrates care, reflection, and resilience into the fabric of cultural practice in Wales.”
It’s been so satisfying to work on a project over many years and to see how it develops from an initial idea to a national programme that has the potential to change the way we care for ourselves and others. It feels very rare to have this kind of long-term opportunity as a freelancer and I’m very grateful to Angela and the team at WAHWN for their support to grow this.
The most important aspect for me has been asking and listening to what artists want and working in a collaborative way with our amazing team of freelance artists and trainers to design programmes and courses that respond to the need in the sector. This is co-production in action.
What happens next?
Like all arts projects, regardless of how important or impactful they are, they need to be project-funded, so we are in a hiatus for a moment.
In the interim, I hope that the Reflective Practice facilitators find ways to spread the work in their own ways. I hope that Alison gets great uptake for her training course and the community of Reflective Practitioners in Wales and beyond grows.
I hope that organisations work together to find ways to improve the way they care for their staff and artists. As Justine always said: “this is not work to do on your own.”
If we want to change the way we practice care in our sector, then we need to change the thinking and beliefs around it, and we need to change the way we value or de-value it. When enough of us do that, then we will shift the culture around care and wellbeing.
Culture does not exist – we are constantly creating and shaping it through the way we think, act and behave. I appreciate having played a part in this journey and I am excited to see how it develops now.
