Case Study: Cardiff Royal Infirmary

People Place Future

Introduction

Cardiff Royal Infirmary, CAVUHB is a new Wellbeing Centre providing a range of services to vulnerable people in Cardiff and pan-Wales. Working with several partners who share our values and a team of artists, our aim was to engage our multi-cultural communities, increase access and connectivity for vulnerable and marginalised people, and improve wellbeing outcomes through several arts elements within the project. Our aim was to create a signature sound and film installation artwork which provided a portrait of our communities, our 'Urban Welsh', and linked through other project elements, communicating our project vision. We wanted to discover new artistic voices, new arts interventions, to engage the CRI staff community, and provide meaningful support and engagement through the arts.

Partners: Cardiff Women's Aid, Oasis, Wales Millennium Centre, Tredegarville Primary School, Links Community Mental Health Services, John Meirion Rea and his creative team CAVUHB -Health Board Partners: Links Community Mental Health Services, Primary, Community and Intermediate Directorate, Capital and Estates Department, Human Resources, Patient Experience, Cardiff and Vale Health Inclusion Practice, Medical Illustration

Funders: Arts Council of Wales. Additional funding was sought through Cardiff and Vale Staff Lottery, Cardiff & Vale Health Charity, in order to expand and develop the project alongside the Arts Council of Wales funding. Although not part of the project, in aligning resources and providing additional inkind support from Cardiff and Vale UHB, we were able to create greater impact throughout the community and throughout our health board.

The Challenge

Welsh Governments Covid-19 BAME SocioEconomic Sub Group Report 2021 details groups disproportionately affected by socio-economic, cultural and health inequalities, forming a foundation for a Race Equality Action Plan. CAVUHBs strategy, Shaping our Future Wellbeing aims to bring healthcare services closer to + open to all communities integrating health + wellbeing services. The Arts Programme is aligned to these strategies, and we see on a human level, how the creative arts can be sort to help us engage with vulnerable and marginalised groups, enabling them to have their voices heard. Expressing and celebrating who we are, and telling our stories through the arts provides joy, a sense of belonging, identity and wellbeing, and helps us shape future services and support for our communities

The Approach

We created impact through several project elements: 1. Unlocked : - Duke Al and creative team, Spoken Word Video, 5 artists +2 staff members, 289 webpage views, 64 likes 20 shares on social media, delivered Sept 21-Dec21 2. A Moment in Time : Lisa-Marie Mansfield, 10 Staff Portrait Photography Sessions, also CWA and Tredegarville school: 1 artist, 87 participants, delivered Sept 21-Mar 22 3. Cardiff Women’s Aid and Joon Dance, Dancing The Self : co-produced somatic dance sessions, delivering 30 sessions by 2 artists to 23 participants between Feb-Oct 22 4. Nerida Bradley, WMC Community Connector - Mural artwork via 15 sessions, 20 participants between Sept - July 22 5. Daniel Buck, Holly Raddy and Tredegarville School: Storytelling, improvisation +illustration, 10 sessions with 30 pupils between Mar-Jun 22 6. Oasis, Haf Weighton, Dewi Tannatt Lloyd: Gweld: Textile quilt+interactive digital quilt with creative outcomes, 12 sessions, 2 artists +Oasis volunteers, 35 participants ,Jul- Oct 7. Duke Al, Links Community Mental Health, Poetry Course +Art Mural: 10 sessions, 2 artists, 8 participants ,Jul-Oct 8. HOSPES sound/film installation+ online portal: 7 Day looped performance at CRI, 9 artists : 230 CRI visitors, 274 web views +100 participants, Sept 21-oct 22 B

The Impact

Our approach was to entrust experienced partners and artists to gather evidence and conduct evaluation through subjective wellbeing measures, + theory of change. Initial meetings set out clearly our project goals and aims which were shared by partners. Some project elements provided both evidence and evaluation within an artistic outcome, for eg the Mural in Links Community Mental Health, CRI, HOSPES, and GWELD. Evaluation was iterative. The Arts Team conducted weekly progress + reflective meetings, collated evidence, and regularly received feedback from all elements of the project. Through our projects we connected with marginalised groups, enabled their voices to be heard, celebrated multi-cultural communities and provided increased wellbeing support. We discovered ways to improve pathways/ access to wellbeing services, improved cultural competence and created ongoing opportunities for cultural learning. The importance of personal + job satisfaction was important learning: having a voice as a means of empowerment, connecting with others and a pride in belonging shone through every project element. We collected and stored data through GDPR procedures, collected anecdotal evidence, held/recorded events and arts interventions, monitored change and collated exhibition feedb

Lessons Learned

Engaging staff members +CRI patients via portrait photography and new artworks (additional match funding) gave initial momentum. This foundation enabled us to support the wider engagement elements e.g Hospes, + also to focus on smaller project groups to discover in detail how the creative arts could embed within services for extremely vulnerable people, e.g Poetry Writing within LINKS and somatic dance with Cardiff Women's Aid. An unintended outcome was greater engagement with the wider arts sector, with learning for new marketing strategies.

The Legacy

We have built strong relationships, made new partnerships +built enormous potential within a year for our community and CAVUHB. We created a digital monument for our Cardiff community through HOSPES online portal, and the ongoing GWELD digital quilt. 'I came here on many trains and boats. Then I slept rough for many nights. Then someone told me about here [...] The first thing someone said to me when I walked in here was ‘do you want to paint?’ I am not sure anyone has ever asked me to paint something. It made me feel like I have a purpos

Website and Social Media Links

@CavuhbArts - Instagram, Facebook and Twitter https://cardiffandvale.art/cri-news/ - This is the webpage tab set up for the project. Select Read More for each project and Press Evaluation tab to read Evaluation. The Arts Council of Wales project is interspersed with other arts interventions, but the ACW project elements have, in addition, evaluation information https://hospescardiff.com https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/10/13/new-sound-and-film-installation-opens-at-cardiff-royalinfirmary/ http://dewitannattlloyd.co.uk/cvuhb_cri_gweld/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/11/01/gweld/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/01/21/unlocked-a-spoken-word-performance-by-duke-aldurham/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/10/31/duke-al-delivers-poetry-writing-sessions-incollaboration-with-links-community-mental-health-service/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/03/17/cardiff-royal-infirmary-people-place-future-2/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/03/03/international-womens-day-launch-of-dancing-the-self/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2021/12/10/cri-now-a-moment-in-time/ https://healthcharity.wales/app/uploads/2022/11/Tredegarvilles-Tales.pdf https://cardiffandvale.art/2022/11/25/collaboration-with-the-wales-millennium-centre/ https://cardiffandvale.art/2021/07/27/cardiff-royal-infirmary-people-place-future/ https://cardiffandvale.art/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cardiff-Royal-Infirmary-Arts-ReportEnglish.pdf https://cardiffandvale.art/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cardiff-Royal-Infirmary-Arts-ReportWelsh.pdf https://cardiffandvale.art/ This is our main Arts Programme Webpage See uploaded documents for Duke Al video - evaluation

Contact Details

Melanie Wotton melanie.wotton@wales.nhs.uk

Tags: Wales, Cardiff, Arts in Health and Wellbeing, Partnerships, Arts, Community, Multi-cultural communities, Diversity, Opportunity, Vibrant communities, Hospital community, Wellbeing Centre, Specialist Services, Urban Communities, Asylum seekers and Refugees, Urban Welsh, vulnerable women, Women's Aid, service users, primary school pupils, staff members, artists, redefine services, embed the creative arts, Community Mental Health, Long Term Mental Health Condition, Sound Composition, Sound Installation, Film Installation, Online Portal, Digital Monument, Digital Evaluation, Video, Film, Book, Digital Book, Interview, Portraits, Photography, Dance, Somatic Dance, Storytelling and Improvisation, Textiles, Art Map, digital maps, Sound Recording, Poetry Writing, Poetry Writing Course, mural painting, illustration, Language, Oracy, identity, belonging, giving people a voice, building relationships, greater understanding, caring for all, open to all, wellbeing, addressing isolation, inclusion, support, self-expression, improving services, discovering barriers, gaps in services, iconic building, landmark building, rich cultural identity, vulnerable and marginalised groups, Wellbeing of Future Generations, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, Arts for Health and Wellbeing Team, Cardiff & Vale Health Charity, Arts Council of Wales

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