Case Study: Vibe Tribe Music Medicine

Introduction

Vibe Tribe is a music medicine project that incorporates storytelling in all forms, from music and singing to dance and comedy. Delivered by Art & Soul Tribe and a host of talented freelance creatives. We provide a space for people of all backgrounds, from school children to the elderly, to learn new skills and tell their stories. Vibe Tribe took place in various community hubs and nature spaces across Flintshire, allowing us to extend our reach to members of the community most in need. The project increased confidence and wellbeing of those who took part. We proved that no matter who you are, you can always learn new skills, establish postivie social connections, and tell your story.

The Challenge

We hold annual community consultations, and these highlight to us time and time again that members of our local community feel overlooked, unheard, and misunderstood. Around 20,210 people in flintshire have one of the common mental health problems, with many more are struggling with undiagnosed mental illnesses. Statutory services are at breaking point and unable to meet the growing need coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current 'Cost of Living' crisis. We have also found that traditional social prescribing models simply don't work for the vast majority. People have told us that they experience emotional and psychological barriers to attending community spaces and sessiosn that focus on particular themes (sports, gardening etc).

The Approach

We developed Vibe Tribe as an arts for wellbeing project to overcome these psychological barriers to accessing community provision by using trauma-informed and creative means of engagement.We set out to improve wellbeing, reduce anxiety, stress, and depression, thus reducing strain on statutory services. We worked with 5 trusted and experienced freelance creative professionals, each delivering 40 weekly sessions from April 2023 to March 2024 covering singing/community choir, dance and movement sessions, percussion-based music workshops, band and free jamming-based music sessions, and comedy workshops. We reached over 500 participants across the entire project. We collaborated with our partner organisation The Rock Works to develop this project and shape how sessions would be delivered. "Thoroughly enjoyed these sessions with Jamie. His knowledge and experience certainly rubbed off on the whole group, learning steady drum beats and drum patterns throughout. It was really good fun and I got so much from them." - John (participant in Vibe Tribe percussion workshops) These sessions culminated in a celebration event 'Tribefest' in September 2023 where prticipants got the opportunity to showcase their newfound confidence and skills and share their stories.

The Impact

At quarterly intervals throughout this year long project we conducted RAG reports in which we used a red, amber, green system to assess each of the project's streams based on facilitator ability, budget, schedule, prospect for growth, and engagement. This allowed us to be reactive and responsive and make changes when things weren't quite working. For example, when assessing engagement for our dance & movement sessions during the first quarter, we found that engagement was struggling compared to our other workshops. We worked collaboratively with our dance facilitator to see how we could improve engagement and deceided to split the 2 hour session into two 1 hour sessions: an hour for movement and an hour for dance. This meant people could choose which element appealed most to them and only attend that, or they could stay for both, and this helped to boost session attendance. We used the ONS4 wellbeing questionnaire to track participant wellbeing throughout the project and found life satisfaction scores increased by 2 points, self-worth scores increased by 2.7 points, happiness scores increased by 4.5 points, and anxiety scores decreased by 3.6 points

Lessons Learned

We were pleased to discover that our Community Choir group enjoyed sessions so much that they wanted to continue the group beyond this project's lifetime. We provided support, advice, and direction where we could but this certanly raised something important for us when we look at the sustainability of our future projects. We have learned from this to ensure adequate resources are put into place from the offset that will support a project's sustainability and allow participants the autonomy to continue the provision independently.

The Legacy

We're excited to scale up this project at our brand new Wellbeing Hub currently being developed at Halkyn Castle Wood. Science has consistently backed the benefits of spending time in nature for mental wellbeing, with the healing and empowerment that comes with creative interventions, we believe our Vibe Tribe In Nature project will have an even greater impact. We will empower people to get creative and heal in nature. Participants will also play a vital role in the design of our new Wellbeing Hub, built by the community for the community.

Website and Social Media Links

Website: www.artandsoultribe.co.uk Facebook: artsoultribe Instagram: @artsoultribe YouTube: art&soul tribe Sway link: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/BzC4sYcELpwT105q?ref=Link

Contact Details

Contact Jessica Sparks for more information: jessica@artandsoultribe.co.uk

Tags: Mental health, Wellbeing, Confidence, Art, Storytelling, Music, Dance, Singing, Comedy, Performance, Flintshire

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