WAHWN News
'Stepping In' appoints 4 mentees for pilot programme
WAHWN has appointed four mentees to it’s pilot training and mentoring programme, ‘Stepping In’.
George, Lyndsey, Pete and Radha, who were selected to join the first-of-its-kind pilot for South and West Wales following a competitive selection process, come from diverse artistic backgrounds with lived experiences that are currently underrepresented in Wales’ growing arts and health sector.
Stepping In has been designed by WAHWN, in consultation with the sector, in response to the lack of diversity within the arts and health creative workforce. It aims to help build the skills, knowledge and experience required to deliver projects in arts and health settings, through training, shadowing a live project, mentoring and peer support.
Tom Bevan, Stepping In programme manager, said: “We're incredibly excited to have appointed four such brilliant mentees for the Stepping In pilot programme. WAHWN and our programme partners – Swansea Bay University Health Board, Hywel Dda University Health Board, PeopleSpeakUp, and Caerphilly County Borough Council Arts Development want to see more facilitators delivering work in healthcare settings who share the lived experience of people from minoritised communities.
“Our hope is that Stepping In is an important part of the arts and health journey we are on in Wales. As it’s a pilot programme, we’re excited to learn from the mentees and our partner organisations and to understand how this project could grow and change in the future.”
Each of the four mentees will take part in a week of intensive training in Cardiff. They will also shadow an experienced arts and health practitioner, team or organisation on a live project in a health or community setting 10 days and will receive a bursary, mentoring and supervision, working closely with one of the four Stepping In partners.
Meet the Mentees
Georgia Paterson
Georgia Paterson is a singer/songwriter and community music facilitator from South Wales. A seasoned performer she regularly plays solo gigs with her acoustic guitar locally, as well as at various festivals and Pride celebrations throughout the UK. In the community, she works in a variety of contexts from care homes to schools, also hosting events and running song-writing workshops. Her original songs, some of which have been playlisted on BBC Radio Wales, are a key part of her practice – bringing new music to those otherwise unable to access it. Georgia is passionate about sharing the positive power of music having seen the amazing impact it can have on people’s well-being in healthcare settings and is keen to expand her work in this area. She will be working with WAHWN and Caerphilly Arts Development to develop her skills and knowledge in the arts and health sector.
Lyndsey Fouracre Reynolds
Lyndsey is an LGBTQ+ creative facilitator, confidence coach and educator from South Wales.
She is an experienced arts practitioner with a BA in community theatre from East 15 Acting School and an MA in applied linguistics from Portsmouth University. Lyndsey has a wealth of experience working in the fields of community engagement, arts and education, working on a range of creative projects with young people in various community settings. These settings include youth services, prison, pupil referral units, mental health facilities and residential settings for young people.
Lyndsey is primarily a drama and theatre practitioner, using drama games and activities to create a safe space for people to explore, create and share stories. She also delivers a range of additional workshops, including visual arts, crafts, poetry, creative writing and movement. Linked through theatre and storytelling, these art forms are all part of the same toolkit – enabling people to explore and express themselves.
Recently, Lyndsey has completed a coaching course with the Coaching Masters and is working as a confidence coach delivering wellbeing and mindset workshops for young people and adults. Lyndsey is keen to develop her knowledge and experience in health and wellbeing settings in Wales and to use her creative skill set to support art and health projects. She will be working with WAHWN and Hywel Dda University Health Board for Stepping In.
Pete Mosey
Peter Wyn Mosey is a writer from Llanelli. He writes short stories, scripts and poetry and is passionate about art, music, film and performance.
Peter graduated with a BA (Hons) in theatre and media drama at the University of Glamorgan and later returned to complete an MA in scriptwriting. He has written, produced and performed comedy at the Buxton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.
Engaging creatively has helped Peter manage his own mental health challenges, and this inspires him to encourage others to express themselves creatively and collaboratively to improve their wellbeing.
Through this project with WAHWN, he is keen to develop his skills as a facilitator while working with People Speak Up, an organisation he has been involved with as a participant and volunteer.
Radha Patel
Radha is a storyteller whose work intersects colonialism, nature, religion, rituals, language, folklore and speculative futures. Writing is at the heart of her practise, so any work that she makes always involves a text alongside a physical or tangible element that people can interact with, such as sculptures, prints, drawings, audio, installations, film and an invented language called Etsolstera.
Her practise explores folklore throughout history and uses storytelling to build new ways of reconnecting us to our human and non-human ancestors, and the delicate magic that is being lost through colonisation. Radha works with older and existing folklore from Wales and India and creates new folklore about rituals, magical objects, imagined lands and new planets.
Radha’s artistic practise accompanies seven years of experience working across projects that bring together the arts, community engagement and audience development. She is passionate about projects that work sustainably and are generative for the communities they work with Swansea Bay University Health Board.