RCC 12: CreativestArt
Proposer: Sam Delaney
Funding allocated: £5,420
The proposal
The Creative Arts in Health set up as an arts workshop designed to aid and support those in recovery and those in their families affected by their addiction, the project uses a peer support structure that helps break down stigma and focuses on trust and personal development. The belief is to give its members a purpose by involving them in all aspects of the project.
Through this programme over 100 members have benefitted from the project and successfully delivered weekly support that is member led and have developed an abstinence recovery focus group.
The project is now very much a community arts project offering arts experience to a wide range of people, but still with a particular focus on supporting those in recovery form drug or alcohol addiction. The members have produced in excess of 80 pieces of artwork, and CreativestArt has received many commissions in the last two years. The team are currently working on a home fire safety mural at Cromwell Road Fire Station, and on an Engie commission to produce a mural in the town centre underpass by St James.
When Sam Delaney approached RCC, he had a small group of people, and no formal organisational structure. After attending the Change Champions Programme and recently seven members have essential roles within Creative Start where they have provided support for those affected by social isolation and mental health issues. The project is now a Community Interest Company with a board of seven directors, all active members of the group. The Board is still encouraging more people to get involved and take on wider roles to spread the workload.
It is planning how to spread and sustain the project in conjunction with the delivery partners, and following the change Champions Programme, and with ongoing support from RCC it has built partnerships with St James Church to contribute to the re-development of the St James House site, and is working with several public, private and voluntary projects across the area, broadening its areas of interest, involving its members in wider well-being initiatives, and using its art skills jointly with other groups on well-being projects. CreativestArt is engaging with the wider VCS locally, and has been involved in discussions about the development of a rehabilitation hub in Grimsby.
Creative stArt has secured over £40,000 in additional funding, plus a van from the Lincoln Lord Lieutenant’s Charity.
Sam Delaney comments, “We are about mutual aid. The quality of the art has exceeded expectations; we are reaching other people, and are creating a sense of group unity. RCC kept us going “big time”, helped us make that next step to become self-sustaining. It helped us set up the foundations – it was a massive help in taking us to the next level.”
Case study – Mark
Mark is a volunteer at CreativestArt, involved in all of CreativestArt’s street art and murals. “I paint five or six days a week – it keeps me going. It is like a full time job for me, and I want to get to a point where I can earn a living from painting murals and provide for my family. I am proud of what I do and want to show it off to people. CreativestArt keeps me motivated. “Creative stArt is helping me amazingly. What would I do with my life if it stopped? I am doing what I can to stay on the right road.”
“Life has been difficult for Mark. In care from the age of 5, he ran away at 15 and lived on the streets where he started drinking heavily and taking heroin. “ I don’t know why I did it. I did not fit in, I was trying to find my place in the world, and wanted to escape normality.”
After years of taking drugs, Mark stopped when he met someone and started a family, but he kept drinking throughout the relationship, becoming an alcoholic, which finally brought an end to his relationship. “ I drank constantly. I have permanently damaged my health, and am lucky not to be paralysed after a drink-related fall left me with serious back problems.”
Mark made a new start to life with a new partner in Grimsby, nine years ago. And two years ago, with a baby on the way, he decided he had to stop drinking. “ I was going to have a new baby. I could not possibly manage that if I was drinking, as I had done first time around. The baby keeps me going. Mark felt he had tried everything. “ I went to AA, kept drink diaries and all those things. It helped but it became about negative experiences. It was hard.”
Six months later Mark met Sam at CreativestArt. “Sam is different. He is my motivation. We help each other. Nobody else I meet has been on the same journey. I still need support, and get it with CreativestArt.”
Mark has been drink –free for over two years now, and says CreativestArt plays a big part in this. He is optimistic about his life. “It is hard but I have a reason not to drink. People who don’t drink do not understand what it is like. I am positive about my future – staying sober, surviving for my family, being and becoming an amazing mural painter”.