Category: Arts and Health

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Therapeutic Landscapes II: Call for Papers

I’m very excited to announce the call for papers for ‘Therapeutic Landscapes II: Ritual, Folklore and Wellbeing’, a symposium and exhibition that will take place at The Art House at the University of Worcester on June 12th and 13th 2026.

We invite artists, creative practitioners, health practitioners, cultural historians, public health workers and curators who, both formally and informally, are investigating the intersections of ritual, folklore, magic and physical environments and their implications for emotional health and wellbeing to present their work around (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Creative placemaking through storytelling

• Artistic engagement with local knowledge, know-how and skills held in place

• Intentional embodiment in transformative practices

• Creative work that addresses class within folk cultures

• Communal creative interventions in the landscape

• Participatory archaeology/ experimental archaeology

• More than human entanglements

• The Imagined Village: speculative fiction informed by folklore

• Creative interpretation of folk objects held in museums and collections

• Public health arts-based initiatives that are informed by Folklore and folk beliefs

• Ritual as therapeutic creative practice

• Craft practices that investigate connections between making, materiality and emotional wellbeing

• Material practices exploring magic and the supernatural

• Folk customs, ritual games, and community wellbeing

• Mortality, ancestors and commemoration

• Right to roam: communities of dissent

• Mayhem mischief and misrule

• Creative interpretations of places associated with healing

• Pilgrimage, procession and pageantry

• Combatting rural loneliness and isolation through Creative Health interventions

• Local Artists and artist-led co-ops in rural places

• Nature based approaches to radical self-care

Paper Presentations

Please send 250 word abstract for a 20 minute presentation to therapeutic_landscapes@worc.ac.uk

Performances and Workshops

Proposals for longer performances and workshops are also welcome. Please send a short 250 word outline of your proposed activity.

Exhibition

Please send a short 250 word artist statement and up to 6 images of your work for consideration for the exhibition.

Deadline for proposals : 1st March 2026

Presenters and participants will be notified 14th March 2026.

Email: therapeutic_landscapes@worc.ac.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/folk.cultures.research/

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Exploring Generative AI in the Arts: Insights from GenAI Lunchtime Sessions

Here is a recording of the talk I gave at the GenAI Lunchtime sessions to colleagues at the University of Worcester in February this year. In it I speak about the use of generative AI tools in the arts, differing definitions of ‘intelligence’ and ‘creativity’ in the arts and tech worlds, and the uneven impact of Generative AI tools on different creative fields. I also give a brief introduction to the ideas of accelerationism and transhumanism, and make a case for aligning studio arts education with creative health. It’s a 30 minute talk.

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Reimagining Arts Education: From the Education of the Senses to Creative Health

Fyodor Bronnikov Pythagoreans Celebrate the Sunrise 1869

Below is PDF of my presentation ‘Reimagining Arts Education: From the Education of the Senses to Creative Health ‘ which I gave at the Have Some Imagination: Towards a Manifesto for Arts Education conference at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle in February.

Reimagining Arts Education [Newcastle Edit]Download

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Friends of the Future at Herd Farm 24-25th Feb

Along with colleagues from Friends of the Future and the Arts and Health Research Group at the University of Worcester, I’ve coordinated an Open Space event at Herd Farm in Leeds on the 24th and 25th Feb that will respond to the following prompts:

  • Where do art and therapy start and end?
  • What is the meaning of integrity for artistic and therapeutic practices?
  • How might psychotherapists (arts-based or otherwise), creative health practitioners and socially-engaged artists work together on large-scale public health projects?

The event has been developed in collaboration with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

The events is free but places are limited, particularly from the overnight accommodation.

More information below.

Please book your place here.