Tag: Wellbeing

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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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Re-Imagining Aesthetic Education for Creative Health

I will be presenting my paper ‘From the Education of the Senses to Creative Health: Re-Imagining Aesthetic Education for the 21st Century’ at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance’s annual conference ‘Igniting Creativity’ on the 8th of January in Leeds. Tickets for the event can be booked here and you can see the schedule here.

Here’s a summary of what I’ll be addressing in my talk:

‘Contemporary British culture is wrought with seemingly intractable economic conflicts and social inequities, particularly in the areas of education, health and the arts. Yet despite poor prospects of future financial rewards, young people still choose creative arts degrees all over the UK.

The values that bring young people into arts education – improving mental health, meaning, non-conformity, play, self-expression, social critique, social justice – have all been embedded in the arts since the beginning of 20th century, but they fall outside accountable metrics of the socio-economic good.

Paradoxically, as regional arts programs struggle to survive, the government’s Creative Health agenda is gaining national momentum. Is there a way for us to revitalise the 19th century ideal of art as an “education of the senses”, reconnect it to the broader project of improving individual and social wellbeing though increased sensory awareness and embodied cognition, and align it more closely with Creative Health?’

I will also be involved in workshops and discussions led by Friends of the Future, a newly established community interest company supporting, educating and offering connection to mental health professionals and community artists who are providing creative activities to individuals and communities in and around the Yorkshire region. We will be launching our website at the event.

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Therapeutic Landscapes: Call for Papers

Below is the call for papers for Therapeutic Landscapes: Ritual, Folklore and Wellbeing, a two-day event taking place at the Art House in Worcester on the 9th and 10th of March 2024. It has been organised by Desdemona McCannon of the Folk Cultures Special Interest Group at the University of Worcester and myself as leader of the Arts and Health Research Group there. It will be accompanied by an exhibition at the Art House and a publication.

300 word proposals for 20 minute presentations should be sent to therapeutic_landscapes@worc.ac.uk by December 1st.

Please share the call with your networks.