The University of Brighton’s newest CORE, the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, invited associates from a broad spectrum of interests to its official launch on 24 February 2020.
The university is one of only a handful of academic institutions that has historically successful schools of both arts and medicine/healthcare disciplines. The new centre formalises the relationship between these two aspects of our academic culture, and is the stimulus for new pathways of joint working. With this in mind, the launch day brought together members and senior university staff with external representatives of the world of arts, health and wellbeing.
Associate members attending in person included alumna artist Alison Lapper MBE, and Philippa Aldrich, who has a long relationship with the university and whose work includes the educational charity Michael Aldrich Foundation and the support of design student innovations through The Future Perfect Company.
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- CAW launch event at the Old Ship, Brighton
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- Dr Philippa Lyon, leader of the CAW theme ‘Drawing for health and wellbeing.’
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- CAW Director Duncan Bullen speaking at the launch event.
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- Dr Jules Findlay (left) and Dr Jess Moriarty during a break at the launch event.
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- Dr Tom Ainsworth, leader of the CAW theme ‘Design for change.’
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- Dr Jules Findley, leader of the CAW theme ‘Making well.’
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- Dr Helen Johnson, leader of the CAW theme Creative methodologies.
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- Professor Marina Novelli, Academic Lead of the Responsible Futures initiatives, University of Brighton.
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- Duncan Bullen, artist and Director of the Centre for Health and Wellbeing.
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- Dr Philippa Lyon, leader of the Drawing for CAW’s Health and Wellbeing. theme.
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- Mia Pia Bernardoni, special guest speaker at the CAW launch event
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- Professor Budd Hall, the University of Victoria, Canada, and UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.
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- Stuart Hedley (Knowledge Exchange Manager), Dr Ben Sweeting and Dr Tom Ainsworth (CAW members and School of Architecture and Design).
Our guest speaker was Mia Pia Bernardoni, who was introduced by Professor Marina Novelli as part of a joint-hosting with Responsible Futures. She is an internationally-focused curator of photography, who spoke on her role in the African Artists’ Foundation and other initiatives that aimed to tackle the fact that, “Africa is a well-photographed continent but is usually photographed by outsiders.”
Attendees came from far and wide to support the new centre and to begin the network connections that are at the heart of successful ventures in community-focused arts and wellbeing.
Professor Budd Hall from the University of Victoria, Canada and UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education attended the launch. Also present were Peter Chivers, Head of Music and Arts for Brighton & Hove’s award winning SoundCity music hub, and Nick Ewbank, whose company delivers creative solutions and assessments of cultural impact in regeneration, wellbeing and social cohesion. There were also representatives from the London Arts in Health Forum, and local organisations such as Phoenix Gallery, Hove Museum, Jerwood Gallery Hastings, Blind Veteran’s Charity and New Note Orchestra.
The launch provided an opportunity to reinforce the themes of the centre, which in turn points to the specific influences the University of Brighton can expect to have as it establishes itself among the partners and networks nationally and internationally. The centre has specialist strands in drawing, design, making, creative writing, collaborative methods and sustainable communities. These span particular strengths at the university, led by, respectively, Dr Philippa Lyon, Dr Tom Ainsworth, Dr Jules Findley, Dr Jess Moriarty, Dr Helen Johnson and Nick Gant.
Professor Tara Dean, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), recognised the new centre as, “a genuinely interdisciplinary concern”, while from the thematic lead presentations, Dr Tom Ainsworth noted the special opportunities afforded to university-based initiatives, saying, “a university provides a diverse context, offering flexibility to pursue new directions…[and can] look to solve more than immediate practical problems.”
Find out more by visiting the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing website.
[Article republished from the University of Brighton Research and Enterprise Newsletter, Spring 2020]
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