OutPost Arts is honoured to host the inaugural D&G Creative Health & Wellbeing Symposium - the first of its kind in our region, and a significant marker for the progress that has been made to increase connections between the arts, culture, health and care sectors following on from the Covid 19 pandemic.
As OutPost Arts' Creative Health & Wellbeing Director, my recent work has focused on the development of DG Creative Wellbeing project. Being part of the coordination team, I've personally witnessed powerful and moving accounts from people of all ages who have taken part in creative wellbeing focused work. In many cases, participants' lives have shifted on to a more positive course, creating ripples of benefits to everyone around them. The project has seen meaningful alliances formed, and a formal Art in Healthcare programme in partnership with NHS D&G has emerged.
We feel strongly that Dumfries & Galloway is at early stages of a creative health and wellbeing revolution, with stakeholders across sectors increasingly working in tandem to improve the lives of people and communities. There is work to do to connect this budding regional work to broader national opportunities and we need to stabilise programmes in the long term, but by forming such meaningful partnerships, we have collectively moved beyond merely scratching the surface of what is possible, and have driven forward real change.
Lucy Bell – Creative Health & Wellbeing Director
The aim of the Symposium is to:
AMPLIFY regional creative health and wellbeing activities and initiatives.
SPOTLIGHT examples of good practise in the creative health and wellbeing 'space'.
CONNECT local, regional and national stakeholders.
EXPLORE opportunities to embed work, increase investment and enhance learning.
SHARE research, strategies, knowledge and testimonies that underline art and culture's powerful connection to health and wellbeing.
EASY READ
OutPost Arts is proud to host the first D&G Creative Health & Wellbeing Symposium. This event brings people together to show how art, culture and creativity can help people feel better and stay well.
Through our DG Creative Wellbeing project, we have seen how creative activities can make a difference in people’s lives. Many people feel happier and healthier because of it.
By working together, we can find more ways to help people feel good and grow stronger.
Programme:
10am – Arrival & Sign in: Tea & Coffee will be provided
10:30am – 11:00 – Welcome & Opening Remarks
Lucy Bell - Creative Health & Wellbeing Director of OutPost Arts: Manifesto launch
Valerie White - Director of Public Health, NHS D&G: Regional Art in Healthcare overview
Marion Bain - Interim Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government: Govt aims/ambitions
Katharine Wheeler – Chair of Cultural Partnership: Overview of partnership, aims/ambitions
11:00 – 11:20 – Keynote - Nancy Riach, Development Coordinator, Arts Culture Health & Wellbeing Scotland: National overview and strategic developments
11:20 - 11:35 – Spotlight - Charlotte Riley Gibson, D&G Director, Paragon Music: Accessibility and Inclusion in the Arts
11:35 – 11:50 – Tea/Coffee/Comfort Break
11:50 – 12:50 – Spotlight – DG Creative Wellbeing: Art in Healthcare & Network, Creative Prescribing for Adults & Young People, Project Film Screening, Creativity in Care Homes, Counselling Support for Participants & Staff
12:50 – 13:00 – Sara Shackleton, Dancer, Margaret Morris Movement: Performance & audience participatory breathing exercises
13:00 – 13:45 – Lunch (Catered by The Usual Place)
13:45 – 14:05 – Spotlight - Callum Morrison, PhD Research, Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health: Process of Change in Creative Toolbox participants.
14:05 – 14:20 – Keynote - Vicky Inam Mohieddeen, Drama Therapist: Eternal Connections - Exploring Displacement and Belonging through Heritage and Creativity
14:20 – 14:40 – Keynote - Chris Fremantle: Eco Art
14:40 – 15:00 – Tea/Coffee/Comfort break
15:00 – 15:50 – Breakout Sessions & Open Discussions
Art in Healthcare - Creative Wellbeing is about Living Well’ & Creative Wellbeing needs Investigation, Understanding & Investment’ - Lucy Bell, Valerie White, Chris Fremantle
Creativity in Young People – ‘Art is a Vehicle for Change’ & ‘We are All Artists’Georgia Ireland, Callum Morrison, Charlotte Riley, Alison Hotchkiss
Creative Wellbeing in Communities – ‘Creative Wellbeing is for Everyone’ & ‘Creative Wellbeing is about the Journey, not the Destination’ - Liz McQueen, Nancy Riach, Vicky Inam Mohieddeen
16:00 – 16:15 – Feedback to auditorium
16:15 – 16:45: Panel Q&A (guests & speakers)
16:45 – 17:00: Zoe Bestel, Singer: A short performance
17:00 – Closing Remarks
Opening Remarks:
Lucy Bell - OutPost Arts
Creative Health and Wellbeing Director
Professor Marion Bain
Scottish Government Interim Deputy Chief Medical Officer
Valerie White - NHS D&G
Director of Public Health
Chair of Arts Steering Group
Katharine Wheeler
Chair of Cultural Partnership for D&G
Keynote Speaker Profiles: Nancy
Riach
Development Coordinator, Arts Culture Health & Wellbeing Scotland
Nancy Riach leads Arts Culture Health and Wellbeing Scotland (ACHWS), a national network linking together, advocating for and supporting those working at the interface of arts, culture, health and wellbeing in Scotland. ACHWS aims to connect research, policy and practice, and to be a collective voice for arts and health in Scotland. ACHWS is an active member led network with over 1000 members. It is open for anyone to join, including artists, organisations, healthcare providers, community networks,
heath and arts practitioners, researchers and anyone else with an interest in the sector. Nancy has over 30 years of experience in the arts and culture sector from grassroots community practice to national companies and international festivals. She is also on the National Centre for Creative Health Advisory Group, Healing Arts Scotland Legacy Leadership Group and the UK & Ireland Arts and Health Networks Forum.
www.achws.org
Keynote Speaker Profiles:
Chris Fremantle
Creative Producer, Researcher & Lecturer
is is a Producer working in public art, and a turer & Research Fellow at Gray’s School of Robert Gordon University. He established p://ecoartscotland.net in 2011 as a platform projects and networking. In 2015 oartscotland partnered with the Land Art nerator Initiative and ran a design mpetition for a new sustainable housing elopment in Glasgow. The ecoartscotland ary has also been exhibited in various texts.
Chris is currently Art Advisor to the European Marine Board’s Embracing the Ocean programme and Research Associate with the US Forest Service’s naturePLACE programme. His focus is on the role of artists and designers in public life. The book Thinking with the Harrisons: Re-imagining art in the global environment crisis, which he co-authored with Anne Douglas, was published by in 2024. It coincided with the exhibition Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work, a key part of the Getty’s PST. Chris is also a husband and father, as well as a cancer survivor. He has a personal practice focused on drawing.
www.ecoartscotland.net
Vicky Inam Mohieddeen
Drama Therapist & Creative Wellbeing Practitioner
Vicky Inam Mohieddeen is a Scotland-based creative wellbeing practitioner and consultant with 20 years experience working with communities around the world. Vicky has extensive experience in participatory arts practice as a teacher, facilitator and producer in Scotland, China, North Korea and India, and is a HCPC registered Drama Therapist. In the UK, Vicky has worked with a diverse range of organisations including the British Red Cross, Historic Environment Scotland, Bijli Productions and National Theatre of Scotland, designing and delivering projects which put creativity at the heart of wellbeing. www.vickyinam.com/projects
Spotlight Profile: Paragon
Charlotte Riley Gibson
D&G Director Paragon M sic
Having worked with Paragon Music for over 10 years, Charlotte has developed a deep knowledge of, and commitment to, Inclusion and Equality in the arts. Paragon uses music and the arts as a tool to transform the lives of people with a wide range of disabilities and support needs through creative mentoring, workshops and performances. They strive to break down barriers to participation and increase opportunities for people to create and perform their own music.
rseen the development of Paragon’s activity in D&G, establishing a year-round programme of accessible workshops, performance events and training and extensive network of key strategic partnerships with organisations in the arts, health, social care and education sectors. As a musician and workshop practitioner she is also involved in workshop delivery, mentoring and training staff in Paragon’s inclusive arts practice and disability equality, having also completed Level 2 British Sign Language.
Spotlight Profile: Paragon
Sarah Turner
Paragon Service User
Sarah Turner is a singer-songwriter based in Annan. Her music is inspired by mental health awareness and life experience. She is currently in the midst of working towards a debut EP, working alongside many local creative collaborators. She has performed to a diverse range of audiences, for local open mics to more prestigious events such as the 45th D&G Arts Festival celebrations at Easterbrook Hall and The Glad Cafe in Glasgow for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
www.paragon-music.org/
Spotlight Profile: PhD Research
Callum Morrison
Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health
Callum Morrison is a PhD researcher originally from Dumfries & Galloway, now based at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health. His research positions young people as rights-holders first and foremost, and investigates how they interact with, and contribute to, the third-sector services they access.
Callum will discuss the participatory research project he is working on alongside the young people from Outpost Arts’ Creative Toolbox programme. Callum and his co-researchers are exploring how the young people's engagement in the capacity of an active contributor, as opposed to simply a beneficiary, has the potential to create positive outcomes for young people and services.
Lucy co-founded OutPost Arts with a vision to enhance opportunities for rural artists & makers and increase access to creative and cultural activities for local and rural communities. In her role as OutPost Arts Director, Lucy has driven forward the organisation’s vision to establish sustainable creative health and wellbeing initiatives and platforms in D&G. Lucy spearheaded the groundbreaking 'DG Creative Wellbeing' project, growing the OutPost Arts team significantly.
Lucy has formed alliances with a variety of partners including NHS D&G. Before moving towards the Third Sector, Lucy was a successful Illustrator, Artist, and Educator for two decades, creating visuals for a huge variety of clients, exhibiting internationally and teaching at Universities and Colleges across the UK.
Georgia Ireland, Youth Creative Wellbeing Lead
Georgia’s background is in acting and theatremaking, graduating from New College Lanarkshire’s Acting with Creative Enterprise course with a first-class degree. She has worked as an arts facilitator for different community groups, encouraging young people and adults into the arts, honing their creative skills and fostering a caring practice that evokes confidence, self-reflection and self-esteem. Georgia’s practice follows a socio-political thread, using mindful thinking to consider how we can better ourselves and our environment, with creativity at its heart.
Spotlight Profile: DG Creative Wellbeing
Liz McQueen, Adult Creative Wellbeing Lead
Liz is the Adult Creative Wellbeing Lead at OPA, where she designs art workshops and creates pathways for adults to engage with art as a tool for wellbeing. She leads the Art Journal Project, an innovative social prescribing initiative supporting Dumfries and Galloway residents who may be facing a variety of challenges. Through online sessions with guest artists, in-person workshops, and curated art materials, participants develop creative habits and build confidence.
With a BA in Fine Art from Winchester School of Art, Liz brings extensive experience as an Artist, tutor, and technician across diverse settings. Based in Eskdalemuir, D&G, Liz creates mixed-media paintings inspired by the surrounding valley, forestry, and moorlands. Her Welsh origins and Scottish environment inform her practice, which employs water-based media to investigate the intersection of ecological landscape and internal emotional terrain.
Alison Hotchkiss, Project Counsellor
Alison Hotchkiss is a person-centred counsellor and supervisor, specialising in children, adolescents, and bereavement. She integrates play, storytelling, imagery, and arts into her work, with a particular interest in neurodiverse developmental differences and the human-animal bond.
Alison has been involved in the Art Journal and Creative Toolbox projects since their inception, shaping
referral pathways, training group leaders, and providing ongoing supervision. She offers monthly group sessions and individual check-ins to support both participants and project leads. As these artist-led projects serve vulnerable communities, Alison helps leaders navigate the emotional demands of creating safe spaces. Committed to modelling healthy boundaries, self-care, and creative growth, Alison believes in nurturing wellbeing through artistic expression and community connection.
Phoebe Watt - Programmes Officer & Care Project Lead
Phoebe’s journey into the arts began with a background in Film Studies, leading her towards production. During her MSc in Film Curation at the University of Glasgow, she discovered community engagement, recognising that her love of cinema was deeply rooted in the sense of connection and shared experience fostered by film events and festivals. This steered her towards a broader career in the arts, focusing on meaningful, inclusive programming.
Phoebe interned with CatStrand, where she led the ReConnect Climate Arts Festival, before joining OutPost Arts, where she spearheaded their pilot Care Project in 2024. Working closely with three care homes across D&G, she programmed high-quality creative experiences to support residents and staff.
www.dgcreativewellbeing.co.uk/
Performances
By: Sara Shackleton
Dancer, Margaret Morris Movement
a is a Dance Artist based in D&G. From an early she trained in ballet and theatre dance ormance. During her studies in Art History she overed the pioneers of Modern Dance and r graduating, she spent a year in Paris where attended weekly sessions with the Isadora can Dance Group. It was the discovery of tos of Margaret Morris (1891-1980) dancing efoot with her dancers on the seashore that ly captured her imagination.
This encounter proved key in determining the course Sara’s life would take from then on and she qualified as a Teacher of Margaret Morris Movement (MMM) in 1997. As well as curating an annual dance residential in D&G, Sara also dances with Les Impromptues; a not-for profit dance company, whose motto is 'Surprise poetic dances, spreading joy and positivity'.
www.lesimpromptues.com/en
Performances
By: Zoe Bestel
Folk Musician, Singer/Songwriter
Ethereal vocals, poignant melodies and stirring lyrics describes 25 year old award winning Scotland based nu-folk musician, Zoë Bestel, hailed as one of the country’s most fascinating young singer-songwriters. As well as numerous BBC radio and TV performances, Bestel has captivated audiences across Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway, and the Czech Republic, with festival highlights including Orkney Folk Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, and Celtic Connections.
The anticipated new single ‘Utopia’ released in Winter of 2022 to high acclaim from FolkRadio UK: “Zoë’s ethereal and delicate-sounding vocals that transport you, adding weight to her dreams of a world which is in touch with nature”.
www.zoebestel.co.uk/
Thanks to:
Speakers: Valerie White, Professor Marion Bain, Katherine Wheeler, Nancy Riach, Charlotte Riley Gibson, Sarah Turner, Callum Morrison, Vicky Inam Mohieddeen, Chris Fremantle
