WHALE Arts Stitch n Time and Men's Makers Report Sept 2020

STITCH N' TIME & MEN'S MAKERS PROJECT REPORT 09 / 2020

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Background Stitch N’ time and Men’s Makers are respectively our longestrunning and our newest group on the Arts and Wellbeing programme at WHALE Arts.

Stitch N Time is a weekly sewing group that engages women in a wide range of creative textilebased projects; Men’s Makers was set up in

"I LOVE THIS GROUP. I ENJOY EVERYONE'S COMPANY E (Stitch N' Time) AND THE TEAM SPIRIT."

response to an identified need that was highlighted by our social prescriber, and, the aspirations of a group of local men who wanted a place to come together and to make.

Promoting positive engagement with the at the heart of both fostering positive strengthening connectedness.

wellbeing through creative process is groups as well as relationships and community

Introduction

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The overarching aim of both groups is to facilitate positive wellbeing, improved mental health and to help participants feel better connected to their community.

For us, positive wellbeing and improved mental health mean reducing reported levels of anxiety, depression and social isolation. Increasing self-confidence and self-esteem. Increasing social connectedness, positive relationships and sense of purpose within the community.

WHALE Arts was incredibly fortunate to receive a grant of £9000 from the Community Benefit fund with Travis Perkins Managed Services and the City of Edinburgh Council, via the One City Trust.

The money was divided as follows with £3000 going towards staff time (arts and wellbeing project lead), £4500 to Stitch N’ Time (delivery costs) and £1500 to the Men’s Makers group (delivery costs/equipment).

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Aims & Objectives

Both groups share the overarching aims of facilitating positive wellbeing and improved mental health through engagement with creative/making activities, and to help group members feel better connected to their communities.

"IT’S GREAT – A TREMENDOUS RESOURCE.” A (Stitch N' Time) Group-specific aims for Stitch N’ Time include facilitating bridges across social divides so that group members feel better connected to different sectors of society, and improving links between the group, local organisations and businesses to heighten group members' sense of purpose within the community. These specific aims tie into the overarching aim and if achieved will have a huge impact on individual members wellbeing.

Men’s Makers specific aims include facilitating skills development and improving links between participants and people from different sectors of society including artists, designers and makers. We aim to provide opportunities for those who are interested in volunteering, supporting or leading other creative groups in the future.

Again both specific aims feed into the overarching aims to improve mental health and wellbeing and help people feel better connected to their community.

Our objectives for both groups are as follows.

Both groups will meet weekly engaging participants in a range of creative/making activities (30 weeks over 12 months).

Both groups will be facilitated by professional Artists/Makers Stitch N’ Time will work with a core group of 10 women and an additional 20 women over 12 months with a minimum of 240 participations.

Men’s Makers will work with a core group of 10 men and an additional 20 men over 12 months with a minimum of 240 participations.

Each group will go on a cultural trip to meet artists, makers and designers - some of whom may be invited to work with participants to co-design sessions tailored to their needs and aspirations.

5 guest artists/makers will be invited to work with the groups codesigning sessions tailored to their needs and aspirations. 3 for Stitch N’ Time, 2 for Men’s Makers Stitch N Time will work on a range of projects for other groups/organisations within the community.

Rational

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There is a wealth of evidence to show that engaging in creative activities can have significant impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Key findings from the Visual Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing Evidence Review (2018) by the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, show that engagement with the creative arts can reduce reported levels of depression and anxiety increase self-respect, self-worth and self-esteem. encourage and stimulate re-engagement with the wider, everyday social world. support participants in a potential renegotiation of identity through practice-based forms of making or doing.

"Importantly for healing processes, the arts can engage multiple senses at once. Unlike medications, the effects of cultural engagement target an underlying sense of well-being.

In bypassing the need for specificity, they enable the mind and body to tolerate and respond to stress, inequality, and adversity."

Katherine Taylor 'Art Thou Well?

Towards Creative Devolution of Mental Health’ (2018)

"There is now a growing body of evidence demonstrating that participation in the arts and access to a range of arts opportunities can dramatically improve health outcomes and increase wellbeing" National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing"

Stitch N’ Time fits under the umbrella of the creative arts. Members of the Men’s Makers, which was initially modelled on the men’s sheds, identify their group as a makers group rather than a creative arts group. The benefits of which have been highlighted in a 2018 survey by The UK Men’s Sheds Association which has shown that involvement in these groups can lead to decreasing levels of depression and feelings of loneliness and alleviation of anxiety.

The same survey also notes increased recognition from professional health groups and the NHS in the rise of social prescribing requests.

This is something we have seen first hand where some members from both Stitch N’ Time and Men’s Makers have been referred via their GP's or other health care practitioners.

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How we used the grant

The bulk of the grant funding went to Stitch N’ Time and was put towards the running costs of the group. The group is facilitated by Debbie a professional with 25 years of experience running her own curtains and soft furnishings business. Debbie has a passion for stitching-based crafts and encouraging others to share, learn and explore the creative possibilities of this pastime. She has been working with the group for over 10 years and is an inspirational leader, facilitator and creative practitioner.

In the first four months of the grant funding, Debbie engaged the group members in a range of creative projects for other community organisations including heart-shaped cushions for breast cancer patients at the Maggie's Centre, story bags and an Old McDonald themed mat, cushions and toys for the creche at WHALE Arts, bottle holders out of shirt sleeves for their annual tombola, an appliqued and embroidered quilt that the group all worked on together and an

incredible advent calendar which they gave to the local fire brigade for Christmas.

When the group came back at the beginning of this year they continued the theme of using old shirts and came up with an astonishing array of different items which they displayed in their own exhibition ‘Stitch N’ Time Gets Shirty’ at WHALE Arts.

The exhibition opened on the 3rd of March and ran until we had to close the building to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Men’s Makers group got a smaller amount of the grant funding which was spent entirely on tools and equipment.

As WHALE Arts newest group, Men’s Makers faced a number of challenges in the initial phase not least the fact that WHALE Arts has no dedicated workshop nor much experience in supporting a group using heavy-duty power tools. The group had to adapt to working in a shared space and design and build their own mobile workspace. This had to include lockable storage for all their tools, foldable desks for each group member, a heavy-duty but movable workbench and lockers for each individual to store their personal projects.

The group was initially facilitated by Mo, an experienced sculptor and maker with a wealth of experience working in community arts and the voluntary sector. Mo was instrumental in laying the groundwork for this group which included conducting extensive risk assessments, designing and delivering induction training and developing specific set-up and tat down procedures for each tool in our inventory.

The group was deliberately kept small during this initial phase, partly due to the fact that group members were heavily involved in the design and build of the mobile workspace so needed to have a keen interest in woodwork; also due to the high levels of responsibility placed on the group facilitator in terms of health and safety in relation to supporting people to use power tools.

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There were four core members of the group during the initial design and build phase and a number of new referrals were put on hold until the group had a suitable workspace that would allow members to explore other making activities.

The group completed a phenomenal amount of work during this phase including building their mobile workbench, lockers, foldable desks, lockable storage for tools and smaller storage for hand tools, all of which were either on wheels or easily movable so as to be brought out and stored away again at the end of each session.

They also managed to squeeze in a trip to the Glasgow Sculpture Workshop and Kinesthetic Museum - facilitated by the Edinburgh Art Festival - and, host an open day for potential new members just before Christmas.

Sadly Mo stepped down from the group after the first four months but fortunately, the group found a new facilitator, another experience maker, Alan, who took over the group in January 2020. Alan saw two new members join the group and had just organised the group’s first workshop with a veteran who was going to deliver a session on tool sharpening when the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to stop all groups and close WHALE Arts to the public.

COVID-19

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The groups at WHALE Arts held their last sessions in the week commencing 16th March and we shut our doors to the public on Monday 23rd of March 2020.

The WHALE Arts building remained open to staff and a number of us continued to come into work while we attempted to meet the immediate needs of our participants and community.

"THANK YOU – WITHOUT THE FUNDING WE COULDN’T EXIST. IT’S SUCH A FANTASTIC THING THAT HAPPENS IN HERE FOR THESE WOMEN." D (Stitch N' Time Faciliator) Our first priority was food. In week one we turned our community meal into a community takeaway and by the following week had set up a home delivery service. We also became founding partners in GO Beyond, a network of local organisations initially set up to coordinate food provision across South West Edinburgh.

A number of participants from both the Stitch N’ Time and Men’s Makers groups started receiving a hot meal delivered to their door each Friday and those in greater need were able to receive food parcels from other organisations thanks to an incredible coordinated local effort.

Our second priority was wellbeing. Our core staff team started calling all participants on our group registers to check-in with them, find out how they were coping and connect them to other services if necessary and appropriate. We later involved the wider staff team and freelancers in this effort so we were able to make regular ‘friendship calls’ to ensure that at the very least our people’s basic needs were being met.

Our third priority was our staff and amazing team of freelancers who make all our work possible. We were determined - where possible - to keep all our freelancers in work and to find new and creative ways of engaging group participants throughout the lockdown. Our approach to each group was different depending on the needs and situation of each freelance facilitator.

Due to the nature of the Men’s Makers group, it was unlikely that our participants could work on projects at home. Taking the lead from Alan, we decided to pause the Men’s Makers group completely and restart the group once lockdown was lifted. The members were contacted via our friendship calls and many were invited to take part in other creative projects that were put out from WHALE Arts over the lockdown months.

Debbie was keen to work from home, developing projects that the ladies could work on at their own pace from their own homes. Using materials from our supplies at WHALE we made up specific Stitch N’ Time packs for each of the ladies in the group. These included a range of different fabrics, various threads, needles, ribbons and decorative textile-based items. These were delivered to each group member along with a set of projects with step by step instructions all designed

by Debbie.

To date, Debbie has created 25 different projects, one each week since lockdown began. Most of these are available on our website http://www.whalearts.co.uk/stitch-n-time/

Stitch N’ Time has a Whatsapp group which most group members are part of. This has enabled them to keep in touch with each other throughout lockdown and has done a lot to keep the morale of the group up during difficult times.

Initially group members were very active on the Whatsapp group however as time has gone on, interest has slowed.

Very sadly one of the group members died in July. Two others have been in hospital needing operations and are now at home recovering.

In Memory of Margaret Leckie

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Outputs & Outcomes

OUTPUTS Between September 2019 and 20th March 2020 - before lockdown...

Stitch N time delivered 24 sessions; 15 women attended regularly and 3 women attended sporadically (less than 5 sessions each).

There were a total of 209 participations. 1 guest artist delivered 2 sessions with the group, the first on leaf printing and the second on bookbinding.

Over the same period, Men’s Makers delivered 20 sessions; 4 men attended regularly and 3 attended less than 3 sessions each there were a total of 62 participations. The group went on one trip to the Glasgow Sculpture Workshop and the Kinesthetic Museum.

Between March and September 2020 - during lockdown…

Men’s Makers has been put on hold until lockdown restrictions have been lifted. The men in the group have been able to access hot meals, general art and wellbeing packs from WHALE Arts and have been able to participate in a range of creative activities that WHALE has been distributing during this period.

Debbie has produced 25 different sewing projects for the Stitch N’ Time ladies to do if they wish. Each group member has received a Stitch N’ Time-specific sewing pack and paper versions of the various projects have been sent to group members. They have also been able to access hot meals, general art and wellbeing packs from WHALE Arts and have been able to participate in a range of creative activities that WHALE has been distributing.

"WE ARE WILLING TO TRY ANYTHING TO GET OUR CREATIVE JUICES GOING AGAIN.” P & E (STITCH N' TIME)

We have not yet collected data on how many group members have completed how many projects during lockdown. We do know that some of the Stitch N’ Time ladies have been engaging with the range of projects that have been put out and we have had some fantastic feedback from those that are getting involved.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK. CAN I ALSO SAY A THANK YOU FOR THE ART PACKS. THIS HAS KEPT ME GOING ESPECIALLY AS I AM RECOVERING FROM MAJOR SURGERY WHICH HAPPENED DURING LOCKDOWN. I AM FEELING STRONGER EVERY DAY AND HOPEFULLY WILL HAVE COMING BACK TO CLASS TO LOOK FORWARD TO." E (STITCH N' TIME)

OUTCOMES The desired outcomes as stated in the initial funding application were that participants would experience Increased confidence and self-esteem Improved mental health Reduced social isolation Skills development Improved links between participants and people in different sectors of society Improved links between the group (Stitch N’ Time) and local organisations and businesses

Initial data from feedback sessions held with both groups before Christmas last year gave promising signs that participants were indeed experiencing increased confidence and self-esteem, reduced isolation and skills development.

“I FEEL IMPROVED HAPPINESS AND CONFIDENCE.” F (MEN'S MAKERS)

"WHAT WE GET FROM IT? COMPANIONSHIP, SHARING SKILLS, LEARNING NEW SKILLS, GETTING OUT THE HOUSE, KEEPS OUR SKILLS FRESH.” VARI OUS MEMBERS ( STI TCH N' TI ME)

We know from our friendship calls that peoples experiences of lockdown have varied greatly. Some people have been doing well and have been engaging with a wider range of creative projects. Others have been struggling and for some their mental health and overall wellbeing has deteriorated.

We have not been able to collect our usual end of project questionnaires so we can not provide statistics on the number of participants who have shown increased levels of confidence or reduced isolation. We know that for many, lockdown has exacerbated some of these feelings and that for some their levels of confidence have gone down and sense of isolation has increased.

In terms of improved links between participants and people in different sectors of society, we know that the Stitch N' Time group enjoyed the two sessions with Artist Toni Dickson where they learned how to take leaves and using natural dyes such as onion skins, transfer the imprint of the leaves onto fabric. They also learned how to take the leaf printed fabrics and bind them into hand made books. The ladies said that they enjoyed the opportunity to learn a completely new technique that they could bring in to the work they already do.

Members of the Men's Makers who went on the trip to the Glasgow Sculpture Workshop and the Kinesthetic Museum enjoyed also really the experience stating that

"IT WAS A GREAT IDEA TO SHOW THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF SCULPTURE, I WISH WE'D HAD MORE TIME TO EXPLORE THE KINESTHETIC MUSEUM, IT WAS SUPER ENJOYABLE." F (MEN'S MAKERS)

Final Reflections

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In terms of our outputs, Stitch N' Time is well on track having delivered 24 out of a projected 30 sessions and achieving a total of 209 participations out of a projected 240 all within 7 months of the project.

In terms of group numbers, they engaged with a core group of 15 women 5 more than the projected 10 women; and they had a further 5 women attend less regularly. We anticipated a further 20 women would engage with the project over 12 months.

Looking back this was over-ambitious mostly due to the fact that the group can comfortably support 15 women in one session and very few of the current members want to leave or move on. This leaves limited space or capacity to take on new members.

One upshot of the lockdown situation and having all the projects shared online and social media, is the potential for many more people to engage with Stitch N' Time from home. We do not yet have figures for how many people out with the group have accessed the projects that are available online but we are hoping to collect this information in the coming weeks.

Men's Makers has not been as successful in terms of numbers, achieving a core group of 4 and engaging with a further 3 participants with a total of 61 participations over the 7 month period before lockdown.

In hindsight, being that Men's Makers is a brand new group, it was unrealistic to suppose it would achieve the same numbers as a group like Stitch N' Time that has been running for more than 10 years. Add to that the challenges of having to build their ownÂ

mobile workspace before the group could really get going and the extra health and safety considerations of using power tools within the group.

Other issues that came to light when the group got started were that many referrals came from individuals with more complex disabilities that, due to the nature of the tools being used, made it unsafe for them to be in the group without a support worker and unrealistic to expect the group facilitator to take on this role while also supporting the rest of the group. This meant we had to turn a number of people away from the group in the initial stages.

The upshot of having a very small group is that the members bonded incredibly well and with the support of both Mo and Alan have completed an incredible amount of work which they all note has had a positive impact on their levels of confidence, self-esteem and skills development.

One of the group members is now volunteering at WHALE Arts doing a range of handyman jobs around the building and another has developed his creative skills to a level where he is now working as a freelancer co-facilitating a creative project that has been sent out to WHALE participants during lockdown.

Looking forwards, although lockdown restrictions are being lifted, it is still unlikely that our groups will be able to return to the building in the same way that they use to operate.

We are currently in the middle of a large consultation with participants to explore not only their hopes, fears and concerns about coming back into the building but to look at alternative and creative ways to engage with them that will keep them safe but also allow for some level of social interaction to ensure we can keep supporting and promoting positive wellbeing.