14th May 2024, Bridge Conference Centre, Leeds
9.30am – 4pm
Would you like to reenergise, reconnect and unlock potential?
We would like to invite you to join us for our ‘unconference’, a day to take time out to recognise the incredible creativity that is happening every day in learning disability and autism support services and to explore how our own innate creativity can inspire amazing ideas to solve problems and facilitate authentic, inclusive ‘gloriously ordinary lives’, to quote Tricia Nicholls.
We are thrilled that amazing speakers like Clenton Farquharson and Michelle Rebello, Dimensions, have agreed to join us, along with the incredible DanceSyndrome who will be showing us how their creative process works.
ARC England member organisations will be running workshops and sessions and you will have the chance to bring along a challenge you are facing to see how creative thinking could help. See below for the full schedule.
We are all creative, whether we realise it or not, and we are all using our creativity every day to come up with solutions to the issues we face. We recognise that things remain difficult for providers, staff and supported people, and we acknowledge that no single approach will provide a solution for the sector’s problems, but we believe that stepping away from the day-to-day and creating space for thought will provide an environment in which you can think differently and maybe even work differently.
Crucially, being creative takes time; time to relax, to be inspired and to let your imagination wander. We would like to join with you to take that time to be inspired together, not just by creativity in the artistic and performative senses, but in all its forms – enabling new ways of thinking to unblock old patterns and recognise alternatives, find new ways of communicating with each other and explore non-linear ways of thinking about what is important to each of us.
Everyone is welcome
Everyone is welcome at what we are planning will be an inclusive and diverse event – service managers, CEOs, frontline staff, senior staff and supported people. Every ticket booked includes a place for a supported person.
How to book your place
You can book tickets for Creativity in Care: A Day of Inspiration and Imagination with ARC England on Eventbrite.
Each ticket is £74.95 per place, which includes all refreshments, buffet lunch and all event materials, PLUS for every paid place you are welcome to bring someone who draws on the support of your service at no extra cost. Full details are in the Eventbrite page.
We have tried to keep the ticket cost as low as we can. This has been possible in part due to event sponsorship by Marr Procurement. In addition, Managing Director Christoph Marr will be available during the day to talk through any procurement challenges you may have.
Please email [email protected] if you have questions about any aspect of the event.
Workshops and Sessions
9.30am Arrival and coffee
10am Welcome, Clive Parry, ARC England Director: Why we decided on theme of creativity
10.10am Another World is Possible, Clenton Farquarson
Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE is a disabled person with lived experience of health and social care. Amongst his many roles, he is the Chair of the Think Local Act Personal board and a Social Care Institute for Excellence trustee.
Clenton will speak about how ‘another world is possible’ and will introduce the concept of Umbutu – ‘I am because we are’ – a South African philosophy, what it might mean every day and its significance to care and support. Using personal anecdotes and stories, he will look at how we move from social care framed as a series of services and how we can reframe it to focus on people’s relationships, dreams, hopes and wishes.
10.30am Putting the ‘Me’ in Social Media, Michelle Rebello, Social Media Officer, Dimensions
Autism advocate, illustrator and Social Media Officer Michelle will be bringing her trademark energy and enthusiasm to show us how to get authentic content from people with lived experience and how your message can reach people in the right way. Expect doodling, playing, writing, memes, bravery and silliness.
11.10am Coffee
11.30am DanceSyndrome Performance and Inclusion in Action workshop
Looking at inclusion through the lens of co-production, DanceSyndrome will give us an insight into their methodologies, share why co-production is important to their organisation, lead us in a creative exercise to think about co-production further, and share a performance extract from their latest show ‘SENse’.
1.00pm Lunch
1.45pm DanceSyndrome After-Lunch Energiser
DanceSyndrome will energise us for our afternoon activities, with a mass participation dance, which can be adapted to meet your needs, led by a Dance Artist and Dance Leader with a disability, showing co-production and leadership in action.
2.00pm Interactive at-table problem-solving sessionÂ
Inclusive at-table sessions looking at creative ways to approach the issues and problems raised by delegates prior to the event.
2.45pm Break
3.00pm Workshops led by ARC England: Three sessions by member organisations (choice of 3):
– Drama and Performing Arts, Henshaws
Drama and performing arts with workshop leader Douglas, plus art makers from Henshaws. The exact details of this workshop are top secret but will include how to make dramatic involvement affordable, available and accessible to everybody, plus perhaps some Shakespeare.
– Visual Arts, Zoe Gilmour, Age Exchange, Community Integrated Care
Age Exchange will facilitate a creative, visual arts-based session, inspired by the Paralympics. Bringing together participants from Community Integrated Care’s creativity clubs and Zoe Gilmour, an arts engagement specialist from Age Exchange, this will be an arts experience with a difference. Â
Participants will have the opportunity to explore different arts techniques and think about what the spirit of the Paralympics means to them. The artworks produced in the session will be shared with athletes ahead of the games – inspiring them to go for gold! Â
This programme builds upon a number of exiting opportunities that Age Exchange and Community Integrated Care have delivered, inspired by cultural events and programmes such as Euro 2022, the World Para Swimming Championships 2023, and Sir David Attenborough’s Wild Isles campaign. Â
Age Exchange is an integral part of ARC England member Community Integrated Care and uses the power of arts, culture, and creative expression to enable people who draw on social care to live their best life possible. We value the unique identity of each person we collaborate with, supporting them to find their inner artist, celebrating individuality and encouraging connection.Â
– Small Supports, David Barras, Positive Support For You
This session is about building support around what the person wants, not what’s available. Dave will encourage participants to think differently, work differently.
3.45pm What have we been doing all day? Graphic minutes review
A chance to look through the Graphic Minutes that are going to be produced during the day by Paul Payne of ARC England member MacIntyre.
4.00pm Finish
How to book your place
You can book tickets for Creativity in Care: A Day of Inspiration and Imagination with ARC England on Eventbrite.
Each ticket is £74.95 per place, which includes all refreshments, buffet lunch and all event materials, PLUS for every paid place you are welcome to bring someone who draws on the support of your service at no extra cost. Full details are in the Eventbrite page.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
Venue
The Bridge Conference Centre is in the community of Burmantofts near Leeds City Centre. It is a welcoming, fully accessible site approximately one mile from Leeds train station. It also has ample on-site parking.
All refreshments during the day will be provided, including a buffet lunch. There is also a cafe on-site.
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