Creativity as a means of improving resilience during lockdown: a discussion.

My name’s Emma, and I’m a creative practitioner based in Moray. I’m being supported by Culture Cafe to start a conversation about creativity and resilience in lockdown. 

I’m looking to bring together creative practitioners, people who work in mental health, and people who have experienced mental health issues and are comfortable talking about their experiences. I’d like to invite participants to take part in a virtual Culture Cafe style meeting to discuss how creative practices can improve resilience: 

  • How can we utilise creativity during a time of extreme stress and isolation? Creative practitioners may currently be cut off from their primary activity which they use to express themselves – can we suggest alternatives that can be practised from home? 
  • What experience do you have of delivering, or participating in, creative exercises designed to reinforce good mental health?
  • Have creative practices helped support your mental health in the past? What has been most effective, and why do they think that was?
  • Could this practice also be promoted to others?

Update:

On Friday 29 May, I hosted a Zoom meeting with a bunch of fabulous people who have all sorts of experience of using creativity and the arts to tackle mental health issues. Whether that’s using their creative practices to help their own mental health, or hosting online workshops about getting creative, this lovely group of people had lots of ideas about what creativity is, what it means to us, and how we can use it to help.

Documentary Doodle by Animateur Rosie Balyuzi

As part of my Animateur commission, I have been allowed to take over Culture Cafe’s social media this week. I plan to make a series of posts which will discuss some of the key points to come out of the meeting. I also plan on having a go at some creative exercises and activities that can be done during lockdown, posting videos about my experiences. I’m hoping that others will be willing to give the activities a try as well and join in a discussion about them. Please feel free to join in any discussion by leaving a comment, or sending a Facebook message. Thanks! Emma x

You can see Emma’s exercises and activities on Facebook and Instagram.

The Culture Café Animateur posts have funded by Scottish Government, via Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), to support contemporary artists or creative practitioners during the COVID-19 crisis, from the Supporting Communities Fund.