HeARTful Minds, Culture Warrington

art and wellbeing • schools partnership • children and young people • workshop design and delivery • community coproduction • teaching and learning

“Stef was wonderful with our young artists, she created a wonderfully encouraging atmosphere for the children, always referring to them as ‘working artists’ to raise their confidence and aspirations. She facilitated each session to give the children complete autonomy, and prioritised their ideas and creativity. We had such positive feedback from everyone involved, and the murals the children produced were fantastic!”

Laura Mercer, Creative Producer, Children and Young People, Culture Warrington.

The HeARTful Minds programme is a partnership between primary schools in Warrington, Culture Warrington, the Senior Mental Health Team Lead, and local professional artists. The aim is to provide high quality, new, creative experiences for children aged 7-11 years who have been identified as ‘at risk of poor mental health’. Myself and 5 other experienced practitioners were tasked with designing and delivering art sessions for KS2 children that would increase resilience, improve confidence and communication, provide a creative outlet for expression, raise aspirations, and bring joy to participants.

I worked with a total of 24 children from 8 different primary schools over 3 months to develop their confidence in drawing and designing, supporting them to create a series of murals. I wanted to model the professional behaviours of a creative practitioner to raise their aspirations, and to demonstrate that a career in the arts is absolutely attainable for them, should they wish to pursue it! I provided a framework where we had a real client, a brief, and a deadline, and I always referred to the participating children as ‘working artists’. The result was the children taking responsibility for liaising with stakeholders, workshopping themes and voting on the best fit for the brief. I tasked them with planning their sessions and managing their time effectively, in order to design and deliver a final outcome on time. It was not my intention to run an ‘art club’, rather an opportunity to gain work experience in the local creative industry.

In addition to supporting the primary children, I also worked with the ‘Young Producers’, a group of college students who were also gaining work experience with Culture Warrington. They acted as facilitator assistants, and developed important skills linked to workshop delivery.

All that hard work and professionalism led to the children having their work exhibited in the Warrington Museum and Art Gallery! They were invited to a private opening along with their friends and family to celebrate their success.

They were all incredibly proud of their murals, and their increased confidence was evident to everyone at the event.

I absolutely loved working with everyone on this project, and I can’t wait to see what these young working artists do next!