ARTLINK ANNUAL REVIEW 08/09

Artlink makes lives extraordinary.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION - 2, 3, 4
Twenty-five Years of Artlink! A Few Words from the Writer In Any Difficult Situation There is Always Possibility

INTRODUCTION

PROVIDING COMMUNITY SUPPORT - 5,6

Combined Forces It Takes You Away from Your Worries

ARTS ACCESS - 7
Understanding Individual Experiences

TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF ARTLINK!

WORKING WITH HEALTHCARE COMMUNITIES - 10, 11

Working Together That Collective Experience

MENTAL HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING - 12, 13

Increasing Self belief

ACTIVITIES AND CONTRIBUTORS - 14, 15

Each year we try to come up with interesting annual reviews which reflect the diversity of the work and the people involved and this year, Artlinks 25th, is no exception. We have invited the writer Laura Marney to interview selected individuals and asked her to write a light hearted account of each persons involvement in the organisation over the years. Once we started, we realised that we were leaving out rather a lot of people, people who gave their time and energy to make Artlink what it is today. It is impossible to cover ever aspect of the work we do, so we have chosen to concentrate on some of our current workers and current issues. After a few interviews we realised something else! The individuals we were interviewing were so into their work that it was impossible to make light of their achievements. I can honestly say that the work they do is inspiring, its based on a real belief that art can make change for the individual, no matter how small, it can and does make a difference. So here it is, a very simple report on what Artlink is today. And what exactly is Artlink I hear you ask? Artlink is the people who work for it and the people who take part in it. Together they have created a highly innovative organisation which never takes no for an answer and wont stop till it gets results. Hats off to all the people past and present who have been involved in Artlink, you should all be proud of what you have achieved. Alison Stirling Projects Director

INTRODUCTION

A FEW WORDS FROM THE WRITER

I write fiction, I said.When the head boffins at Artlink asked me to write up their annual review I told them: I write fiction. No, they said, they didnt want fiction.They wanted me to write about the shenanigans that go on in some of their projects.They said I could interview people and they gave me a note pad, a tape recorder and a shiny investigative reporter press pass.The press pass swung it. I dont get out much.When you spend your life writing novels from a cupboard under the stair, its nice to get out of the house occasionally. Meeting artistic people was initially a bit disappointing. Not one of them wore a floppy hat, used a cigarette holder or called me darling, despite my press pass. But as I eagerly held my recorder under their noses they surprised me by not being egotistical maniacs who threw buckets of paint around. Instead they talked of art as a means of communication, as adding to a collective

conscience, as self expression, as a human right. When I came to write up the interviews the people at Artlink would hardly let me do anything.They wouldnt let me put in any man-eating tigers or rescued maidens or represent anyone as having a wooden leg. Just because it wasnt actually true those pesky Artlink types said no. I explained that to a writer of my stature (five feet ten and three quarters) this was intolerable. Not being allowed to make stuff up was equivalent to tying both hands behind my back, blindfolding me and removing the keys from my keyboard. How could I write in those circumstances? But somehow I did. And then, as a final indignity, they removed all my carefully crafted and absolutely hilarious jokes. Seriously, they did. Im particularly sad to have lost the one about the Irishman, the Dutchman and the electric cattle prod. And so, what you are

about to read is the empty husk of my creative endeavours. Sure, theres a lot of stuff about amazing art projects and the even more amazing achievements of participants, but whats that compared to a man-eating tiger with a wooden leg? Laura Marney

BACKGROUND

IN ANY DIFFICULT SITUATION THERE IS ALWAYS POSSIBILITY

Jan-Bert van den Berg, the Director of Artlink is a thoughtful, patient man; after 21 years he has seen most things. His experience is invaluable to the way Artlink operates in the field. We have built on what weve learned, he explains, and extended out from there: in the first instance we provide a basic service. As we get to know the individuals we are working with, we can develop more opportunities for them. We have proved to be trustworthy and this is borne out by the continued investment of our funders who have invested more with us year on year.When I started at Artlink in 1988 we were only four staff now we are twelve.We had small short term projects, now we have rolling projects.The budgets were a tenth of what they are now. There is huge strength and confidence in what we do and a belief that it will continue to grow. Some of our practitioners have been here a long time and are really into what they are doing.Theres a healthy attitude to work and our projects. Our artists keep an open mind; theyre up for trying anything.They use their arts practice, their imaginative artistic approach, to come at things from an oblique angle. And the partnerships that we have with other organisations are good. Its all about the experience weve gained; understanding situations really well. How social and health care structures work, is important to how well we can do our work. You learn from what you do and the cross over of ideas. Often its a case of an idea whose time has come. Other times you come up with ideas that are not quite ready to be received.We keep ideas in cold storage.Whether the funder will make the leap of imagination that we do depends. Sometimes the funder wants cast iron guarantees but arts funding is high risk investment.The political climate is currently risk averse everything has to be evidence based, the outcomes have to be solid, but in the arts those terms dont really fit.Things

have become so much more regulated and this has reduced the scope.The language has changed over the years but the everyday situation of people with experience of disability has not changed one bit. We are seeing the fragmentation of services, resources are dwindling and will continue to dwindle. Im an optimist, I think in any difficult situation there is always possibility. Should our objective be to make people well through art? No, but we can all understand better who we are as individuals by how we interact with art. If I see good art it makes me feel better and gives me a greater sense of who I am. It doesnt heal me. Art enhances all our lives, it gives us self esteem, self expression, confidence in our

own voice, having something to say, fellowship through making the work. A good arts project is one that might go off on a tangent.When employing an artist its about putting the right people together. Its often about navigating a way through, learning from what doesnt work. Art is not a special additional extra, it is a right. After the Second World War,The United Nations came up with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, Article 27, which states that: (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts... If Artlink does nothing else, its doing that, and thats a great job.

PROVIDING COMMUNITY SUPPORT

We cant always make sense of what youre doing but it sure works Day Centre Officer

COMBINED FORCES
Kara Christines official title is Co-ordinator of services for people with learning disabilities and Steve Hollingsworth is an artist on one of the projects. We work with 48 people in total: 10 of them are on the outings programme, 10 have one to ones, and the rest are involved in our four specialist workshops that happen each week in community resources, one of which is Steves. Everyone I meet is looking for the same thing, says Kara, quality services rather than what amounts to adult baby-sitting. Kara works with families, social workers and care workers to help ensure that people with learning disabilities have access to appropriate services. We are the creative input and even a few hours a week makes a huge difference. We combine forces with support services and come up with something that has energy.Where we see problems we look for solutions by thinking creatively and using the knowledge and experience we have. Artlink projects give everyone hope that something will change for the person they are supporting. Artlink is independent, so we are not so restricted by the day to day regulations of social work departments and day centres. With relatively little resources required, we collaborate with others to make often very simple things happen. For example, one client might enjoy chopping things, so they chop veg and set up a salad bar for their day centre. Or they like pushing trolleys so their skill is transferred to mowing the lawns of local resources. Another young woman we work with is interested in child care but, because of additional disabilities it is more difficult for her to find the right sort of opportunity to work with children, so we support her to set up a drawing or playing table in the local library. She gets to spend time with the kids while their parents choose their books, its a win win situation. We work with someone who has very little organised activity and we put in place a programme of activity suited to their needs.

What we do is amorphous and that is part of its strength. The workshop Steve runs is designed to be like nothing else in the clients lives, he tells me. All rules are abandoned creating an environment which is different and stimulating. The space is about creating this sensory blast out of the normal institutional role where they are managed in our space they are empowered and they do the managing. In institutions the clients are supposed to give as little bother as possible, with us they can be themselves. It must be amazing, opening those horizons, like seeing the sea for the first time. When people come into our space they can do anything they want. I used to worry that it wasnt art, that it was therapy, says Steve but in a therapy situation the therapist will lay out what happens.With us the person leads. Its so liberating, but it can take a long time to get beyond the protective shell our clients have grown around themselves institutionalisation makes people guarded. We are all a collection of our own experiences; we are all different in the world because of those experiences. Ours is a performance workshop: all things coalesce in the room.We are trying to increase our clients confidence and give them something they dont get anywhere

else, ways to communicate. Its quite theatrical, everyone is a player in the show but there is no script. One of our participants, used to wander out of the space but now we have identified things he likes very simple things like cracks in the floor or rubbing someones back. One woman, in her sixties, didnt used to do very much, she sat like Buddha, but weve had lots of little successes with her. We discovered she loves her reflection and now shes starting to build and create things, Everyone reacts on their own levels and we have to be almost forensic.This is based on knowing people well enough to understand how they might react, even when their reaction is miniscule. When I ask Kara and Steve how they cope with the frustrations of sometimes only seeing tiny incremental improvements they shrug, have a moan, go for a pint, start to break down the rules and assumptions about what someone is capable of. Its small for us and massive for them. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by how much still needs to be done.

PROVIDING COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Artlink are great.They have supported people with learning disabilities in Midlothian to get involved in creative and exciting activities. Social Worker

It takes you away from your worries

The Castlebrae Art Group are Suzan, DJ, Jeanette, Jimmy and Helen.They have been together a long time as a group, they get along well and share a common interest in making art work. Apart from the traditional skills of painting and drawing they make animation and sculptures, plant boxes, cowboy hats, bird feeders and even birds. I am introduced to everyone in turn and Suzan is the first one I meet. Suzan is a nononsense woman, she has just moved into her own house and the group complain they havent seen her new house yet. You will, she says, Im having a party. She used to take part in a drama group but cant afford the taxi fare now. She also works as a volunteer in the Artlink office but within the Castlebrae art group she indulges her fascination with celebrity by doing drawings of the royal family and characters from Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Harry Potter. She admits to being a bit star struck and, to the manor born, Suzan made her own version of a Henry Borrell clock which she encrusted in jewels and displayed in a local stately home. Hopetoun house let us put the clock on the mantelpiece and take photos, she tells me, then we had high tea. She went on to make a photo montage of the royal family which was printed onto material. It is currently being upholstered onto a chaise longues and will be displayed in a local shop window. Suzans friend and fellow artist, Janette, has already exhibited work. Janette is reputed in the group to be a lovely pencil drawer and painter but she is a woman of many talents. She makes jewellery and necklaces, model birds and works in animation. Janette has a mischievous side: her latest piece of animation involves a bird going to the toilet, a number two. Helen has been a member of the group for the last two years and is the pragmatist. She likes to work with her hands in woodwork, knitting, making pictures, glass painting, all kinds of stuff for her house. She uses her home as her gallery and enjoys putting the pictures up in the house. Like the rest of the group, Helen also likes to work collaboratively. She worked with DJ on a footstool and DJ stencilled hands around it. did drawing for the park and is very keen to show his work. Within their own artistic community there is a certain healthy rivalry.The rest of the group admit to being slightly envious of Jimmys ability. When Jimmy does a piece of work we feel a bit jealous and wish we could do it as good and we are chuffed for him. The group are very respectful of each other and share a particularly black sense of humour.They laugh uproariously at the idea of accidently losing a hand whilst doing woodwork. Luckily no one has so far. They are simultaneously nervous and excited about the future of the group. We are going to be making things and working within the community, they tell me. Its a swap shop where they will make a piece of art in exchange for goods or services. When they go home they like to continue with their art work until its time for them to meet again. DJ, the quiet cowboy with a brooding Clint Eastwood like intensity, nails it when he says, it keeps you from thinking about things; it takes you away from your worries. DJ tells me hes going to concentrate on woodwork. Hes famous for his cowboy hat sculptures and is interested in cowboy culture. He goes to a country and western club night and dresses appropriately - as a cowboy. Cowboys are good fun, he says, but hes not obsessed with it. He has never tried horse-riding and doesnt fancy being a real cowboy. Jimmy is a long standing member of the art group and has been coming for years. He was working at the market but he loves to work outside helping folk in their gardens and making outdoor furniture. He has recently made a big picture frame. Jimmy

ARTS ACCESS
Wonderful - really enjoyed the evening. I felt I came away with my mind expanded, lots of new thoughts and ideas. Arts Access Service User

UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES

Humble, Crumlish and Primrose sounds more like a Groucho Marx law firm but they are in fact the trio who run the Arts Access programme for Artlink. Arts Access does exactly what it says on the tin: they help you access the arts. For a small fee anyone needing assistance can register and be escorted by volunteers to their choice of arts events. Sally Primrose, the Co-ordinator of Arts Access, has been with Artlink 15 years and still loves her job. In the past we only worked with the main concert and theatre venues, Sally tells me, very few people attended galleries or exhibitions.We produce a newsletter to encourage and promote visits to something different e.g gardens, the storytelling centre, the poetry library.We try to make it a mix of places. Sally has seen a lot of changes of the years, the most positive of which is the approach of venue staff to disability. Over the years venue staff have come to know and trust us and are no longer intimidated by disability. Susan Humble agrees. Susan is relatively new to Arts Access, she has only been in place since October 08 as Audience Development Officer. A part of her job is to visual image. In the past there werent enough trained staff.Visually impaired people had to come on a group tour at an appointed time. Now with trained

Artlink is the ideal conduit between audience and art experience. It provides a regular, friendly point of contact for the audience building trust and understanding.

widen access for people with sensory impairment. The new blog was launched along with another initiative In The Loop. This sees Artlink working with venues to buy a portable loop system that helps people with hearing loss to hear clearly during tours and talks. From meeting and chatting to people, the loop system was clearly needed. So often I attend public lectures that I am interested in and I am unable to hear the presentation which is very frustrating. Arts Access has also set up a reference group of visually impaired people who meet to discuss accessing the arts. Their stories help Artlink understand what individuals experiences are like and shape future work. Susan is continuing to support venues to offer descriptive tours of exhibitions for people with a visual impairment. We are training venue staff and volunteers in visual impairment awareness and verbal description.This is where the describer will use language imaginatively to convey a

volunteers well be able to provide an on demand service and you can visit the gallery any time you like. Description can also support people with a visual impairment to access theatre performances. The set, costumes and action are described live in-between any dialogue. Some theatres have a touch tour an hour or so before an Audio Described performance. Anyone who is interested in using the AD facilities will be sent out a tape with a synopsis of the show, as well as descriptions of sets and costumes. As part of the tour, you are invited onto the stage where you get to touch the set, the costumes, and in the case of Scottish Ballet, even the dancers thighs! Artlinks Art Access is a unique project. There is no other project in Britain doing what they do and although disability access is far from perfect there are lots of people in Edinburgh working to improve it.

Another big change for Arts Access is in their use of technology. A few months ago we introduced a blog so that people who are hard of hearing can directly share their experiences.They write things like, I wanted to book tickets to see a play but there was only a telephone number.....Why not give an email address to contact us? This sharing of information is good for audiences and venues.

Working with Healthcare Communities.

Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing.

Providing Community Support

Working with Healthcare Communities.

Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing.

Working with Healthcare Communities.

WORKING WITH HEALTHCARE COMMUNITIES

I think what is really good at Artlink is that Artlink really listen to you as an individual and sus out where you are coming from and they treat you as a real person. Programme participant.

WORKING TOGETHER

Anne Elliot, who has been with Artlink for ten years, is the Function Suite Artist Team Leader. Before this time Anne worked freelance making art works with patients, facilitating them to make their own and then together on joint work. One of the high points for Anne so far in working with Artlink has been the Fusion project show My Father is the Wise Man of the Village at the Fruitmarket gallery in 2003, we still get feedback from it. It challenged peoples idea of what contemporary art is art that just so happens to be made in collaboration with staff and patients. I mainly concentrate on working in the Royal Edinburgh hospital. One of our success stories is a guy, who a year ago would not leave the ward.Working in partnership with an OT he was doing stuff with Artlink making audio recordings on the ward of his poetry. He then took up drawing and became well enough to go to an art group downstairs from his ward, he began coming over to the Artlink hut with a member of staff. Finally he was able to come alone. He may be leaving hospital soon and if he does it would be good to get him involved in arts activities in the community.You do see people benefit as a result of getting involved in an arts project, but it can take time, it took two years to get the guy to where he is now. In the Royal Edinburgh we have worked with hospital staff on the re-introduction of the gala day, we re-issued the Royal Edinburgh Hospital newsletter The Morningside Mirror through our History

project and in Growing Spaces we work in partnership with BCTV,Transitions Edinburgh, and other community organisations to reinstate the original orchard and growing spaces for staff and patients.Wards now have their own growing spaces. They are so enthusiastic, building nature trails and walkways. I think Artlink and the hospital communities are working together better now than they have ever done.The mission is to maintain good services for the patients and staff and show the potential of art and what it can achieve for the individual as well as the hospital ward or department.

I love my job because its very clear what we are working towards giving a sense of purpose and building community through our arts projects. Its about letting people have a voice.

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WORKING WITH HEALTHCARE COMMUNITIES

I think what Artlink does is high quality and lot of the other services I have been involved in are very poor quality Programme Participant

THAT COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE

David Budd is the Collective Advocacy Project Manager at Royal Edinburgh Hospital and facilitates the Patients Council. I manage the project, not the members, he is quick to point out, they manage the advocacy themselves. A long time ago I used to be a support worker but I found I had all the responsibility and none of the power to change the things people wanted changed. Collective advocacy gives people the power to change things for the better.The Patients Council have influenced a lot of things the reprovisioning plans, challenging conditions on wards. If you consult with patients and they see their ideas coming to fruition and their feedback getting results, it gives them ownership and faith in the work the Patients Council does.Thats so important, especially at a time when they may have lost control over areas of their life. I think that all mental health conditions can be alleviated by working in art, even if it isnt what anyone else would consider to be art cracks on a pavement could be art, art is in the eye of the beholder. But you cant prescribe art to make someone better. You cant tell someone your mental health will benefit by doing art: and then offer them something as limiting as for instance, five classes of painting a box. People will only really get something out of it if they do it purely for the art, for the love of doing it; otherwise its just a useless formula. Artlinks projects really bring a lot of life to the hospital, a vibrancy, they make spaces

interesting once where you had a plain wall youll have an installation. It can create a sense of community and creativity one person sees it then another comes along and also enjoys it, or is maybe annoyed by it, or doesnt really understand it.Those two people might never actually meet but theyve shared an experience. It adds to a collective conscience; a collective experience. Im part of that collective experience, he smiles, I made a conscious effort to come out of my office and joined in an Artlink

project. I painted a tree in the hospital corridor and because of this I met people who were passing by and were making comments. I worked alongside someone on the management committee. Unfortunately, I was dismayed to find that he was a much better tree painter than me, David says ruefully, his leaf technique was far superior to mine, but I learnt something new.

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MENTAL HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

It was easy and quick to get involved and seemed very natural in the way it happened.We chat about other things I am interested in as well and other possibilities might be opening up. Programme Participant

Increasing self Belief

Patrick OGrowney is the lead artist on the Arts for Mental Health project. The objectives of these projects, says Patrick, are to offer opportunities tailored to individuals interests that will enhance and improve their self esteem and their quality of life. Im always trying to think of ways to improve someones situation, what is the best way to work with them? How can I engage them? I try to offer them something they wouldnt normally have access to, something that will support them but will also extend the boundaries of their world. The success of the project is not dependent on how good the participants are at the activity, but how much they enjoy producing the work. Some people may not have a great talent but they might be very isolated and we want to find ways to bring them out of themselves. It takes time, going back again and again, trying to find a way they can enjoy an activity, so that their illness or mental health doesnt get a permanent hold on them. One guy only comes regularly to his drawing class a drawing class we set up, he does nothing else in his week that gives me a massive boost, it means what we are offering is good. Ultimately you want them to come to us and ask for more we know then that they are being drawn out beyond their health issues.Theyll say something like, My mental health is always going to be bad but I have my writing. People drop in and drop out, thats the nature of mental health.We cant always expect someone to be at a certain place at a certain time we need to be flexible, to say

right, well you cant do it today because of your health, lets find a way round it. I always try and keep in contact with people, Ive known people here for years. There is no one we wont work with. If we cant work with them immediately or we are not what they need right now, maybe two years down the line we can work together.We always try to keep the door open. Colleagues of Patrick argue that the success of the projects is more to do with Patricks innate ability to get along with everyone. Being Irish he is genetically predisposed to be interested in people. He works with people who are struggling on a daily basis, sometimes in tragic situations, but Patricks call me Paddy sensitivity and easy going nature relaxes everyone he works with, even if his jokes are pathetic.

I dont have a formal referral system, he says, I meet people and chat to them and try to find out about them and what might be best for them. I never focus on anyones condition; I wont even know what their condition is. People will say Im not well enough for that, and thats fine. When I was getting the Writing project off the ground I knew of three people who had an interest in creative writing. It was an idea to try and work as a group - but not in traditional group work but keeping it oneto-one and tailored to their individual needs. Through a life drawing class I got to know some of the participants other interests. I gave a presentation at Strathbrock centre and a lady approached me to show me her writing. She is a prolific writer and was keen to work with us. So once I had

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MENTAL HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

Artlink has been brilliant for me. I had a career in design and when I got ill that fell apart. I didnt want to leave go of everything so getting in touch with Artlink and keeping in touch gives me the chance to work with and talk to like minded people. Programme Participant

gathered five or six people we decided it was time to bring in a writer. Enter Laura Marney. There is a well established link between delicate mental health and literary talent, says Laura. All writers, never mind those formally diagnosed with mental health issues, lack confidence and motivation.Writers sit around waiting for the muse to visit, but this is compounded when you also need to wait until your mental health will allow you to organise your thoughts. Its also well documented that just the act of writing,

especially poetry, can be helpful in organising thoughts. On this project I work with six or seven writers offering individual one to one tutorials.They are all engaged in completely different types of work, everything from poetry to essays, from literary reviews to graphic novels.Writers need feedback, its difficult to tell if your own work is prize winning or pulp.The writers are aware of my background. That a university writing tutor and best-selling novelist, takes their

writing seriously is even sometimes in awe of the quality of it - validates their work and hugely increases the writers own self belief. Patrick agrees; On all our projects, if we think people are important enough to work with they can begin to believe it for themselves.

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ACTIVITIES AND CONTRIBUTORS

Quick Statistics for 2008-2009
Participants Sessions Outings Volunteers Exhibitions Events Performances Audiences 1,025 9,700 1,470 139 34 80 43 37,450 Lead Artist: Patrick OGrowney Funders Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish Arts Council, Mental Health Specific Grant ( West Lothian Council), Mental Health Specific Grant (City of Edinburgh Council) . Coordinator: Sally Primrose Audience Development Officer: Susan Humble from Oct 2008 Mairi Taylor until Sept 2008 Assistant: Morven Crumlish Funders - City of Edinburgh Council, Midlothian Council, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, Nancie Massie Charitable Trust, The Robertson Trust, Agnes Hunter Charitable Trust, Sylivia Aikens Charitable Trust, Alma And Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust and individual donations. Arts Access Collaborative partners: Edinburgh Festival Theatres, Federation of Scottish Theatre, Filmhouse, Fruitmarket Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, National Museum of Scotland, National Library of Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, National Theatre for Scotland,The Queens Gallery, Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Opera, Stills Gallery,Talbot Rice Gallery,Traverse Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Working with Healthcare Communities

The Artlink Functionsuite hospital arts programme creates opportunities for patients and staff to work together with artists. We respond to particular individual or collective interest or the needs of hospitals departments. Artist Team Leader: Anne Elliot Arts Events Co-ordinator: Anthony Schrag Gallery Manager and Events Manager: Kirsty Macdonald from March 2009 Charlotte Collingwood until March 2009 Gallery Interns: Luke Fletcher, Anna Reid, Joanne Smithers. Volunteer Artist: Jennifer Thomson Funders Lothian NHS Board, Scottish Arts Council Artfull Lottery Fund,West Lothian Council. St Johns Hospital Pallitive Care, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust and WM Mann Foundation.

Providing Community Support

Artlink works closely with individuals with learning disabilities in Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian to create opportunities in the arts relevant to their unique interests and circumstances. Programme Co-ordinator: Kara Christine Funders Midlothian Council, Scottish Arts Council, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, City of Edinburgh Council , Bailey Thomas Charitable Trust and individual donations and payments.

Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing

Artlink creates opportunities for people

with health problems and their carers in Edinburgh and West Lothian to pursue a particular interest in the arts. Individuals are matched with artists who have complementary skills, providing a focus around their talents or fascinations.

Arts Access
Artlink Arts Access support Individuals with a physical disability, learning disability, sensory impairment, mental health problem or who are older or infirm to go to the arts with a volunteer companion.

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Board of Directors
Chair Vice Chair Treasurer Secretary Members David Hart Betty Barber Colin Scott Gavin McEwan Turcan Connell Dr Michael Affolter Caroline Barr Jim Eunson David Wright Christine Lawrie Anna Becker Carol Stevenson

Neate, Eveline Nicolette, Laure Paterson, Sally Osborn, Agamemnon Otero, John Owen, Ciara Phillips, Lucie Potter, Danuta Ramos, Ed Reid, Darren Rhymes, Alasdair Richardson, Donna Rutherford, Paulina Sandberg, Anthony Schrag, Laura Spring, Carol Anne Sturrock, Lynn Sturgeon, , Kerrie Taylor, Jennifer Thomson, Alan Walker, Chris Walker,Tom Watson, Nicola White, Alex Wilde, Jayne Wilding, Chris Wilson, , Simon Yuill.

Volunteer Artists
Luke Fletcher, Anna Reid, Joanne Smithers, Jennifer Thomson

Artlink AdministrativeTeam
Administrative Co-ordinator: Vanessa Cameron Programme Support Worker: Anna Chapman Bookkeeper: Alison Thorburn

Technicians
Stefan Baumberger, Steve Mykeityn, Amber Roome, Richard Strachan, Marciej Szczotka, Cameron Watt, Sonya Witts, Sandy Wood.

Programme Volunteers
Office: Suzan Macmillan and Lizzie Shamash; Hospitals: Diane Lockhart & ERI volunteer services, Sandy Young & Spiritual Care team and , REH gardening and BTCV volunteers and of course all the Arts Access volunteers!

Artists
Laura Alridge, Evan Alston, Mary Lou Anderson, Caroline Barbour, Ruth Barker, Annable Bartle, Anna Berghansen, Duncan Blythe, Juliana Capes, Ruth Clark, Callum Cuthbertson, Steve Dale, Dance Ihayami, Anna Divers, Donna Douglas, Rebecca Ecob, Darren Farquhar, Alice Finbow,Vicky Fleck, Lisa Fleming, , Matt Foster, Louise Fraser, Andy Fraser, Anice Gilland,Valerie Gillies, Millie Gray, Owen Green, Alex Gross, John Hancox, Robert Hansen, Lauren Hayes, Brian Hartley, Marie Hernquist, Steve Hollingsworth, Allan Irvine, Mary Jane Jacob, Fiona Jardine, John Johnston, Mairi Leach, Derek Lodge, Deidre Macdonald, Jean Mackenzie, Peter Maniam, Laura Marney, Jack Martin, Janet McCrorie, Laura Mcilroy, Mandy McIntosh Tonya McMullen, Shona McVey,Yvonne Mullock, Lorraine Murray, Michelle Naismith, Andi

General and Core Funders

Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, City of Edinburgh Council, Midlothian Council,West Lothian Council, NHS Endowments,The Binks Trust, Martin Connell Charitable Trust, Cruden Foundation Ltd, Evelyn Drysdale Charitable Trust, Mrs M A Lascelles Charitable Trust,The Miller Foundation, Sir Iain Stewart Foundation, Saints and Sinners Club of Scotland, Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust,William Grant & Sons.

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I dont normally enjoy art but today I did.

Artlink Edinburgh and the Lothians 13a Spittal Street Edinburgh EH3 9DY 0131 229 3555 info@artlinkedinburgh.co.uk www.artlinkedinburgh.co.uk

If you would like to find out more about Artlink or you are interested in volunteering please feel free to contact Artlink at the address above by either telephone, email or in writing. This publication is available in PDF, Braille, Tape and Large Print formats, please contact Artlink for your copy. A full set of detailed accounts is available from the Artlink office. Artlink is a company registered in Scotland No 87845 with charitable status, Scottish charity number SC006845