IN FOCUS: Group puts its art into helping the most vulnerable
A GROUP of professionals who work with some of the city's most vulnerable people have joined together to put their creative skills to good use. Rachel Wareing went along to Peterborough Creative Action's new art exhibition.
A GROUP of professionals who work with some of the city's most vulnerable people have joined together to put their creative skills to good use. Rachel Wareing went along to
Peterborough Creative Action's new art exhibition.BY day they are drug workers, mental health nurses and health care staff, who spend their time helping city residents with serious drug addictions to overcome their problems.
But out of work, these dedicated professionals have come together to use their creative skills for the force of good.
They have formed Peterborough Creative Action, a voluntary coalition of 12 people who want to use their artistic and musical skills to support vulnerable groups.
While most of the group work with some of society's most vulnerable people – the disabled, homeless and drug dependent – others work in more mainstream fields, but all share a passion for creativity, and have given up their free time to take part in this project.
The group was set up two years ago by Shan Barcroft, a part-time nurse with the Peterborough Community Drug Team and part-time nurse advisor with the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.
It was inspired by a creative arts project which Shan helped to set up at St Theresa's homeless centre in 2003, which involved people there painting murals and making jewellery and artwork out of recycled material.
One particular man, a heroin addict, spent hours working on a detailed mural which covered one wall of the centre in Manor House Street.
Shan said: "He became so engrossed in his work that he forgot to go and get his fix. That showed us the impact which creative activity can have on people's behaviour."
By networking with her contacts, she gathered support from a group of like-minded individuals to create Peterborough Creative Action. The group includes textile artists, embroiderers, musicians and sculptors.
The new exhibition, which runs all this month at Peterborough Museum, is the first project they have collaborated on together.
The theme is My Life Is A House, and it centres around the issue of homelessness.
Shan explained: "A few years ago, a new system was introduced by the Government, where people started to be given community rehabilitation orders, rather than being sent to prison.
"We found that many of the people we were trying to help were trapped in a revolving door. They were being arrested and sent to prison to await their trial, then sent out into the community with nowhere to live, and because they were homeless it was very difficult for them to access the services we were offering, or build a stable life for themselves.
"Now we have Peterborough Prison in the city, a lot of people are being released and end up being on the streets in Peterborough.
"The exhibition is a reflection of what our clients have told us, and what we have discovered about homelessness in Peterborough.
"It is a lot more widespread than you would imagine. Among the Community Drug Team's clients alone, for example, we know of 20 people on our books who are homeless. The problem is that a lot of homelessness is hidden and we don't always know where the rough sleepers are.
"The intention is partly to showcase our work as artists, to show what skills we can offer to groups in the community. We also wanted to pass on what we have learned from our clients, and to make people more aware of the difficulties people face. I suppose in a way it is also a form of therapy for us, a way of expressing ourselves and our experiences through art.
"We've decided to make some of the work anonymous, to represent the loss of identity people experience on the streets.
"We have also designed the exhibition to be very tactile, with lots of exhibits you can touch and feel, as we wanted the exhibition to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. We have members who work for blind charities, so they were able to give us an insight."
The exhibition centres around a huge pile of bags called Bagabond. Some are plastic shopping bags, while others have been embroidered by Gayle Ratcliffe and her friends and colleagues at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership who have formed a weekly creative arts session.
Like many of the other items in the exhibition, some of the bags are up for sale, with a percentage of the profits going to help homeless groups in the city.
Shan explained: "One thing we've picked up on is the rising number of women who are homeless, and the sculpture plays on the idea of being a 'bag lady'."
One picture is covered in swatches of carpet, donated by Marks and Spencers and turned into a work of art, which expresses the phenomenon of the hidden homeless. These are the "sofa surfers", who do not sleep rough, but live a precarious existence staying on the floors and sofas of friends and families.
A weathered park bench in a corner of the room is dedicated to Nobby the Tramp. A related group, called the Journeyman Project, are putting on three performances at the museum. As guests mingle before the performance, musician James Risden will perform bird song on the recorder next to the bench to represent Nobby's old bus shelter home in leafy Orton Longueville.
Shan said: "We are hoping to get in touch with Nobby to invite him along, but he hasn't been seen much recently since he moved into his new flat.
"We have got the postman who used to deliver his mail coming along, and he tells us that Nobby used to get post from golf clubs in Dubai and all sorts of exotic locations.
"People really took Nobby to their hearts, and the way people tried to look after him shows that people in Peterborough do care about the homeless in the city."
The exhibition also features work by young people who are involved in a drug rehabilitation project run by Peterborough Youth Offending Team, under the direction of Paul Churchill.
Shan said: "We aim to work directly with our client groups in probation, the youth offending team and the drug-using community. We believe that creative expression can help to build self esteem and self confidence, which can only be a good thing.
"One example is the young man who is serving time in Peterborough Prison and has contributed some work to this exhibition. He was absolutely ecstatic to learn his work was going to be on display to the public and he's asked us to take a picture of it."
The Journeyman Project is a parallel project to Peterborough Creative Action, and was set up by Shan and her colleague Paul Churchill. A cast of actors are made up of staff from Peterborough Community Drug Team, and the DART project, along with some of the members of Peterborough Creative Action.
Last night they staged a mime and music performance for city dignitaries, and there will be further performances tonight at 7.30pm and on Thursday for clients.
The play centres around the story of a homeless man, and is based on the stories of real people.
All the music featured in the performance was composed by people who have experienced homelessness or some form of disability, illness or drug problem. It ranges from Beethoven, who was deaf, to the lead singer of Suede, Brett Anderson, who experienced problems with cocaine and heroin.
John Mozumber, who works as a nurse for Peterborough Drug Intervention Programme, plays the lead role. He said: "It has enabled me to empathise more with what it might be like to be homeless and what my clients might be going through."
YOUNGSTERS are being invited to get creative and draw a picture inspired by the exhibition on the theme of "a room of one's own" or "my life is a house".
>>The best pictures will win a prize. To enter, call Shan Barcroft on 01733 234086 or e-mail shan.barcroft@
zen.co.uk for details.
Project and exhibition influenced by book
The My Life Is A House exhibition and the Journeyman Project play were both influenced by the bestselling biography Stuart: A Life Backwards, written by Alexander Masters.
The book's subject, Stuart Shorter, was a homeless man who lived in Cambridge but had connections in Peterborough. He later committed suicide.
The book mentions his time at the troubled Ellindon School in Bretton, and his involvement in a robbery at Coates Post Office.
The book's author came to know Stuart while working part-time at a homeless shelter in Cambridge, and found him to be a complex, contradictory character – thoughtful and intelligent, but also violent, unpredictable and ultimately damaged.
The book explores the way he came to be the way he did, and also examines the wider question of how people we see sleeping on the streets arrive at this point.
Information contained in the book is included in the exhibition, including facts about it takes nine years for a person to become homeless after a marriage breakdown, bereavement or other major trauma, and just four weeks to become entrenched in street life.
Homeless statistics
ACCORDING to Peterborough City Council records, a half-yearly count of rough sleepers normally identifies around five people.
However, in 2004/05 a total of 1,212 people presented themselves as homeless and Peterborough City Council accepted statutory duty for 440 of those.
In 2005/06, a total of 1,388 presented themselves as homeless and 449 were accepted as statutory obligation.
There is an acute shortage of 2-bedroom houses available to rent in the city, and right-to-buy continues to remove affordable homes from the rental pool.
Meet the artists who make up Peterborough Creative Action
Shan Barcroft
Shan Barcroft's claim to fame is that, at the age of six, a piece of her school artwork was displayed at the Key Theatre as part of a recruitment drive to attract residents to Peterborough.
Trudy Salandiak
Trudy has a long history of creative work in Peterborough and has lived in in the area for the last 13 years.
In her spare time she is a wedding, portrait and landscape photographer and specialises in using film and new digital technology.
Steve Tyler
Steve has a love of global music and is interested in all the technological developments relating to music.
On a Saturday he can often be found analysing and discussing new digital forms of media in Sound and Vision on Park Road.
Ed Chandler
Ed is a technologist who has a passion for music. A keen photographer, he works as an ergonomist for the RNIB, advising on European Union standards groups and testing new digital technology.
He has recently been involved in setting European standards for the new range of mobile phones.
Chris Rowell
Chris is secretary of Peterborough Creative Action. She is a keen artist and her work is based on innovative and tactile art forms.
Chris works as patient liaison and advice manager for Greater
Peterborough Primary Care Partnership.
Andy Nottell
Andy is an artist who specialises in tactile art and design.
He has recently been commissioned to develop work for the BBC Green Room.
Peter Kypriano
After completing a National Diploma in Graphic Design, Peter spent a number of years in Johannesburg, South Africa, working within the advertising industry as an art
director/freelance illustrator.
Magda Kypriano
Magda lives in London and is currently taking a degree in graphic design at St Martin's, London. Magda specialises in line drawing and lino art and also film media. Magda is Polish and has lived in England since 1998.
Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill originally trained as a probation officer and developed the drug treatment and testing team in Peterborough in 2005. He currently works for an innovative drug project with Peterborough Youth Offending Service.
Claire Marshall
Claire returned to Peterborough after 22 years living in London. She is a keen cellist. She works for Bridgegate Drug Service and has developed an innovative drug peer education project with the ethnic minority community in Peterborough. She is experienced in innovative teaching methods and learning.
Gayle Ratcliffe
Gayle has developed arts projects with a range of vulnerable groups including those with learning disabilities. She also developed artistic recycling projects.
She currently runs a weekly creative arts session for her friends and colleagues. She is employed as an occupational therapist for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership.
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Tuesday 16 March 2010
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