User:Riuji27/sandbox

Heads & Tales

Formation	November 11, 2017
Founder	Chilli Studios
Headquarters	Chilli Studios
Location	The Blackfriars Centre, Newbridge St., Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 2TQ
Website	www.headntales.uk

A draft version I'm currently working on as Wikipedia Editor.

The Heads & Tales project , led by the art charity organisation Chilli Studios based in Newcastle upon Tyne and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund [1], designed and delivered a digital Mental Health Heritage Archive in the North East England. . The two year project run a range of workshops, training, exhibitions, conferences and cultural trips to build a resource of research material and to create new items to add to the Digital Archive. The Digital Archive collected and represented the voice of adults experiencing mental health conditions. The project was shaped and led by participants, volunteers and staff who were directly and indirectly affected by mental health conditions.

About

In 2016/2017, Chilli Studios started a pilot project at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums to readdress the historical imbalance of the representation of people living with mental health conditions in Archives. The six-month pilot project identified the lack of people perspective in archives aiming at responding to current representation in Museums, Health  & Arts sectors. Tyne & Wear Museums and Archives and the Outreach Officer were instrumental in the research and a spark to start the pilot project.

The Heads & Tales project delivered a lasting and accessible digital archive and online platform, creating and embedding contemporary narratives to raise equality in archival material. The project focused its research on three main NHS psychiatric hospitals in the North East: St. Nicholas Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne, St. George Park Hospital in Morpeth, and Hopewood Park (previously known as Cherry Knowles) in Sunderland. Each hospital archive is deposited in different archives, mainly Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums and Northumberland Archives.

Collection

The Collection consists of Sketchbooks, Diaries, Drawings, Photographs, Documents, Patient Records, Leaflets from Tyne and wear Archives & Museums, and Sculptures, Drawings, Paintings, Photographs, from Chilli Studios Artists, Donors and others (specify). Thus, the collection highlights people's perspective on historical records and artistic reinterpretation of archival materials by the Steering Group, Volunteers, and participants.

The Digital Archive also explored the history of hospitals like St. Nicholas, St. George and Hopewood Park and its participant researched hidden and uncovered stories related to their controversial heritage as well as patients records which are now embedded into the Heads & Tales archives.

The Heads & Tales collection was enriched by the understanding over the Case Book from St. Nicholas Hospital, which allowed to disclose hidden stories from patients at the time members of hospital. The Case Books were volumes of patient records, covering years of admissions for both men and women. Through artistic practice enhanced during the Creative Archive workshop at Chilli Studios, participants could work on reinterpreting archival material ( e.g. mashing up images and texts) while researching of international movement such as Mad Pride that inspired some of the below mentioned activities.

Peer-Led Approach

The Peer-Led approach adopted by Chilli Studios focused on peer support principles in mental health and the shared experience of mental illness. These principles were supported by the Steering Group, a decision-making space held by project's participants that drive the project to achieve its aims. Made up of 12 members, the Steering Group involves members/participants of the project, Chilli Studio staff, project volunteers and Staff from Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives. It's aim is to ensure that every voice of those directly and indirectly affected by mental health conditions are actively represented and the project shaped to achieve objectives. The Steering Group involves people in shaping the decision-making approach of the Heads & Tales project, with different degree of participation in core activities and project's decisions. The Steering Group influenced Evaluation, Research, Digital, Documents, Exhibits, Archive, Partners, Workshops delivered by Heads & Tales throughout its two years. To pursue best practices of involvement, the Steering Group is regulated by the Shared Values , a statement and manifesto that regulate project's members space.

Events & Exhibition

• Launch Event at Chilli Studios; Live Music, Poems and Plays, Letter Workshop and the screening of "Apples is Apples" film
• Speak Out Training with Time To Change at Chilli Studios
• Volunteer Training: Evaluation, involvement and Opportunities by Disability North
• Wakefield Museum & Yorkshire Sculpture Park Trip, a research venture to Yorkshire to see how others curate and manage mental health archives and objects
• Oral History recording & knowing your (Copy)Rights! at ReCoCo Collective
• MAD STUDIES at Northumbria University, a taster session on Mental Health Research
• Research Archive Workshop at Discovery Museum, to engage with archive material within the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums based on mental health
• Creative Archive Workshop at Chilli Studios, to creatively reinterpret archival materials
• Art & Liberation at Holy Biscuit Gallery, with works focusing on the diverse and individual experiences of mental health conditions and artistic expression. Featuring invited artists alongside Chilli Studios Annual Exhibition of members artworks.
• Her Tales Workshop at Chilli Studios, to explore women & mental health across the North East
• Thanks To You campaign by Heritage Lottery Fund
• Audio History Training at Women's Health in South Tyneside, learning to record interviews and stories about mental health in a safe environment
• Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon at Newcastle City Library following on Art+Feminism campaign to teach people of all gender identities and expressions to edit Wikipedia, the workshop wants to contribute to it raising awareness about Mental Health in the North East

Founders & Partners

• Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
• Attaya Projects
• Disability North
• MIND
• North East Art Studio Partnership
• ReCoCo Collective
• Launchpad
• Northumbria University MAD Studies
• Time To Change
• Artist Derek Eland
• Bridge & Tunnel VOICES