Lifelines was a six month partnership programme to link up six art studios across northeast England: Artrium in Hartlepool; Arts4Wellbeing in South Shields; Bill Quay Art Studio in Gateshead; Chilli Studios in Newcastle; Phoenix Art Group in Stockton-on-Tees and North Tyneside Art Studio in North Shields. Combined, the studios offer arts facilities and training to over 500 local people experiencing mental health issues and learning difficulties.

With funding from The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, North East Art Studios Partnership appointed Fitzrovia Noir to deliver a creative programme of activities, where an artist was embedded in each studio. A Logbook with blanked out maps was distributed to each participant, to record their own journey, published in a final limited edition Workbook given out at the exhibitions to everyone who took part. Dr David Blazey of South London And Maudsley NHS foundation trust invited us to present the work at The Art of Recovery conference at The Hepworth,Wakefield, with The New Economics Foundation.

Project Title
Lifelines

Touring exhibition locations:
The Hepworth, Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Chilli Studios storefront, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Sanctuary Gallery, St Edmund’s Chapel, Gateshead
Atrium Studios shop at Middleton Grange, Hartlepool
Former baggage storeroom, Tynemouth Metro station, Tyneside

Project lead
Garry Hunter for Fitzrovia Noir

Curation
The participants

Production
The Arts Reverand, Jim Craig
The New Economics Foundation
North East Art Studios Partnership
Mark Pattison for Made in Tyne and Wear
Ylana First for Friends of Tynemouth Station

Logbook  and Workbook design
Ellis Leeper

Artists, key practices and studios where they worked

Media
Books, cardboard, chewing gum on walls and pavements, ephemera, found items, glass, ink stamps, jesmonite, large format photographic negatives/55 Polaroid, paint

Dates
August – November 2015

Dr David Blazey, director Director of South London and Maudsley (SLAM)