Jayne Howard, director of Arts for Health Cornwall, recently delivered one of the keynote presentations at ‘Raising Spirits’, an arts and health conference in Malta.
Raising Spirits is a project being led by SOS Malta in partnership with Mater Dei Hospital, Malta Cancer Foundation, Voices Foundation and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. The overall objective of Raising Spirits is to promote and develop an enabling and facilitating environment for creative and artistic volunteering within healthcare settings, aimed at improving patient recover and community wellbeing. National stakeholders are being brought together to explore and develop the necessary infrastructure to support regular creative and artistic volunteering activities at Mater Dei Hospital and community health settings.
The conference, which was chaired by actor and TV presenter Clare Agius, included presentations on drama and dyslexia by actor Matthew Scurfield and on Music in Hospitals UK, by their Chief Executive, Diana Greenman.
The conference was followed by three days training for the board of volunteers who plan to put on some performances in the hospital before the end of the year and develop a three-year action plan to take forward arts and health work across Malta. Jayne delivered a hands-on workshop with this board focused on developing the action plan. She commented that “the position of this board of volunteers is very similar to that of the development group that led to the establishment of Arts for Health Cornwall. There is a lot of enthusiasm, experience and skills around the board table for this project and I will be watching their progress with great interest. Malta was a fascinating place to visit and they have a long tradition of volunteering to build on, together with a wealth of cultural activity – including many local festivals, a strong musical heritage and a willingness to embrace experiences from elsewhere. We would love to host a visit from any of the volunteers who want to see what arts and health work goes on here in Cornwall”.