Culture Vulture

The changing nature of childhood

By Mark Drinkwater on May 24, 2012 7:17 AM | No Comments

A fascinating exhibition about the changing nature of childhood is currently on display at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Children’s Lives is the first exhibition in the UK to trace the changes from 18th century to the present day, through fine art, photography and film, including work by renowned artists such as Gainsborough, Munch and Picasso.

It also features Bill Brandt’s documentary photography (right) of the 1930s and 1940s commissioned by the Cadbury family, and Nick Hedges’ powerful photos for Shelter in the late 1970s.

These artefacts shed light on the relationships between children and their families and peers, their experiences at school, during the war and in the hands of various welfare institutions.

Much of the material featured in the exhibition has never previously been displayed, and a website is being developed which will make this material available online for the first time and provide a lasting legacy for the project.

Children’s Lives is at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 10 June 2012.

Photo credit: Bill Brandt, Bournville Village Trust Album, 1939-1943, 3.F.L.S.04 Birmingham Libraries & Archives, © Bournville Village Trust.

Pensioners see the funny side

By Mark Drinkwater on May 17, 2012 8:39 AM | No Comments

I came across a great website recently. Silver Comedy are a comedy training company that seek to enrich the lives of older people by engaging them in comedy workshops and performances. What a great idea. Keep ‘em laughing.

Podcast demystifies Power of Attorney

By Mark Drinkwater on May 9, 2012 7:17 AM | No Comments

I’ve just been listening to a fascinating podcast about Power of Attorney.

Paul Lewis, a former Community Care contributor, is joined by a panel of experts, including Steve Wade from the Office of the Public Guardian.

The panel discussed mental capacity and autism, and covered the different types of power of attorney, how to set them up, what costs are involved, and what the responsibilities of an attorney are.

Well worth listening to.

Download the podcast from the BBC website.

Music industry gift strikes a chord with rehabilitation service

By Mark Drinkwater on May 1, 2012 7:23 AM | No Comments

A unique music service was launched last recently by the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) and Alison Wenham (pictured above with Angus Somerville, Chief Executive of RHN), who is donating a 3,000-strong CD library to the hospital in memory of late husband Nick, who was a patient there.

The Wenham Music Library, made possible with generous donations from the music industry, will give patients recovering from brain injury a vital link to the rehabilitative power of music, which is key in helping them overcome difficulties with their disabilities. The creation of the CD lending library had been part of Nick’s own rehabilitation at the hospital.

The RHN, which is a world leader in the field of neuro-rehabilitation and long-term care for people affected by brain injury, will also extend this valuable legacy to other organisations which specialise in the area. For these brain-injured patients, music can help them to express feelings of loss and frustration and can be the first step towards regaining a positive sense of self.

Speaking at the launch of the lending library, Alison Wenham said: ‘Our personal and professional lives were defined by music, we grew up together through music and there is no more fitting legacy for Nick than music. Making sure that people with brain injury or disease have easy access to the music which matters to them is our goal to honour the memory of Nick’.

The funny side of disability

By Mark Drinkwater on April 23, 2012 5:43 AM | No Comments

Comedy Review: Abnormally Funny People

Last month I went to see Abnormally Funny People, a monthly comedy club featuring disabled comedians. Hosted by Mat Fraser, the evening kicked off with Liz Carr, Fraser’s fellow presenter on the BBC’s Ouch! podcast.

Carr’s razor-sharp set draws a lot on the difficulties disabled people can have forming relationships – with one of her routines describes a party where it’s the disabled people’s personal assistants who get all the action after putting the Motability car keys in a bowl.

Next up was Don Biswas, the only comedian on that night I’d not seen before. But I found his set, drawing on his Asperger's and Asian background, an worthy addition to the AFP stalwarts.

Headliner Laurence Clark showed some hidden camera footage of him charity collecting to show that people often look no further than seeing the wheelchair. He illustrated that people will donate money to any bizarre cause and gullible members of the public deposited cash into various buckets Clark was holding, including ones stating “pay my mortgage” and “this is a scam”.

The line-up of disabled comedians changes for each show, though, in the interests of equality they aim to include one ‘token’ non-disabled comedian (or “temporarily able-bodied” as the compere referred to Steve Best the night I went). Well worth a trip out on a Monday night.

Abnormally Funny People is next on at the Soho Theatre on Monday 23 April

- This month’s line up includes the UK’s only deaf comedian Steve Day (or as his publicity posters state: "if there are any others, he hasn't heard") and Lost Voice Guy, below, who uses a voice synthesiser to perform onstage.

Mental health project takes to the catwalk

By Mark Drinkwater on April 20, 2012 6:43 AM | No Comments

Social care isn't always glamorous, but later today mental health charity CoolTan Arts buck that trend as they take to the catwalk as part of Alternative Fashion week.

The charity, who work with people recovering from mental distress, will showcase their textile group’s collection ‘Rags,Tags and a Velvet Gown’ at the Alternative Fashion Week being held in east London.

The fashion week showcases the best and brightest of emerging fashion talent and CoolTan Arts will be showing their wares alongside 80 of this country’s hottest up-and-coming designers.

Alterrnative Fashion Week is at Spitalfields Market, east London, today and tomorrow. Admission is free.

Blind author’s novel rescued by forensic team

By Mark Drinkwater on April 13, 2012 6:22 AM | No Comments

The Dorset Echo this week reported the heartwarming story of a team of forensic officers who rescued a blind author’s novel. Trish Vickers, 59, who lost her sight seven years ago, wrote 26 pages of her debut work without realising her pen had run out of ink.

Vickers doesn’t type, but writes in longhand and has a volunteer who types up her prose at a later date (image: MD). The author was feeling particularly inspired and had written 26 pages in one sitting, only to discover that her pen had run out.

Speaking to the Dorset Echo, Vickers said: “We battled with various ideas until we thought of the police.We rang them and asked to speak to their fingerprint section. They said if there was anything they could do they’d be happy to help.”

She finally got her completed manuscript back last week after officers, using forensic lighting techniques, worked during lunch breaks and in their spare time to decipher the indentations left by her inkless pen. She added: “Everybody who has read it so far seems to like it and the police also said they enjoyed the bit they read and can’t wait for the rest.”

Arts project celebrates learning disabled athletes return to Paralympics

By Mark Drinkwater on April 2, 2012 5:27 AM | No Comments

A major new arts project, performed by artists with learning disabilities, premiered at Glyndebourne yesterday.

Gold Run documents the story of the learning-disabled athletes, who were welcomed into the Atlanta Paralympics in 1996 but then subsequently banned from competing in the Games four years later when the Spanish basketball team fielded non-learning disabled athletes.

The production, which has received support from Arts Council England and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, celebrates the return of learning-disabled athletes to the Paralympic Games this year after the retraction of the ban, and includes an impressive cast of learning disabled and disabled artists in a 30-strong choir (image taken in rehearsals by Andy Hood).

The show will also be performed live at Brighton, London and Chichester later this year before being transformed into a digital installation to be shown throughout the Paralympics at Dilston Grove Gallery in Southwark, south London.

Human library challenges mental health stereotypes

By Mark Drinkwater on March 26, 2012 5:07 AM | 1 Comment

On the weekend, Bromley Mind held an innovative Human Library, where readers borrow a person instead of a book.

The groundbreaking idea originated in Denmark as a way of confronting society’s deeply held prejudices.

Bromley Mind’s one day event - part of the Time to Change campaign to end the stigma associated with mental health - took place in a busy cafe in Bromley, Kent.

Members of the public had access to people who have experienced mental distress to find out about the experiences of people with mental health problems and the support they receive in the borough.

Exhibition raises awareness about Down’s syndrome

By Mark Drinkwater on March 19, 2012 5:34 AM | No Comments

A marvellous exhibition opens this week to help break down preconceived ideas about people with Down’s syndrome.

Shifting Perspectives aims to challenge commonplace representations of both adults and children with Down’s syndrome (image right by Fiona Yaron-Field).

The collection explores the photographic representation of people with Down’s syndrome, challenging attitudes and prejudices and examining alternative representations of both adults and children.

The photographers' intention is to bring the work to a wider audience and help a growing number of people re-evaluate what living with Down’s syndrome means to individuals, families and friends.

Shifting Perspectives started in 2003 when photographer Fiona Yaron-Field assembled a group of photographers, who all had children with Down's syndrome, to hold an exhibition for Down's Syndrome Awareness Week.

Since then, they have held an annual exhibition in conjunction with Down’s Syndrome Association, a charity that has been has been helping individuals with Down’s syndrome fight for the basic rights for over 40 years.

Shifting Perspectives is at Gallery at Oxo Tower, London from March 23 to April 1.

Photographers featured are http://www.coinstreet.org/spacehire/galleriesexhibitions.html Richard Bailey, Fiona Yaron-Field, Eva Snoijink, Emer Gillespie, Marc Rochette, Paul Moffat and David Cormack.