In the Spotlight

At the heart of it all

sam conference looks at practice, partnership and personal development

At the heart of it all, was Sense Scotland's one-day conference held at Dundee Contemporary Arts, charting our progress through the Sensing Art and Music (or sam) project. The event, the second of a series of three conferences, focused on the impact sam has had on the different people involved in the project. It also featured presentations from leaders in the fields of community arts and music and workshops with the arts practitioners involved in the sam project.

Highlights of the day included Murray Farquharson's performance on the drums and his contribution to the Different Perspectives discussion;

Yvonne Larkin's impromptu presentation on her involvement in the sam project during the Beyond Words workshop; Ross and Anne Winchester's input into the second Different Perspectives discussion; and the diversity of the artwork on display in the DCA.

Our keynote speakers all made excellent presentations, setting the work at Sense Scotland in the broader context of community arts in the UK and emphasising the link between the arts and health and well-being. Mike White (Director of Projects, Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine (CAHHM), University of Durham) used his presentation to highlight some innovative projects happening across England that have successfully made these links.

Paul Hart (Principal Officer, Sense Scotland Practice Development Department) brought our other themes of practice and personal development very firmly to the fore in his entertaining and thought provoking talk. Looking at partnership working and the Bridges project, Lesley O'Hare (Arts Coordinator, Fife Council), provided excellent sound clips of work being created and a very in-depth view of the project.

The Different Perspectives breakout sessions were designed to give service users and their support staff the opportunity to express their views on the sam project while providing an insight into the specific activities that they had been involved in. During these workshop and breakout sessions delegates had the chance to hear from artists involved in the project, discuss international projects with a Slovakian child psychologist, look at the video work of a couple of sam artists and get hands on experience at music and arts sessions.

Luba Koverova, visiting from the Research Institute of Child Psychology and Pathopsychology, Slovakia had this to say about the sam project:

"I especially enjoyed the arts sessions I experienced with the arts workers and was really impressed by their work. In Slovakia it is rare that artists actually work in this area with children. I think it's a good idea to involve artists and when I return to Slovakia I will try to take this approach forward."

Jay Townsend captured the groundbreaking visual elements of sam's work vividly in his presentation Still Moving, about the video work of two sam artists. He discussed how we all could play a part in enabling people to express themselves through this medium:

"It really is as simple as starting off with a day trip and videoing it and passing the camera round, and perhaps spending a little more time and consideration than you normally would with it. It makes the world of difference and creates a spectacle that will have a lasting impression out of something that happens everyday. It then enables others to share these moments and to begin to understand these free spirited individuals who for most of their lives don't speak or talk like you or I and have different means by which to get across their message or story."

sam artists displayed their artwork and put on a couple of live music sessions for delegates. Murray, already a skilled musician, has diversified through sam sessions into African drumming and with sam worker Steve Bretel put on an electrifying, rhythmical performance. They were followed by two performers from Shimmer, Nicky Brown and Mark Horton, who created a richly textured and magical soundscape for the audience.

Asked about what they took from the conference, one of the delegates said:

"It raised awareness and was an inspiration, while stimulating ideas regarding inclusion. The whole service user led approach is one that should be applied universally and the exhibition of artwork was a nice touch. Keep up the good work and I look forward to conference number three."

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