South Tees Arts Project (STAR) has launched its reports and a short film featuring local children and teachers involved in the first successful phase of the dance and wellbeing initiative.
In 2020, the North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network and key regional partners came together to design an innovative locality-based project which aimed to increase access to the arts for those living in deprived areas of South Tees to improve their health and wellbeing. The innovation was developed without funding, and through commitment of the multiple partners, before funding was successfully secured.
Evidence highlights the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of taking part in dance and wider arts activities in particular supporting participants through creative and engaging ways to express themselves and develop self-awareness, identity, social and emotional learning skills.
Working with two local schools and delivered by TinArts, the project also incorporated the Network’s Family Support priority, learning from research to include the ‘family’ in the experience to further enhance the impact achieved.
Researchers from Teesside, Northumbria, Huddersfield, and Newcastle Universities came together to evaluate the programme to capture and understand better the children, their parents, teachers, and dance artists’ views on the development and implementation of the STAR project.
The final research report is available on the TinArts website, along with the film and additional project resources. The next phase of the project, STAR 2, began in November 2022, embedding the findings from the initial research and broadening the offer to more children.
A webinar to promote the learning from the project and future engagement with the work is being held on Wednesday 1st March, hosted by the Child Health and Wellbeing Network. Register your place on Eventbrite.
If you would like to find out more about STAR please contact The Child Health and Wellbeing Network: england.northernchildnetwork@nhs.net
Published: February 14