Local charity Art & Soul has been awarded a total of £19,000 by two funders to help increase its arts activities and support more adults struggling with mental health issues in South West London. This latest funding for Art & Soul comes hot on the heels of an £8,000 grant in September to allow the charity to offer creative experiences to young people in the area.

With this latest funding boost, £10,000 has come from the National Lottery and another £9,000 from the Hampton Fund.

Combined, they will allow Art & Soul to launch a new project called Creative Connections that will begin in December and run for 12 months. It will provide more people with access to supported gallery visits, in-person art sessions run by trained art therapists, online arts activities and a public exhibition of participants work at the Landmark Centre next year.

Charity spokesperson Betsy Lewis-Holmes welcomed the new funding. She said: "We know that covid has compounded issues for those with mental health issues. Many current Art & Soul participants have been shielding and are beginning to come out of self-isolation.

"We want to help aid this transition and feedback has shown that the best way to do this is to gradually introduce in-person art workshops and gallery visits, while continuing to offer activities online.

Read more: Arts charity wins £8,000 to improve young people's wellbeing

"Current participants tell us they would also like to hold an exhibition to showcase and celebrate artwork created during lockdown and raise community awareness of mental health during the pandemic, as well as the benefits of arts for wellbeing".

Plans are in place to offer in-person sessions at Mortlake Community Association, the Hampton Inspired Hub, Linden Hall, and other venues across the borough, although the charity is aware these may need to go online.

Creative Connections will also run pilot sessions with four groups working with children and young people with mental health issues.

These will form part of a research and partnership project partly funded by £8,000 awarded recently by the Baring Foundation.

About the sessions

About Art & Soul: Art & Soul's creative art sessions for adults are run by a trained art therapist. They're usually held in person at places like the Exchange in Twickenham. This year they've been moved online and designed to reduce isolation and help maintain participants' mental and emotional wellbeing during the pandemic. The work of the charity was recognised in a report earlier this year by the national Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance to demonstrate how the arts and creativity can support people who are shielding or vulnerable during Covid-19.

For more information about the National Lottery or Hampton Fund grants, Creative Connections or the wider work of Art & Soul, please drop Betsy an email on [email protected]

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