What We Do
Friends of the Future responds to the changing structures of contemporary British society, increasing public awareness of environmental issues, crises in health and social care, the UK government’s Creative Health agenda, and the move from gallery-oriented to socially-engaged contemporary arts practices.
It asks what artists, educators and psychotherapists can learn from each other regarding these issues, and how they might collaborate on large-scale creative solutions.
The Full Story
The founding members of Friends of the Future Collective initially came together in a garden in the Summer of 2020, a group of creative friends wanting to experience connection during Covid lockdown. We felt a need to articulate a collective response to the crises we experienced in national health and social care systems in the UK, and particularly the surge in complex mental health problems we noticed prior to, and during, the pandemic.
This informal gathering of artists, educators and psychotherapists soon gathered steam as we opened up an invitation to like minded people to join is for discussions at a residential we facilitated at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire in 2023. We delved into how the arts in their widest sense, can be used more effectively as a public health and wellbeing resource and how we save arts education as it is pushed further and further to the back of the classroom.
Our third event was held at Herd Farm in Yorkshire in February of 2024. 28 artists and therapists from across the region (and beyond) met to explore themes including: power, healing, art, intersections, politics and what professionals working creatively in local communities want and need. This was a fully immersive weekend, facilitated by the Open Space method helping us to co-create a book that shares our ideas and consolidates our focus for Friends of the Future.
Our first tasks have been; setting up a CIC and looking at a membership model to create income to supplement the initial donations from the Friends of the Future Directors and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. In the new financial year will also start to apply for funding and look at developing partnerships and pilot projects.
Our Mission
As ‘Friends of the Future’, we seek to find creative and collaborative responses to the changing structures and systems of the 21st Century and to highlight the impact of years of austerity on contemporary British society.
We are facing a catastrophe in terms of our mental and physical health; our environment is suffering, NHS and social care systems are completely overloaded , we have an education system that devalues creativity and war seems omnipresent. Most of us have more food, clothes and shelter than we need but are less happy and less well than we have ever been…
What We Do
Friends of the Future responds to the changing structures of contemporary British society, health and social care crises, increasing public awareness of environmental issues, the government’s Creative Health agenda, and the move from gallery-oriented to socially-engaged contemporary arts practices.
We have four key areas of focus:
Peer Support and Knowledge Exchange
Professionals in the creative health industry often work in isolation and within communities with complex mental health needs, so supportive networks and the regular sharing of good practice is essential. We have an ethical commitment to clinical supervision being a required element of arts based therapeutic provisions.
Education
and Research
Creative health is a relatively new area of health provision and we will contribute to the development of structures and practices that will support connection, growth and ethical practice.
Experimental Projects
Using the expertise and skills base of collective members to facilitate small, locally based projects. These will offer opportunities for artists and mental health professionals to co-create and collect data on the impact of new ways of working with groups, individuals and on professionals themselves.
Consultancy
Our services will ensure artists and educators are using up-to-date clinical practice in their creative offer, by sharing evidence-based psychoeducation interventions and training at a low cost.