A Journey Through Art, Heritage, and Inclusion At RAW we're passionate about the power of art to connect communities, exploring heritage, and promoting inclusion. Our recent collaboration with The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s Arts and Heritage Group on the Care, Create, Conserve project perfectly embodies this ethos. Care, Create, Conserve was an 18-month long programme of arts and heritage activity, beginning in the 75th year of the NHS. Central to this project was the launch of a brand new Healthcare Heritage Centre, which exhibited a fascinating collection of medical artefacts, photographs, and memorabilia and acted as a community co-creation hub, hosting a vibrant programme of talks, events, and workshops.  Funded by a grant of £139,792 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded in October 2023, this project, which we began working on in February 2024, involved a range of creative commissions across Wolverhampton. The project aimed to consider issues of identity, disability, and language within a healthcare context. We were thrilled to team up and be commissioned by the Trust to deliver workshops through the project which saw school pupils and recovering patients taking part in enriching experiences within the workshops. Who We Worked With
What We CreatedThe workshops resulted in some truly thought-provoking and inspiring artworks: Penn Fields School Pupils collaborated to create a stunning 2D collage of The Royal Hospital building in All Saints, using torn-up newspapers and photographs about the hospital's history. The collaged sky includes clouds made from printed comments of what the NHS means to the young participants. They also constructed a detailed 3D model of the hospital from recycled cardboard, complete with a lift-off roof revealing miniature hospital scenes.  
At the NRU, West Park Hospital The Neuro Rehabilitation Unit at West Park Hospital looks after people with acute neurological conditions for example brain injury, Parkinson's and survivors of strokes. We worked with a small group of adults on a short series of creative sessions. Participants produced several artworks inspired by the Weeping Chapel, an octagonal Victorian building on the hospital site. These included beautiful dot paintings, delicate watercolour paintings, and intricate 3D cardboard models of the chapel.    Warstones Primary School's Deaf Resource Base The children collectively recreated Gary’s powerful painting "Two Worlds," which depicts Deaf and Hearing worlds working together in harmony. Each child was given a square section of the artwork, pre-printed with audiogram charts relating to patients' hearing checks.
 RAW's Gary O'Dowd, who is profoundly Deaf, said: “It was great to have the opportunity of working with the young people at the Deaf Resource Base at Warstones School. We were able to borrow some archive hearing equipment from the Wolverhampton Sensory Team which the pupils had a great time learning about and interacting with. I spoke with the children about how technology has advanced since I was a pupil myself at a school for deaf children in the North East in the 1980s. In recent times there have been huge advances in digital hardware for deaf people and smart phone technology now features deaf inclusive apps such as instant messaging, SMS texting, video calls and more specifically platforms such as Sign Video, Zoom, Facetime and BSL 999. Unfortunately, there are still many inequalities for Deaf and disabled people although BSL has eventually been officially recognised, it’s still not accessible everywhere or on the school curriculum. Projects like this are useful to raise awareness of such issues - framed in a creative, fun and interactive way.”   Elinor Cole, former Arts and Heritage Co-ordinator at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: “We have seen some thought-provoking work produced by participants in these workshops – work that really allowed them to immerse themselves in the project. And the resultant artworks will help us to raise further awareness of our Heritage Centre and spark greater interest across our communities, as well as prompt reflection.”  Alex Vann from RAW added: “We found this such a rich and rewarding experience, and it was fascinating to see the artworks develop along the way. But it’s important to appreciate the wider benefits of these projects as we saw people of all ages developing new skills and gaining a real sense of satisfaction. They also benefitted from positive, social interaction with others and enjoyed working as a team. Projects like this help to break down barriers and challenge perceptions and remind us all that by looking back at the past we learn how to do things better in the future.” This project has demonstrated the power of art to explore our shared heritage, build bridges between communities, and promote understanding and inclusion. We at RAW are incredibly proud to have been a part of it and you can watch our end of project video below. Customer survey results The Care, Create, Conserve exhibition can now be found at Wolverhampton City Archives, Molineux Hotel Building, Whitmore Hill, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SF.
Useful links https://www.rwtnhscharity.co.uk/arts-heritage/care-create-conserve/ https://www.rwtnhscharity.co.uk/news/rich-and-rewarding-workshops-bring-many-benefits/ #NHS #CareCreateConserve #GivingPeopleACreativeVoice #Healthcare #Wolverhampton #RoyalHospitalTrust #WestParkHospital #PennFieldsSchool #WarstonesSchool #DeafAwareness #BSL
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A Springtime Burst of Creativity and Connection!What a truly fantastic Easter HAF (Holidays Activities and Food) scheme we've had this year! We were really pleased to be funded by the Department for Education and Wolverhampton City Council once again to provide this range of enriching art, craft, and BSL experiences. The HAF scheme is invaluable, providing funded places for eligible families of children and young people aged 7-16 (25 with EHCP) and recognising the profound impact holiday clubs have on them. These schemes are designed to help young people stay active, eat healthily, take part in enriching and engaging activities, and reduce social isolation. We are incredibly proud to design our activities based on previous feedback from young people, ensuring they are relevant, exciting and inclusive. Building on the success of previous years, our workshops once again offered a vibrant mix of activities, foster a strong sense of creativity, community and support for every participant. Day 1: Art, Healthy Living & BSL BasicsOur Easter HAF kicked off with a creative explosion! Young people dived into Minecraft drawings (including a fab 'Steve'!) and even a brilliant Jack Black portrait.  We then explored the weird and wonderful art of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, inspiring participants to create their own unique characters from fresh fruit – which they happily ate afterwards!
 Our wonderful Deaf role model, Gary, taught the children some valuable British Sign Language (BSL) vocabulary linked to healthy food, followed by an insightful presentation on living healthily by Alex. It was truly educational creative fun with a purpose!  Day 2: Clay, Charcoal & Creative ExplorationDay 2 brought more hands-on artistry! Clay modelling proved incredibly popular, and we loved seeing the fantastic creations take shape. Many young artists also experienced charcoal drawing for the first time, producing captivating pieces.   Day 3: Escher's Magic & Classic Designs Mid-week, we challenged imaginations by delving into the ingenious works of M.C. Escher. Participants were inspired to create their own impressive tessellation art.   Later, we journeyed back in time to the 1800s, exploring the famous Blue Willow Pattern plate design. Young people then created their own stunning Willow Pattern designs on plates – with a few cheeky Jack Black features making an appearance!    Day 4: Music, BSL & Performance!Our final day was a crescendo of music and sign language! Gary taught the children more British Sign Language (BSL), leading up to them learning how to sign our original song, "We Shine Together."  The creativity continued as they made their own instruments – Guiros, Tin Can Drums, Tambourines, and Maracas! The day culminated in two wonderful performances of the song: one with their handmade instruments and another entirely in sign language. What a powerful display of communication and teamwork!   The smiles, laughter, and incredible creations speak for themselves that took place over our Easter week. We're really proud of the energy and talent shown by everyone who joined us. A huge thank you to All Saints Action Network Ltd for graciously hosting our activities. Most importantly, our heartfelt thanks go to all our brilliant staff and dedicated volunteers, whose passion and hard work truly made this Easter HAF scheme unforgettable. You are the heart of REAL ARTS WORKSHOPS! We're already buzzing with ideas for our summer HAF activities and can't wait to see you there for more creative adventures! Participant Feedback from Easter HAF 2025
We were thrilled to hear what the young people had to say about their experience: I enjoyed everything and I had a lot of fun drawing Minecraft Steve. If I had to rate it, I would rate it 5 stars!" Survey Data
#EasterHAF
#Wolverhampton #YouthActivities #CreativeFun #BSL #Inclusion #ArtWorkshops #HAF2025 #RealArtsWorkshops News round up - June 2025Dear colleague Welcome to our latest newsletter showcasing some of our projects so far in 2025. We hope you enjoy reading it, and your organisation or group might feature! The PDF version below has live links, if your reader supports these you will be able to find out more information about a particular article. We have also been involved in uplifting and celebratory ‘Joy Project’ at Walsall Art Gallery this year. It’s on display until 6th July and you can read our full blog about that in an earlier post.   Please do get in touch with any queries / feedback on any of the articles or if you think we’d be a good match with your organisation to deliver uplifting and engaging art/BSL projects. Yours in art, Gary and Alex 
Spreading a little Joy at The New Art Gallery, Walsall RAW's directors, Gary O'Dowd and Alex Vann As members of the Collections Community Panel at New Art Gallery Walsall, we were delighted to be involved in working with 2 groups of young people to create new artworks for inclusion in the The Joy Project leading up to the Gallery’s 25th birthday in 2025. The exhibition can be been in the Community Gallery on the ground floor until 6th July 2025.
The Joy Project seeks to find positivity in the everyday and aims to advocate for, and support, young people in Walsall and the West Midlands. The fab branding has been created by Katherine Tromans.  A Collections Youth Panel of under 25s was recruited by an open call out by Collections Curator Julie Brown and our involvement on the project was with Funky Kids and Braidwood Trust School for the Deaf to produce different artworks that celebrate joy within the young deaf and hard of hearing communities and BSL. For the other themes, the panel decided on the following sections: the ‘Joy of Celebration’, ‘Joy of Music’, ‘Joy of Hobbies’, ‘Joy of Nature’, ‘Joy of Colour, ‘Joy of Community’ and ‘Joy of Everyday Surroundings’  Public launch event of the Joy Project with video filming at the 2 RAW projects. The People's Show photos are on the right The young people were also photographed by Sherrie Edgar with items they like to collect as part of a reimagining The People’s Show project which pictured members of the Walsall public alongside their collections in the 1990s. Working with Funky KidsIn November 2024 we met with the young people at Funky Kids a Walsall based charity supporting families affected by hearing loss by providing recreational activities. We asked the group about what brings them joy, what sort of art they’d like to create and what things they like to collect. Originally, we considered making a sculpture then we decided on a collaborative paper collage resembling a dartboard as darts came up as a source of joy by many members of the group. Each segment of the Funky D:Art Board was created by a Funky Kids youth member at a workshop at the Art Gallery in January. These were then all pieced together to create the finished artwork. Our original design work Photos from the Funky Kids session in Jan 2025 at the New Art Gallery, Walsall Working with Braidwood Trust School for the DeafIn December 2024 we led an ideas workshop with a group of students from Braidwood Trust School for the Deaf, Birmingham, at the gallery. Our director Gary O’Dowd worked as a teaching assistant at the school for many years before his role at Real Arts Workshops. Similarly to the Funky Kids sessions, we asked the young people about the things that brought them joy and what art they’d like to create.  Hands (signing) were a common theme in the young peoples' drawings, and we devised a Tree of Joy with individual hand shapes to form the foliage decorated by a student in bright colours and designs.
We visited the school twice in January for the making sessions which involved painting the tree trunk to echo the Braidwood School branding and hands which had been profile cut out of wood. At the base of the tree 2 larger hands make the BSL sign for ‘Joy’ and are decorated in the colours of the Deaf flag designed by Arnaud Balard. Photos from workshop session at Braidwood Trust School 24.1.25 Photos from workshop session at Braidwood Trust School 31.1.25 Private 'Joy Project' Launch Event 20.2.25It was great to see the 2 artworks mounted and on show at the exhibition other works...
The Blue Lights Choir, set up by Jorja Smith did a fantastic performance and there is a mural made by choir members working with Yasmin Agilah on the wall of the Joy Project exhibition. Pictures from the Public Launch Event 22.2.25The Joy Project exhibition is currently on show to the public and runs until 6th July 2025 in the Community Gallery on the ground floor of The New Art Gallery, Walsall. #braidwood #braidwoodtrustschool #thejoyproject #GivingPeopleACreativeVoice #funkykids #ArnaudBalard #Deaf #BSL #BritishSignLanguage #artworkshops The Collections Community Panel and RAWWe have been part of the Collections Community Panel (CCP) since the start of 2023. The CCP is perfect for us because we have met and worked with a diverse team of practitioners and have been able to get involved in selecting works from the gallery’s collections for temporary themed exhibitions, which fall under the umbrella of embedding diversity. The aims of which are the give more power to the people that own the collections (ie the public), represent the people of Walsall and give them a voice, build stronger links to the wider community, make the collections more accessible and create digital content. We feel all of these aims are being met by this project. Book RAW & bring some JOY to your group!Our key takeaway from this project is that bringing some joy to others brings us joy too!
If you are (or know of) a group or organisation that has been successful in securing funding for some engaging and meaningful creative/cultural activities ... Our Easter HAF Scheme 2025 is now available to book
2024 Review Newsletter - A Year of CreativityDear colleague Happy New Year 2025 and welcome to the latest newsletter of RAW (Real Arts Workshops) looking back at a few of our projects in 2024 with a range of people and groups of all ages and abilities. Your organisation or group might feature! If you view the attached PDF version of the newsletter in a reader that supports links, you will be able to find out more information about a particular story - and our own website has more information and many resources too.  
We are currently working on the ‘Joy Project’ with the New Art Gallery in Walsall and will be sharing more about that on our social media channels.
Please do get in touch with any queries / feedback on any of the articles or if you think we can work with your organisation on some uplifting and engaging creative projects. Yours in art, Alex, Gary and Team RAW Amazing Christmas and New Year HAF CreativityWe were really pleased to be funded by Department for Education and Wolverhampton City Council to provide a range of enriching art, craft and BSL experiences for young people aged 7-16 (25 with EHCP). The HAF scheme provides funded places for eligible families, and recognises the impact holiday clubs have on children and young people. These schemes help young people stay active, eat healthily, take part in enriching and engaging activities and reduce social isolation. We design our activities based on previous feedback from young people and foster a sense of community, inclusion and support. Our sessions are generally staffed by a sign language interpreter making them accessible to BSL users.  Chinese lanterns created by the young people adorn the foliage in the atrium at All Saints Action Network We ran our sessions on 4 days, on 23rd December 2024 and then again on 2nd, 3rd and 4th of January 2025. We were hosted by All Saints Action Network, and would like to thank all our staff and volunteers for making this another memorable scheme. Here's a little snapshot of what the young people got up to on our scheme... Day 1 : Christmas Crafts and Healthy LifestylesWe took the opportunity to do some Christmas Crafts as there were still 2 days left until the big day! This included pinecone trees, tea-light snowmen, decorated cardboard baubles and wood slices and drawings. Here's what the young people told us in feedback about the activity:
It is a requirement of our funding that we deliver some information about healthy lifestyle choices, including about diet, and so we thought it would be fun to encourage the children to make their own Christmas characters using fresh fruits - which they could then eat. Here's what they told us about this activity:
Day 2 : Tee Shirts and Cardboard afternoonThe children had a morning of creating their own tee-shirts. As you can see there were all sorts of different designs. This was followed by an afternoon learning about RAW's founder, artist Alex Vann's journey from a final year university project to Real Arts Workshops, via the Wolves in Wolves public art project, painting the mayor of Wolverhampton and publishing his book 'Joseph The Useful Cardboard Box' which led onto some cardboard crafts including about healthy eating etc. The message being that from a seemingly small idea can come a whole business idea! Here are a few pics... Here's what the young people said about this day...
Day 3 : wooden model making, optical illusions and snake drawingsThis was a busy day of creativity! Starting with assembling wooden models of animals, insects and dinosaurs - a good test of following instructions, patience and fine motor skill work! This was followed by our volunteer Wayne leading some mind-bending optical illusion type drawings on gridded paper. As 2025 is Chinese year of the snake, some young people tried out their sketching skills on a drawing of a King Cobra - aren't they amazing? Here's what the young people told us about this day...
Day 4: Chinese New Year and BSL / Deaf awareness and gamesThe young people took part in a wide range of Chinese New Year activities, icluding making lanterns (using baubles), snake origami, painting Chinese characters on a 'magic' disappearing paint mat and making good luck Spring Couplets. Then our very own Deaf role model, Gary, explained about his own journey as a Deaf person growing up in a hearing environment, including, meeting ambassador for the Deaf community and level 2 signer, Princess Diana; campaigning for BSL recognition by the Government and being a TV presenter (even appearing in hit TV show Byker Grove). Followed by BSL game of bingo, which included vocabulary about physical activities. Lunch time runarounds!We are lucky to work at a venue with its own football pitches and our young people love to get some fresh air and exercise at lunch times. Survey resultsWe always ask for online feedback on the last day of the scheme. This is anonymous and gives us an insight into what the young people enjoyed most, how they rate our staff and our activity and helps us build and plan for future activities.  As you can see, we get an almost 5 star rating, which we are very pleased with.  100% of participants said they enjoyed taking part ans 90% told us that they learnt something new.  90% told us that they felt more creative/ inspired after attending our scheme. End of scheme feedback (including volunteers and parents): Thank you all for your kindness and support Holiday Activities for Young People in WolverhamptonGREAT NEWS! We are pleased to have been funded by City of Wolverhampton Council and the Department for Education to provide Winter HAF (Holiday Activities and Food Programme) Specialist Arts, Craft & BSL (British Sign Language) Activities. These are FREE sessions for eligible* young people in Wolverhampton aged 7-16 (25 with an EHCP).  These are FREE sessions for eligible* young people in Wolverhampton aged 7-16 (25 with an EHCP).
We are holding our sessions at The Workspace at All Saints Action Network (ASAN), All Saints Road, WV2 1EL between 10am prompt and 2.30pm on 4 days:
RAW News – Autumn Round Up 2024Welcome to the latest "RAW News" from Real Arts Workshops - looking back at a busy and creative summer and looking forward to projects and events we have coming up. More so now than ever do the Arts have an important role in promoting wellbeing and confidence in people of all ages and we’ve really enjoyed working on a varied mix of art and BSL projects for a wide range of organisations and groups, and seeing many positive results first hand.   If you view the PDF version of the newsletter below, in a reader that supports links, you will be able to click the relevant web link to find out more information about a particular story. There are many resources and more information elsewhere on our website too. Please do get in touch with any queries / feedback on any of the articles - or if you have secured funding for some creative projects and you'd like us to deliver some uplifting and engaging sessions. Art and BSL sessions in Walsall - Autumn 2024
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AuthorReal Arts Workshops is an independent arts company based in the Black Country, providing bespoke workshops for various organisations and groups. Archives
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