Today London Arts and Health, Raw Material and Arts & Health Hub announce the first cohort of the ACE and GLA-funded programme, the Artists’ Represent Recovery Network.

The Artists’ Represent Recovery Network is a professional development programme open to 10 London-based, freelance, ethnically diverse artists who identify as black, brown, people of colour who have faced systemic racism, and who are working in arts & health in a participatory or community setting.

The project is aimed at artists with at least 3 years of experience in this field and each artist has access to professional skills development sessions, peer-to-peer support and on-the-job training in a South London and Maudsley (SLaM) hospital ward.

The training will take place next year in 2023 as a mix of online and in-person mentoring, training, action learning and on-the-job paid placement on SLaM hospital wards. Artists can receive up to £3000 total for participating in the opportunity. Artists with any kind of artistic practice were welcomed to apply.

The project is funded by the Greater London Authority and Arts Council England.

Rachel Nelken, CEO of Raw Material said:

We are so excited to see this programme come to fruition after a solid year of discussion and development. It’s been amazing to receive the support and endorsement from ACE and GLA and to work as a dynamic consortium to get this show on the road. This type of support and peer network is so needed for creative freelancers and particularly those from ethnically diverse backgrounds working in frontline health and community settings, The group is incredible and we have no doubt they’re going to have a really insightful and developmental experience.

The first cohort starting their training in February 2023 includes:

• Abigail Sol

• FLOetic Lara Lee

• Shiva Sharma

• Sapphire Joy

• Rebecca Buckley

• Alaa Alsaraji

• Rizwan Mirza

• Bella Okuya

• Alexander Douglas

• Lydia Rose