Result CIC has always championed diversity, challenged inequalities and encouraged social change - it’s at the heart of all that we do. So we were excited this week to find out about the Great Place GM Conference which will happen over 4 online sessions, starting towards the end of September.
The conference has been organised by Julie McCarthy, the Great Place Project Manager. It’s free to attend and the sessions are:
Great Place GM was a 3-year research programme led by Greater Manchester Combined Authority with an aim to demonstrate the powerful contribution of culture and creativity to health, wellbeing, community and place, themes which resonate deeply with our work at Result CIC.
How so?
Greater Manchester is known around the world for creative practice for health and social change.
Great Place GM has resulted in the development of new partnerships and ways of working that have prepared GM for a gear shift in this practice and this includes a call for Greater Manchester to become a Creative Health City Region by 2024.
What will this mean?
GM will be the city region where “heritage, culture and the arts play a key part in the health and wellbeing of its diverse residents and workforce; a global leader addressing systemic inequalities across the life-course, demonstrating and nurturing the power of collective, creative action for social change.”
This ambitious statement is part of The Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change’s report entitled ‘A Social Glue’, commissioned by Great Place GM. This key document sets out new approaches to the ways that we address health and social inequalities and is a direct response to the Marmot Review: Ten Years On and the Greater Manchester Inequalities Commission, both published earlier this year.
It all points to how culture and creativity contribute to the health and wellbeing of the people of Greater Manchester and how the time has never been better to champion and expand this agenda.
We couldn’t agree more. Our coaching and training programmes locally and nationally have supported those with lived experience of racism, people who are disabled, anyone marginalised through sexuality or because of their refugee status, to feel valued, more confident, and better able to bring about social change themselves simply by being who they are.
In fact, our ‘upward spiral’ model reflects a significant part of the Great Place project - creating cultural change through individual self-belief, something which the 4 areas covered by the conference support.
And our recent Awards for All grant, enabling our project with 7 small arts organisations to go ahead, further demonstrates our belief that culture, health, and wellbeing go hand in hand.
We’re looking forward to joining and hope to see some of you there too.
Great Place GM Conference: 21 & 30 September, 12 & 21 October. To book your FREE conference places or to find out more, go here.
If you'd like to find out more about Result CIC's work and how we might support you or your organisation, contact us.