Hoot - Invitation, Expression, Interaction, Challenge, Growth

Principles & Background

Five Key Principles

Drawing on many years experience working in the mental health field with people who are often fragile, anxious and under-confident, we have developed a style of working that supports people to make the first step into a new group or activity that may have felt out of their reach, to discover what is possible and how much joy can be found in music and dance, and to challenge themselves and grow and develop through the experience.

Invitation: we aim to make involvement in creative activity accessible to everyone and to show how this can make people happier and healthier. We recognise that this can be very challenging and aim to support people crossing the threshold to involvement.

Expression: we offer opportunities for people to begin to express themselves creatively, let off steam, express difficult thoughts and feelings, find their voice and get in touch with their bodies.

Interaction: we use creative activity as a means of bringing people together in groups in order to increase social inclusion and integration, build mutual support and develop relationships.

Challenge: we encourage people to test their boundaries, take risks and explore their potential to the full.

Growth: we foster the idea that people can continue to grow and develop throughout their lives, and that music, dance and creative expression in general can help people discover what is possible.

Background

The origins of Hoot lie in the mid to late 1990's when people were first starting to experiment with using music, dance and the arts in general in mental health settings. Little bits of money to do interesting projects - a sculpture, photography project, music session - and people really took to it, found it helpful. It opened up new horizons, gave a sense of what was possible, got the creative juices flowing and, best of all, it was fun. People had a laugh, fooled around, played, scribbled, wobbled, clapped and splashed it around with a sense of freedom and abandon that was often well buried. Strange therapeutic benefits emerged.

At that time the benefits of involvement in the arts were not yet widely accepted so it was difficult to secure long term funding to keep projects going beyond a few months. North Kirklees Mind commissioned some music sessions in the late 1990's, saw how much impact it had and applied for funds to keep something going. Another Planet was born. Then the money ran out. Then they found some more. Then it ran out again. In February 2002 the members of the group decided to set up Hoot so it could apply for funds in its own right. Since then the story is a familiar one for many community arts groups and small health charities. A series of small, short-term grants to run groups and activities, always needing to come up with new projects to get more cash, flirtations with closure, but underneath a steely determination by the people involved in Hoot to keep this thing going. Which we did.

Back then people thought music and mental health was a bit whacky; hippy-dippy drum circle, sing-song stuff - not much to do with proper mental health work. Now the credibility of music, dance and the arts is beginning to be much better established. For the last 5 years we have produced reports detailing the impact of our work on mental health, the improvements reported by participants on their happiness, confidence, friendships, creative and imaginative abilities, sense of responsibility, employability, sleep patterns... the list goes on. And more and more people came, and continue to come. In June 2005, we received a 3 year grant from the Big Lottery Fund, plus a 2 year grant from the Arts Council. Other grants have followed and we have steadily built our range of projects and our reputation, working in a range of community settings with many groups where health and wellbeing is a concern.

In 2008 a new commissioning strategy for mental health was produced and for the first time ever it contained provision for the delivery of an arts and wellbeing project. We won this contract in partnership with AIM and are now delivering a wide range of activities as detailed in the what's on section. We are also developing our activities as a social enterprise, taking our workshops and performances on the road and spreading the word about the power of the arts to lift mood, bring people together, learn new things and start to feel hopeful about what is possible. Belief has carried us a long way, and it looks like continuing that way.

"Invitation, Expression, Interaction, Challenge, Growth"

Click here to view 2010 Annual Report (3.5Mb)