Hoot - Invitation, Expression, Interaction, Challenge, Growth

Background & History

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.

Sadly 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. Two years ago, 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.

As we get towards the end of our current funding we are working at developing Hoot as a social enterprise, reducing our reliance on grant aid and looking to generate income from contracts and commissioned projects. It’s a tough world, with neither arts nor health and social care seeming very well resourced. But we have this energy and determination, you see. It comes from the drums, from the songs, from the dance. We believe it will carry us through. And belief is a powerful thing.

"Invitation, Expression, Interaction, Challenge, Growth"