Create+ Wins Manchester Culture Award for Best Health + Wellbeing Initiative 2023
On 4th December 2023 Lime art’s Create+ programme was announced winner in the category ‘Promotion of Health and Wellbeing’ at the Manchester Culture Awards at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International.
The Manchester Culture Awards profile the fantastic arts, cultural and creative activities in the city and bring together the city’s cultural and creative people, groups and organisations who contribute to Manchester’s cultural landscape and make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Lime’s Director Dawn Prescott commented, “We are delighted with the award and the increased recognition across GM of our arts referral project that has supported so many NHS staff, post pandemic. The success of Create+ is a testament to the skill and dedication of our artists, and the continued investment in the arts provided by Manchester Foundation Trust. From feedback we have received, and the recent evaluation report, we know Create+ really can make a difference to people’s working lives in the NHS.”
Create+ is the first arts referral programme for NHS employees in the UK. NHS frontline workers at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust who are on sick leave, on phased return or who are at risk of going off sick with stress, burnout or anxiety can attend a 6-week programme at Lime’s purpose- built hospital-based print studio with professional artists, using creativity as a therapeutic intervention. The programme is successful with one consultant experiencing post-pandemic PTSD crediting Create+ as helping her to return to work, and a clinical manager at the MRI regularly referring staff into the Create+ programme.
We are currently accepting referrals onto Create+ for June 2024. MFT Managers can refer staff by emailing limeart@mft.nhs.uk