Stories

Want to find out more about the festival? Read stories from organisations and individuals here.

May 21
Critical Hope at the Sharp End of Inequality

Image credit: Margaret Greenfields   For health systems to work for everyone, we need to understand how they work in practice. So often, important decisions are made without meaningful inclusion of the people that they affect. Co-create have been working with the Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities programme to understand how using creative […]

May 21
Cultural Reforesting – How can we renew our relationship with Nature?

Image from Imagining the Forest, international community collaboration between Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival, the Guarani Mbya indigenous people and Karachi Biennale (2025), photo credit Anne Tetzlaff   Summer solstice 2025 saw hundreds of people watch a remarkable performance, Stand of the Sun, created by Bryony Ella with composer Bumi Thomas. Funded by a Wellcome […]

May 21
A Rehearsal Space for Future Goodbyes

Written by Dr. Ada Xiaoyu Hao, Evaluation Project Manager/KTP Associate, University of Roehampton   If you are a small community organisation, you may spend more time writing funding applications than delivering the work itself. If you work in mental health support, you may feel trapped between overwhelming demand and limited capacity. If you run community […]

May 21
Zimmedari Aur Zindagi, A Caring Journey Project

Hi, I’m Mahum 👋 and I lead SEND Salaam, a community organisation supporting parent carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We create safe, culturally sensitive spaces that raise awareness around hidden disabilities while supporting the wellbeing of families within our communities. In November, SEND Salaam partnered with Art Therapist Thahmina Begum […]

May 21
Hopeful Mess

INTRODUCING HOPEFUL MESS Hopeful Mess is a female led, anti racist collective working at the intersection of joy, community and social change. Founded by Nzinga Mascall and Maren Ellermann. We work from the simple belief that people deserve care that recognises their realities, honours their cultures and strengthens their communities. We don’t do generic ‘tickbox’ […]

May 21
Critical hope in practice: creativity, collaboration, and wellbeing in Wales

Creativity and Wellbeing Week invites us to pause, reflect, and reconnect with ourselves, our communities and the systems that shape our wellbeing. This year, Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing Network (WAHWN) and Public Health Wales are proud to spotlight our collaborative work around Hapus, using creativity as a public health practice grounded in the principle […]

May 21
Music Unlocked: Creativity, Well-being, and Connection Through Music

We are Newham Music, the award-winning Music Hub for Newham and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Every year, we work with thousands of children and young people through schools, community programmes and creative projects that make music accessible to everyone. At the heart of our community work is a belief that music is […]

May 20
Your Write to Well-being

Group poem in the making   Your Write to Well-being, founded and facilitated by Helen McSherry   It is an honour for me to be telling you about the vibrant writing for well-being group at Barry Library, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. This group give of themselves to one another, and connect on a level that […]

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