Intercultural Roots for Public Health

Intercultural Roots began to deliver ‘arts for health and social change’ programmes in 2019 as a bridge between embodied research and community practice for people society excludes. To achieve this we focus on enabling artist practitioners so that they can do what they do best which is making and sharing the arts. In Mar '20 we were one of the first such groups to adapt to Covid-19 lockdowns and offer an online participatory arts programme to support practitioners and the public through tough times. We have continued to deliver almost a thousand classes that have benefited some 10,000 people with continually outstanding feedback and testimonials.

Support Arts for Health and Social Change with a Donorbox Donation

Prior to then we were delivering community-based arts for health and wellbeing workshops in deprived areas within Hackney, Camden, Islington and Southwark with high rates of people medicating for ‘mixed anxiety and depression’. We continue to target these issues and the people Covid most marginalised and excluded, including people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and people who are LGBTQIA+. Included are many artists who are now teachers within IR and bring a lived experience of the issues we address. It also includes refugees and older immigrant people. Our ‘enable the enabler’ work provides accredited Mental Health First Aid training and critical care to disadvantaged artistic practitioner-teachers while offering them employment contracts to deliver arts activities with proven health benefits (i.e. dance, yoga, tai chi, Pilates).

Covid necessitated a 180-degree pivot from in-person workshops to delivering online, offering an expanded and more diverse range of arts in response to needs and feedback from participants. During the lockdowns and social distancing until today, we have focussed on providing a weekly programme of live and interactive online workshops and courses delivered through Zoom including:

Find Your Inner Voice for female domestic abuse survivors; Virtual Lifebelts mental health awareness; Deep Listening® courses; qigong and breathwork classes and even monthly Zoom Parties during lockdowns! We delivered an online Health & WELLth Festival in May 2021.

We are currently receiving an unprecedented demand for our services including requests for additional online and in-person courses and proposals from practitioners who would like to partner with us - see our Practitioner Partnerships programme.