Creativity in Care: A Day of Inspiration and Imagination with ARC England

We would like to invite you to join us for our 'unconference', a day to take time out to recognise the incredible creativity that is happening every day in learning disability support services and to explore how our own innate creativity can inspire amazing ideas to solve problems and facilitate authentic, inclusive 'gloriously ordinary lives'.

We are thrilled that amazing speakers like Clenton Farquharson and Michelle Rebello, Dimensions, have agreed to join us, along with the incredible DanceSyndrome who will be showing us how their creative process works. ARC England member organisations will be running workshops and sessions and you will have the chance to bring along a challenge you are facing to see how creative thinking could help.

We are all creative, whether we realise it or not, and we are all using our creativity every day to come up with solutions to the issues we face. We recognise that things remain difficult for providers, staff and supported people, and we acknowledge that no single approach will provide a solution for the sector's problems, but we believe that stepping away from the day-to-day and creating space for thought, exploration and expression will provide an environment in which you can think differently and maybe even work differently.

Crucially, being creative takes time; time to relax, to be inspired and to let your imagination wander. We would like to join with you to take that time to be inspired together, not just by creativity in the artistic and performative senses, but in all its forms - enabling new ways of thinking to unblock old patterns and recognise alternatives, find new ways of communicating with each other and explore non-linear ways of thinking about what is important to each of us.

Everyone is welcome at what we are planning will be an inclusive and diverse event - service managers, CEOs, frontline staff, senior staff and supported people.

For every place booked you will get one free place for a supported person.

The Bridge Conference Centre is in the community of Burmantofts near Leeds City Centre. It is a welcoming, fully accessible site approximately one mile from Leeds train station. It also has ample on-site parking. You can find out more about it at: https://www.bccleedsconferencing.org/

All refreshments during the day will be provided, including a buffet lunch. There is also a cafe on-site.

You can find full details on our website at https://arcengland.org.uk/creativity-in-care/

9.30am Arrival and coffee

10am Welcome, Clive Parry, ARC England Director: Why we decided on theme of creativity

10.10am Another world is possible, Clenton Farquarson

10.30am Putting the ‘me’ in social media, Michelle Rebello, Social Media Manager, Dimensions

11.10am Coffee

11.30am DanceSyndrome Performance and Inclusion in Action workshop

1.00pm Lunch

1.45pm DanceSyndrome post-lunch energiser

2.00pm Interactive at-table problem-solving session: Inclusive at-table sessions looking at creative ways to approach the issues and problems raised by delegates prior to the event.

2.45pm Break

3.00pm Workshop led by ARC England Three sessions by member organisations (choice of 3):

- Drama and Performing Arts, Lisa Hart, Henshaws

- Visual Arts, Lydia Thurgar, Age Exchange, Community Integrated Care

- Small Supports, David Barras, Positive Support For You

3.45pm What have we been doing all day? Graphic minutes review

4.00pm Finish

The event is sponsored by Marr Procurement. CEO Christoph Marr will be available on the day to talk through any procurement challenges you may have.

Host or Publisher ARC England