What is Art Therapy?

 Information from:  http://healingsense.org/art-therapy-and-counselling-2/

Art Therapy is a therapeutic modality that uses the art making process with applied clinical psychology and counseling techniques. A specialized therapy, the art therapy approach to healing emphasizes the process of communicating issues, emotions and conflicts both verbally and non-verbally.  The client’s art represents communication on a symbolic level and the  art images and pieces themselves become significant in enhancing verbal exchange between the client and the therapist. With therapeutic guidance and support, art can facilitate new understandings and insights, resolve conflicts, solve problems and formulate new perceptions that in turn lead to positive changes, growth and healing.

Who are Art Therapists?

Art Therapists are master’s-level professionals who hold a degree in art therapy. Educational requirements include: theories of art therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy, assessment and treatment planning, individual, group, and family therapy techniques, ethics and standards of practice, developmental and interpersonal psychology, cultural issues, research methods and practicum experiences in clinical, community, and other settings. Art therapists are skilled in the application of a variety of art modalities (drawing, painting, sculpture and other media) for assessment and treatment. Art therapists are trained to work with people of all ages and challenges in a variety of settings including hospitals, rehabilitation, psychiatric facilities, medical, residential, educational, assisted living facilities, as well as in private practice.

Art media and forms of expression used in art therapy include:

• Painting (acrylic, tempera, watercolor).
• Sculpting  (clay, plaster, mask making and other modeling materials).
• Collage using images collected from photographs, magazines and other sources.
• Drawing and sketching with crayon, pencil crayon, markers, pastels and charcoal.
• Poetry and prose.
• Writing and journaling.
• Colors, abstract designs, images and symbols.
• Graphs and charts.
• Dialogues and letters.

What are the benefits of art therapy?

• Encourages the expression of feelings and thoughts.
• Explores new media of expression through color, images and symbols.
• Offers insight into making more conscious choices and decisions.
• Helps to deal with creative blocks and challenging patterns.
• Assists in enriching the relationship with oneself and with others.
• Provides a clear understanding of life experiences.
• Offers insight into personal potential and strengths.
• Allows space to develop a deeper sense of meaning and life purpose.

What specific issues can art therapy help with?

• Anxiety
• Social issues
• Relationships
• Trauma
• Addictions
• Loss and grief
• Depression
• Challenging behaviour
• Personal crisis
• Transitions/changes
• Autism and spectrum issues
• Developmental disabilities
• Mental health issues

 The four Professional associations are:

British Association of Art Therapists – www.baat.org

Association of Professional Music Therapists – www.apmt.org

British Association of Dramatherapists – www.badth.org.uk

The Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK – www.admt.org.uk

The Interactive Media Industry

Who works in Interactive Media?

The interactive media sector is estimated to employ around 40,000 people, representing approximately ten percent of the total audio visual workforce.
It is heavily reliant on freelancers and contractors, who are estimated to account for around one fifth of the workforce.
The workforce is generally very highly qualified. Thirty percent hold a postgraduate qualification and a further fifty percent hold an undergraduate degree. Hence in total, around eighty percent of the workforce are graduates.
The titling of job roles vary significantly within the sector. This depends on company size and the need to employ a number of new skill sets across projects on a case by case basis.
A snapshot of how the current job roles are defined, which is updated by industry on a regular basis can be found here: Interactive media job profiles
For more information, please visit our Research section.

The interactive media industry is a very fluid sector with many overlaps with, and blurred distinctions between, other sectors.
It is worth several billion pounds annually and employs around 40,000 people, representing approximately ten percent of the total audio visual workforce. Interactive media is not so much a sector as a discipline, as its creation and use is increasingly becoming part of everyday activity across all sectors of industry in general.

The interactive media and computer games workforce is highly educated, with most practitioners holding degrees and many holding postgraduate qualifications. At present, many of these are in subjects not directly related to interactive media.
The industry generally seeks graduate-calibre recruits, with the subjects studied frequently being less important than the quality of the person.

Click HERE for a featured course in Interactive Media

See the Skillset website for more info
http://www.skillset.org/

STUDENT FESTIVALS GALORE!

http://www.britishstudentfilm.co.uk/

click here

the UK’s largest festival of student moving image work

The art of being creative

If you're striving for creativity, the last thing you should do is slavishly follow advice on how to achieve it. On the other hand, being creative isn't about hanging around in a black polo neck waiting for the muse to strike, either. A lot of it is spending hours and hours trying out ideas that don't work before eventually landing on one that does.

You also need to be expert enough in a subject or skill to know that when inspiration strikes it really is inspired, rather than something that everybody else has known for ages.

To be creative, therefore, you also have to be highly motivated, hardworking and bloody-minded enough to pursue something through to the bitter end, whatever other people's reservations. You also need to be irritating. It involves continually questioning what people say and never being satisfied with the accepted way of doing things.

Luckily, spending time alone is also useful for creative people. Not only is it easier to think without someone else wittering on about how drunk they were the night before, but if you're out partying every night, you may not remember any of your original ideas.

Don't assume that drink or drugs will necessarily get the creative juices flowing, either. True, plenty of creative people have drunk a lot. But most drunks haven't created a lot, except with traffic cones.

On the other hand, you don't want to be too boring. It is vital to take risks, try out new experiences and test boundaries. If you wake daily at 9am, breakfast on Weetabix and take the bus to lectures, try earlier waking, Shreddies and walking. Better still, learn a new skill. Take a course in Chinese or start playing the flute, or tiddlywinks.

Sitting alone in your study bedroom thinking deep thoughts has its uses, but you do need to stimulate your mind in ways other than the virtual. Creativity is all about finding links between apparently unrelated situations. Relying on hyperlinks doesn't count.

Daydreaming is essential, although it is best avoided in lectures. Not only should you be too busy questioning the lecturer's assumptions to let your mind wander, but you will also need to reflect on your learning later, in new and thought-provoking ways.

This could involve drawing the gist of the lecture, writing a poem to explain it or singing your lecture notes. Don't forget to ignore other people's scepticism and trust your own instincts. But do remain open to new ideas.

Some ways of becoming more creative are easier than others. You may find relaxing, staring into space and letting your mind go blank come relatively naturally. But while it is difficult to be creative if you are trying too hard, do remember that at some point it does need to involve creating something.

• Harriet Swain
• The Guardian
• Article history

Amplified Art!

Amplified Art events are staged in art galleries and boutiques and include a marriage of creative arts disciplines which could include fine art, music, prints, apparel, poetry and novelties. 

The inclusion of art, spoken word and music creates a unique space where the community can gather to discover and experience a 'one off' art event.

examples: http://www.amplifiedgallery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amplifiedart/

A traditional open mic night comes under the amplified art banner where anyone can get up on stage and speak/sing/play preferred musical instrument into a mic. The idea is people are able to sign up before or on the night and their mode of expression could be through song, poetry, stand-up comedy, speech or however they choose, even interpretive dance!

These events celebrate creative expression and spark discussion and debate.

Student television

Student television is about students from universities and colleges producing and publishing video content independently, operating in a similar fashion to a small television station.

Content is not generally output across traditional media, as a broadcast licence may be prohibitively expensive to small non-profit organisations. 

Most student television stations use the Internet as a primary method of distributing content; either on a dedicated website, via their university's pages or on video sharing sites such as YouTube. 

Student television encapsulates a variety of different programming styles and techniques: from large stations funded by their universities who broadcast into student accommodation and buildings, to a single student uploading occasional shows to the web.

http://nasta.tv/

In the UK some student stations are affiliated with The National Student Television Association (abbreviated NaSTA), which has thirty member stations. The association holds an awards ceremony once a year to reward the best work submitted by the member stations across a number of categories.

Case Study:

York Student Television is a student TV station run by students, for students.  That means that students write, produce, present and direct all the programmes.  YSTV broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and shows both live and pre-recorded shows online, on demand and around campus.  http://ystv.co.uk/

BRIT School Student project inspired by Ghana

Great video project which was a collaboration between BDC (Media), Dance and Music students.  All imagery, music and choreography is wholly original and is inspired by the idea of city life.  This video uses orginal dubstep music combined with movement and flashmob style dance.  This collaborative video will be shown to our partner schools in Ghana as an example of our work. 
CLICK HERE

The BRIT School is Britain's only FREE Performing Arts and Technology School. It is an independent, state funded City College for the Technology of the Arts, the only one of its kind dedicated to education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design and the technologies that make performance possible.

Click here for home page

STUDENT RADIO – Get involved!

With student radio you have a rich range of opportunities to try out and develop your skills while working in ‘real life’ scenarios. It’s a great way to practice your art and prepare you for industry.

The Student Radio Association is a representative body which supports and acts on behalf of student radio in the UK, representing any radio station linked to a place of education - such as universities and colleges.

They encourage and facilitate communication between student stations, assist in their development, and offer support and advice to new stations just setting up.

http://www.studentradio.org.uk/

To give you an indication of how important student radio is they even have their own awards and charts!

The Student Radio Awards are the definitive celebration of student radio. Over the years student radio has launched the careers of Kevin Greening, Scott Mills, Kevin Hughes, Simon Mayo and Alex Zane to name but a few. The student radio awards serves both to celebrate the diversity of content and talent in student radio and to help launch the next generation of radio talent into the radio industry.

http://www.studentradioawards.co.uk/

http://www.studentradiochart.com/

List and links to student radio stations in the UK

http://www.studentradio.org.uk/members

Videos and more

http://wn.com/Student_Radio_Association

http://www.ilovestudentradio.com/