connecting and convening through grass-roots arts: equitable support for multiply disadvantaged ethnic minority women facing dying, death and grief in Bradford
WomenZone, The Leap and Dr. Jamilla Hussain (a local palliative care consultant) have been successful in securing a Hospice UK Dying Matters Community Grant.
International, national and local data have demonstrated enduring inequalities for minority ethnic groups facing dying and grief. This inequity is exacerbated for multiply marginalised individuals, such as minority ethnic women living with poverty, language barriers and disability.
In 2022, Hospice UK supported Bradford Trust Hospitals Foundation Trust, WomenZone and The Leap to deliver the “Uncovering” programme. This innovative project set out to empower Pakistani women to establish a bereavement support group, enabling women to openly discuss dying and grief.
A major finding was that these women faced multiple social and structural barriers during dying and in grief, that needed discussion, listening and action beyond WomenZone. This Connecting and Convening grant is a direct response aiming to create a more systemic support model for women and will bring diverse organisations across the ‘death system’ in Bradford to the women, to allow direct discussions around their experiences and network/relationship building. Grass-roots artist(s) will facilitate the discussions through accessible, culturally congruent methods that address power-dynamics to allow equitable connecting and convening.
We are looking for proposals for workshop activities to be planned and run by the selected artist(s). The co-designed activities will be accessible, mindful, collaborative and engaging for the participants, creating space for conversation and connections with each other through from example the use of art, poetry and other creative activities.
workshops and exhibition
The workshops will focus on Pakistani women experiencing intersectional and multiple barriers to open discussion around their experiences of death, dying and grief as well as inequitable access to hospice and end-of-life services. Workshop participants will be recruited by Womenzone and The Leap.
The selected artist(s) will deliver: Six, 2-hour workshops at WomenZone, Leeds Road, Bradford:
workshop 1 (june 2024):
The women will co-develop the following five workshops, including choosing the arts-based method, discussion topics and organisations to invite to the workshops.
workshops 2-5 (sept 2024):
In each of these weekly workshops, three organisations from across the ‘death system’ will engage in a discussion with the women about a particular topic prioritised by the women. These may include health and care services support for Pakistani women facing the end-of-life and carers, trauma-responsive bereavement support, benefits/financial support and religious support. The artist will use culturally congruent and accessible arts-based approaches to facilitate the discussion in a way that is inclusive and power-dynamics are addressed. An artist with experience of this will be identified.
workshop 6 (oct 2024):
Will bring the women’s thoughts, feelings and ideas from the workshops together (presented through the artistic outputs) and identify their priorities for next steps/actions.
exhibition (oct-dec 2024):
The artist(s) will then co-develop a mobile art exhibition capturing the experience, which will be presented at WomenZone and 4-6 other community groups supporting multiply marginalised ethnic minority women in Bradford. This will share learning, and connect Hospice UK to other groups and provide the foundation for wider work. This exhibition will also possibly be part of work exhibited to commissioners and service providers across Bradford through links with Bradford Museums and Galleries (2025).
Project timeline: The project will begin 1st April 2024 and should be completed by 1st Dec 2024
artist fees
There is an artist fee available of £175 per workshop (maximum of £1,050)
There is an artist fee available of £5,000 for the creation and touring of an exhibition (4-6 venues) of the creative and artistic works produced by the women in workshops.
There is a budget of £500 available to the artist(s) for workshop resources.
how to apply
To submit an application, please send the following to zulf@the-leap.org.uk
A short proposal, no more than two pages, outlining your approach to delivery of the six workshops.
How you will ensure the process and outcomes will reflect the women and groups who are the beneficiaries of the project.
Your ideas about how the proposed exhibition will be developed and delivered showcasing the artistic and creative work produced by women during the workshops
CV or examples of previous community-engaged work/art/creative practice
We are particularly interested in artists with:
Experience of delivering similar projects within time and budget
Can speak the preferred languages of participants (Urdu and Punjabi) and can translate directly to the outside organisations attending the workshops.
Experience in delivering workshops between stakeholders and community members and using creative methods to address the power imbalance.
Applications will be accepted as PDF, video, or audio files.
If selected, the artist will be asked to collate and provide data and feedback from each workshop.
Deadline for applications is 5th April 2024
For any queries, please contact Zulfiqar Ahmed at zulf@the-leap.org.uk or 07450857992.
