WELCOME TO COOLTAN ARTS E-BULLETIN OCTOBER 2010

Events take place at CoolTan Arts Unit B 237 Walworth Rd SE171RL unless otherwise stated.
www.cooltanarts.org.uk www.afunnyfarm.org.uk
info@cooltanarts.org.uk Tel: 020 7701 2696

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – DON’T MISS THESE EVENTS

9th October 11.30am: CoolTan Arts’ Sponsored Walk - Part of the Story of London - SIGN UP Now!
4th – 29th October: World Mental Health Day Exhibition at Oxford House, Bethnal Green
5th October, 6.30pm: Exhibition Opening and Film Screening at Carnegie Library
19th October, 6pm: Mid-Exhibition event at Oxford House
26 October, 3pm-4.30pm: Community Advocacy Meeting
4th November, 2pm-4.30pm: CoolTan Arts Open Day

UPCOMING EVENTS

CoolTan Arts Sponsored Walk – Be part of the Story of London *SIGN-UP NOW*
Join the fun, celebrate Mad Heritage and World Mental Health Day
Saturday 9th October 2010, 11.30am
Where: Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ (by the main entrance)
Finish: Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
Join CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle, celebrate mad culture and help us raise
money to enable CoolTan Arts to move to a suitable new building and
continue running our high quality arts activities!
The Mayor of Lambeth is opening the walk and we might have some surprise
guests at the start or end of the walk!
Explore the past, present and future of madness and psychiatric innovation.
We will placing disposable public sculptures, produced in our Sculpture
Workshop, along the route of the walk. Discover Octavia Hill at Red Cross
Gardens, Charles Babbage on Larcom Street, Michael Faraday at Faraday
Gardens, Sir Peter Mansfield at the Institute of Psychiatry and David Morris at
Tate Modern.
Check our website, flickr or facebook for images of the sculptures and get an
idea what it’s all about.
Last year 90 people joined the walk, and we raised £3,000. Let’s make it £6,000 this year!
Celebrate mad culture by joining us on our Largactyl Shuffle and reception at Tate Modern for a donation
of only £5! Sign up now in the office, or check http://www.cooltanarts.org.uk/ for details. To register,
please pay your £5 through paypal (link at the top of CoolTan’s website), email clara@cooltanarts.org.uk
with your details and paypal receipt.
Can’t make the walk? Sponsor our walkers on
http://www.justgiving.com/cooltanartslargactylwalkers
Your donation will make a huge difference!
£5 pays for our milk for 1 week, £10 tea and coffee, £30 a 2-hour workshop, £75.00 pays for art material
for a small workshop, £1,500 could fund one person do one workshop per week for one year, £30,000
could buy a new toilet block with disabled access.

Road to Recovery Exhibition at Carnegie Library

5 October – 31 October 2010
Opening: Tue 05 Oct at 6:30pm
An exciting exhibition featuring artworks by participants at CoolTan Arts’
workshops. Admission to the event and exhibition are free.
The Opening event will be on the Tue 05 Oct at 6:30pm with film
screening and poetry readings. It will be a great chance to meet the
artists.
Location: Carnegie Library, 188 Herne Hill Road, London SE24 0AG
Opening times: Monday – 1pm-8pm, Tuesday – closed,
Wednesday – 10am-6pm, Thursday – closed, Friday – 10am-6pm, Saturday – 9am-5pm, Sunday –
closed
 Mad Heritage Exhibition at Oh!Gallery: 4 – 29 October
A group exhibition of CoolTan artists celebrating World Mental Health and
raising awareness of the charity’s work: promoting wellbeing through Art.
The artists are all participants of workshops run for and by those whom
have experienced mental distress, their work bears testimony to the
exceptional power of art to transform and liberate. Through painting,
drawing, sculpture, textile and written word we see the triumphal,
extraordinary and unusual exploration of our Mad Heritage.

Mid-exhibition Event: Tue 19th October 6-9pm Oh! Gallery with screening of the Largactyl Shuffle film
and presentation of CoolTan’s work.
Admission to the Exhibition and Event are free. Come join the fun - You’d be mad not to!
Location: Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 6HG,
http://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/

CoolTan Arts Open Day: 4 November 2pm-4.30pm

Come and join us for our open day on Thursday 4th November, from 2-4.30pm to find out more about
CoolTan Arts and how you can get involved. There’ll be a short presentation about CoolTan’s workshops
and activities at 2pm and again at 3pm, tours of the gallery and facilities, and you can try one of our
taster workshops from 2.30pm onwards. To find out more contact Rosie on 0207 701 2696 or email
rosie@cooltanarts.org.uk. We look forward to seeing you then!

RECENT NEWS

Ruby Wax and Judith Owen at CoolTan Arts

A crowd of good 50 people made it to CoolTan Arts on Saturday 2nd October - Ruby Wax and Judith
Owen performed their latest show ‘Losing It’ at CoolTan Arts!
“In the space of an hour-and-a-bit, I laughed more than I have over the last couple of months. Far from
being the intimidating characters that I’d imagined, Ruby and Judith made me and my companions feel
like we were on the same level as them, giving a warm, empathetic and insightful view into their
experiences. An evening of bittersweet comedy, with a serious message behind it, the show seemed to
resonate with many of our own lives. Laughter being the best medicine, I’m tempted to suggest that
‘Losing It’ should be available on prescription from all good GPs.” (Zoe King).
A full review and images are available on CoolTan Arts website.

CoolTan Arts has job vacancies

CoolTan Arts is recruiting for an Operations Director and Largactyl Shuffle Project Manager. More details
on how to apply, job description and application form will be available on our website by 11th October on
the latest. CVs not accepted. For more information, email info@cooltanarts.org.uk or call 020 77012696
and speak to Michelle or Kathrin.

WORKSHOPS AND ACTIVITIES – OPEN TO PEOPLE EXPERIENCING MENTAL DISTRESS

Community Advocacy Meeting: 26 October 2010, 3pm-4.30pm
Come along to our monthly community advocacy meeting, meet like-minded people, get your voice
heard and ask your questions. Please email rosie@cooltanarts.org.uk for more info or call 0207
7012696. We look forward to seeing you then!

Self-Advocacy Training Skills Programme

Self-advocacy skills training can assist in knowing and accessing your rights and getting
your voice heard in many situations.
The Self-advocacy Skills Training workshops continue through October, from Wednesday
13th October 11am - 12.45pm, Thursday 14th October 2pm-4.30pm, and the Wednesdays
and Thursdays of the weeks onwards.

CoolTan Arts is pleased to welcome two new Mental Health Assistant Workers, whose roles will be
delivering the Recovery Star on a one-to-one training and support basis. Later in the month there will be
invitations to an event find out more about Recovery, Recovery Star, and self-directed support, along
with advocacy and self-advocacy.
 More details and updates available at CoolTan Arts, or phone, email or write to us and ask for Phil
Ruthen, Advocacy Training Coordinator.
Telephone: 020 7701 2696 or
Mobile: 0798 565 8443 
phil@cooltanarts.org. News at: http://www.cooltanarts.org.uk/advocacy-2/ and http://afunnyfarm.org.uk/

Join a regular workshop at CoolTan

Do you need to get out of the house? Come along to one of CoolTan’s workshops to meet people,
learn new skills, have fun, and break out of isolation with like-minded people. Our workshops are
open to any adults experiencing mental distress with access to direct payments or Community Care
Plan CPA. Please contact CoolTan Arts on 020 77012696 or email referrals@cooltanarts.org.uk for
more details or to make a booking.

Workshop Timetable
Day Morning Afternoon Evening
Visual Arts 1-3pm
Mondays Volunteering Batik 2-4pm Volunteering
Sculpture 3.30-5.30pm
Basic / Intermediate IT 12-4pm (please book)
Yoga, Meditation and de-stress 1pm-2pm
Tuesdays Drawing 11am-1pm Movement Therapy: 2pm-3pm Volunteering
Photoshop 2pm-4pm
Video & filming 4-6pm
Visual arts women only 2-4pm
Wednesdays Volunteering Knitting 4pm-6pm Volunteering
Web development 4-6pm
Thursday Poetry 11-1pm Largactyl Shuffle workshop 2-4 pm Volunteering
Friday Visual Arts 10.30am-12.30pm Visual Arts 1-3pm N/A
rd
Saturday’s N/A Largactyl Shuffle Walk 12noon, every 3 Saturday N/A

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES
Why volunteer? – Need help getting back into work, want to give back to the community
Volunteers do a wonderful job and CoolTan couldn’t exist without the work they do. Volunteering at
CoolTan Arts can help you gain confidence and new skills, get work experience, make new friends.
Volunteer opportunities are available every day. If you would like to help us, please speak to Asia at
CoolTan, contact her on 020 7701 2696, email volunteers@cooltanarts.org.uk or check the website
http://cooltanarts.org.uk/category/voluntary-position/ for more details.

Opportunity of the month: Event volunteers and event photographers

Do you want to help out at an event or with exhibitions? There’s a lot happening at CoolTan and we
need as many helpers as possible. No matter how much or little time you have, please drop us a line if
you are interested in volunteering at an event!

Services for Health and Social Care Organisations, mental health practitioners, GPs,
social workers, key workers…
CoolTan Arts can work with GPs and other health professionals to meet the social care needs of their
clients. We are very keen to meet you and your teams and tell you more about the services CoolTan Arts
offers.
If you are a community mental health practitioner and you would like to refer clients, please contact us
on 020 77012696 or email referrals@cooltanarts.org.uk.
If you are interested in finding out more about us and how we can work with your organisation, or want a
CoolTan representative at your team meetings to give an introduction to CoolTan, please contact us on
020 77012696 or email rosie@cooltanarts.org.uk.

Last, but not least, a big thanks to our donors, funders, supports, and to all the people who give their
time and energy to CoolTan Arts and make what we do possible.

CoolTan Arts believes mental wellbeing is enhanced by the power of creativity.

We are proud to have as Patrons: Maggi Hambling, Sokari Douglas Camp, Ali Smith,
Clare Allan and Rosemary Shrager

Unit B 237 Walworth Rd London SE17 1RL T: 0207 701 2696 M: 0798 565 8443
W: www.cooltanarts.org.uk E: info@cooltanarts.org.uk
CoolTan Arts Registered charity number 1064231 Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales reg. 3244552