The Twin Pillars of Society...are crumbling as we speak

Last November, I spent three days working in the National Gallery of Australia during the Art of Good Health and Wellbeing conference. Over my time there, I had the luxury of slipping out of the proceedings and into the galleries themselves and soaking up Australia’s rich history and visual culture. It was a treat to spend time with people who new elements of the collection and my particular thanks go to Peter Naumann, the Head of Education + Public Programs, and Gallery Educator program co-coordinator Adriane Boag who helped me scratch the surface of my understanding of the vast collection of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander art in the collection. I knew I was ignorant to more or less all aspects of indigenous art, but alongside my complete lack of knowledge of 20th century and contemporary Australian art too, I was in for something of a revelation. It would be easy and trite to compare and contrast the development of visual art in Australia alongside what I knew of European art, but that was never going to be the case. The art that I was exposed to was about a different story, and perhaps again, one that I’m not equipped to tell. Yes there were stories of the human condition, but grounded in this vast and unforgiving landscape. So it was with a degree of excitement that I’ve noticed that The Royal Academy of Art’s big autumn/winter show next year (21 September - 8 December 2013), will be an extravaganza, a survey of 200 years of Australian art. The big names are being trumpeted, so expect Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Margaret Preston, Rover Thomas and Tracey Moffatt to sit alongside the exquisite unknown work of indigenous craftspeople.

For me the artist Howard Arkley best illustrates that unique vision of suburban Melbourne life through its architecture. Sublime stuff.

With the thought of our visual heritage and culture, and the recent speech of our PM to the Conservative Party Conference in mind, it is with some horror that I see the place of the arts on the national curriculum, is falling almost completely of the agenda.

Cultural figureheads have this week begun an attack on the governments English baccalaureate, the Ebacc, the fear being that many state schools will marginailise arts subjects, if they don’t count significantly to the Ebacc. In other words pupils have to attain a GCSE grade C or higher in five subject areas; English, maths, two sciences, and either geography or history. Drama, music, art and design aren’t included! The Cultural Learning Alliance is calling for the Government to add a sixth pillar to the currently planned, 5 subject areas.

Are you shocked? You should be. Everything this arts and health agenda is about, is deeply embedded in education, emotional intelligence and the arts. Others will talk more eloquently than me about the contribution of the arts to our economy and civic society, but we mustn't underestimate the impact that will have on the next generation.

So let me remind you of the Prime Ministers speech and his thoughts on education.

“The transformation has been astonishing – and the methods have been Conservative. Smart uniforms, teachers in suits. Children taught physics, chemistry and biology, not soft options."

But Prime Minister, aren't science and the arts the twin pillars of society?

I’m also mindful of research that I quoted in A Brightly Coloured Bell Jar that explored some of the links between intelligence testing and creativity testing, summarising that enriched environments, notably the USA, had seen a constant generational rise in IQ scores, but a reverse trend in creativity scores since 1990. In their paper, The Creativity Crisis, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman take this theme further, but with an emphasis not on art classes per se, but on how thinking creatively across the curriculum is key to flourishing.

‘Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts,’ they comment, ‘Rather, (it’s about) fact-finding and deep research (that) are vital stages in the creative process.’ The characteristics of successful creative schools is, ‘they alternate maximum divergent thinking with bouts of intense convergent thinking, through several stages… when applied to the everyday process of work or school, brain function improves.’

Grayson Perry shares his thoughts on this latest experiment in education. Click on his photograph for more.

“The idea that art will somehow look after itself – that society will breed untaught geniuses – is rubbish. We'll end up with a cultural sector even more skewed towards the privately educated. A bit like what has happened to politics.”

And like a voice of reason in this liminal world of arts, health, wellbeing and education; enter stage left, the Shadow Minister for Culture and the Arts, Dan Jarvis MP who attended the launch of the Sheffield Arts and Wellbeing Network, and judging by the transcript, spoke rather well about our agenda. Here’s a snippet. Click on the glass eyes below, for the full speech.

“Britain more than ever survives and prospers by the talent and health of its people. Investment in human capital: to allow people to innovate, to create, to think anew and be creative is fundamental to human development and unlocking potential. Plays, poetry, books, films, art, design and crafts can all support innovation, thinking, reflection, creativity and help inspire individuals. Through this process people develop; we come together; we see things differently; we understand where others come from; and when at our most vulnerable, arts and creativity helps us to heal and to cope – to live life even when we feel there is no hope. 

Although we are at a tipping point, we have much to build upon and Britain has previously developed different approaches towards improving population health.  As Shadow Culture Minister, I am seized by the role that Culture – the Arts, can play in the context of health and general well-being.”

Arts Council England announces details of its new structure, which comes into operation on 1 July 2013.

The changes come as a result of the Government's requirement - made as part of our settlement for 2011-15 - that we reduce our administrative costs, as applied to our grant in aid for the arts by the end of March 2015.

• an overall reduction in staff numbers across the organisation of 21 per cent from 559.5 full time posts to 442 (117.5 posts)
• four Executive Directors, reducing from eight, accountable for delivering the Arts Council's overall strategy, with the Chief Executive
• leadership of artform and cultural policy expertise distributed geographically across the organisation - everyone will have a local and national focus
• property costs will come down by 50 per cent through reductions in the size of offices
• major offices will be located in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, plus some smaller local offices to keep the Arts Council close to the arts and cultural sector, and to local government
• five areas covering London, the South East, the South West, the Midlands and the North replace the Arts Council's current regions and areas

Call for abstracts for Arts in Health Conference

Deadline 21st December 2012

International conference June 24, 25, 26 2013

www.culturehealthwellbeing.org.uk

We welcome the submission of abstracts for: 

• Oral Presentations
• Poster Presentations
• Participatory Workshop & Performance /Film

Our conference themes include:

• Healthy and Creative Ageing
• Global Health Inequalities and Culture
• Culture and the Social Determinants of Wellbeing

We particularly welcome abstracts that provoke new ways of researching, conceptualising and creating and will encourage delegates to question assumptions and learn about different approaches to current issues and areas of practice, with a particular focus on:

• Research
• The latest research and new methodologies
• The dissemination of international research and evaluation
• Practice
• Museums and Health
• Arts in healthcare settings
• Arts and health promotion/prevention

Further guidelines by clicking on the false teeth

Help a Heart Grants (UK)

The British Heart Foundation has announced that the next closing date for applications through its Help a Heart Grants programme is the 21st December 2012.  Through the programme community and voluntary groups are able to apply for funding of between £300 and £2,000 to promote heart health in their area. Anything that promotes heart health may be eligible for a Help a Heart Grant. The Foundation is particularly interested in original and creative ideas. Projects must be patient led. The more evidence of patient involvement and need applicants can provide, the stronger their application will be.

Read more at: http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/how-we-help/funding/help-a-heart-grants.aspx  

The David & Elaine Potter Foundation 

(UK & International)

The David and Elaine Potter Foundation is a charitable family foundation established in 1999 to encourage a stronger, fairer civil society. It has granted more than £12 million to registered charities in the UK and abroad.  The Foundation's funding is divided into five categories:

• Education
• Civil society
• Research
• Human rights
• Arts.

The trustees are interested in lasting social change, and in forming long-term partnerships with the organisations the Foundation supports.  Grants in the past have ranged from several hundred pounds to grants of up to £2 million. The grant application process is divided into two stages: a letter of enquiry and an application. An applicant is invited to submit a full proposal only if their letter of enquiry has been accepted. 

Applications can be submitted at any time. Read more at:

http://www.potterfoundation.com/index.php

Wolfson Foundation Special Needs Grants Programme (UK)

The Wolfson Foundation has announced that its Special Needs Grants Programme is open for applications.  Through its Special Needs Programme, the Wolfson Foundation, makes grants to charities and special schools that work with people with particular health needs or disabilities.   Over the past three years some £7.5 million has been allocated to nearly 150 different projects.  Grants are made for new buildings, major refurbishment work, equipment or vehicles.

There is a two stage application process.  Initially an outline of the project should be submitted.  Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to submit a full proposal.  Stage 1 applications can be submitted at any time.  The next closing date for Stage 2 applications is the 1st March 2013. Read more at: 

http://www.wolfson.org.uk/grant-applicants/special-needs/

US

Just to say, our thoughts are with you as you head into Presidential elections and following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern seaboard, our thoughts are with the invisible people of Cuba and Haiti too...

Thank you as ever for reading this blog, and feel free to share...C.P.

The man who ate 25 eggs per day: What does this case really tell us?

Many readers of this blog have probably heard about the case of the man who ate approximately 25 eggs (20 to 30) per day for over 15 years (probably well over), was almost 90 years old (88) when the case was published in the prestigious The New England Journal of Medicine, and was in surprisingly good health ().

The case was authored by the late Dr. Fred Kern, Jr., a widely published lipid researcher after whom the Kern Lipid Conference is named (). One of Kern’s research interests was bile, a bitter-tasting fluid produced by the liver (and stored in the gallbladder) that helps with the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. He frames the man’s case in terms of a compensatory adaptation tied to bile secretion, arguing that this man was rather unique in his ability to deal with a lethal daily dose of dietary cholesterol.

Kern seemed to believe that dietary cholesterol was harmful, but that this man was somehow “immune” to it. This is ironic, because often this case is presented as evidence against the hypothesis that dietary cholesterol can be harmful. The table below shows the general nutrient content of the man’s daily diet of eggs. The numbers in this and other tables are based on data from Nutritiondata.com (), in some cases triangulated with other data. The 5.3 g of cholesterol in the table (i.e., 5,300 mg) is 1,775 percent the daily value recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences ().

As you can see, the man was on a very low carbohydrate diet with a high daily intake of fat and protein. The man is described as an: “… 88-year-old man who lived in a retirement community [and] complained only of loneliness since his wife's death. He was an articulate, well-educated elderly man, healthy except for an extremely poor memory without other specific neurologic deficits … His general health had been excellent, without notable symptoms. He had mild constipation.”

The description does not suggest inherited high longevity: “His weight had been constant at 82 to 86 kg (height, 1.87 m). He had no history (according to the patient and his personal physician of 15 years) of heart disease, stroke, or kidney disease … The patient had never smoked and never drank excessively. His father died of unknown causes at the age of 40, and his mother died at 76 … He kept a careful record, egg by egg, of the number ingested each day …”

The table below shows the fat content of the man’s daily diet of eggs. With over 14 g of omega-6 fat intake every day, this man was probably close to or in “industrial seed oils territory” (), as far as daily omega-6 fat intake is concerned. And the intake of omega-3 fats, at less than 1 g, was not nearly enough to balance it. However, here is a relevant fact – this man was not consuming any industrial seed oils. He liked his eggs soft-boiled, which is why the numbers in this post refer to boiled eggs.

This man weighed between 82 to 86 kg, which is about 180 to 190 lbs. His height was 1.87 m, or about 6 ft 1 in. Therefore his body mass index varied between approximately 23 and 25, which is in the normal range. In other words, this person was not even close to obese during the many years he consumed 25 eggs or so per day. In the comments section of a previous post, on the sharp increase in obesity since the 1980s (), several readers argued that the sharp increase in obesity was very likely caused by an increase in omega-6 fat consumption.

I am open to the idea that industrialized omega-6 fats played a role in the sharp increase in obesity observed since the 1980s. When it comes to omega-6 fat consumption in general, including that in “more natural” foods (e.g., poultry and eggs), I am more skeptical. Still, it is quite possible that a diet high in omega-6 fats in general is unhealthy primarily if it is devoid of other nutrients. This man’s overall diet might have been protective not because of what he was not eating, but because of what he was eating.

The current debates pitting one diet against another often revolve around the ability of one diet or another to eliminate or reduce the intake of a “bad thing” (e.g., cholesterol, saturated fat, carbohydrates). Perhaps the discussion should be more focused on, or at least not completely ignore, what one diet or another include as protective factors. This would help better explain “odd findings”, such as the lowest-mortality body mass index of 26 in urban populations (). It would also help better explain “surprising cases”; such as this 25-eggs-a-day man’s, vegetarian-vegan “ageless woman” Annette Larkins’s (), and the decidedly carnivore De Vany couple’s ().

The table below shows the vitamin content of the man’s daily diet of eggs. The vitamin K2 content provided by Nutritiondata.com was incorrect; I had to get what seems to be the right number by triangulating values taken from various publications. And here we see something interesting. This man was consuming approximately the equivalent in vitamin K2 that one would get by eating 4 ounces of foie gras () every day. Foie gras, the fatty liver of overfed geese, is the richest known animal source of vitamin K2. This man’s diet was also high in vitamin A, which is believed to act synergistically with vitamin K2 – see Chris Masterjohn’s article on Weston Price’s “activator X” ().

Kern argued that the very high intake of dietary cholesterol led to a sharp increase in bile secretion, as the body tried to “get rid” of cholesterol (which is used in the synthesis of bile). However, the increased bile secretion might have been also been due to the high fat content of this man’s diet, since one of the main functions of bile is digestion of fats. Whatever the case may be, increased bile secretion leads to increased absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and vitamins K2 and A are fat-soluble vitamins that seem to be protective against cardiovascular disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Finally, the table below shows the mineral content of the man’s daily diet of eggs. As you can see, this man consumed 550 percent the officially recommended daily intake of selenium. This intake was slightly lower than the 400 micrograms per day purported to cause selenosis in adults (). Similarly to vitamins K2 and A, selenium seems to be protective against cardiovascular disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases. This man’s diet was also rich in phosphorus, needed for healthy teeth and bones.

Not too many people live to be 88 years of age; many fewer reach that age in fairly good health. The country with the highest average life expectancy in the world at the time of this writing is Japan, with a life expectancy of about 82 years (79 for men, and 86 for women). Those who think that they need a high HDL cholesterol and a low LDL cholesterol to be in good health, and thus live long lives, may be surprised at this man’s lipid profile: “The patient's plasma lipid levels were normal: total cholesterol, 5.18 mmol per liter (200 mg per deciliter); LDL, 3.68 mmol per liter (142 mg per deciliter); and HDL, 1.17 mmol per liter (45 mg per deciliter). The ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol was 3.15.”

If we assume that this man is at least somewhat representative of the human species, and not a major exception as Kern argued, this case tells us that a diet of 25 eggs per day followed by over 15 years may actually be healthy for humans. Such diet has the following features:

- It is very high in dietary cholesterol.

- It involves a high intake of omega-6 fats from animal sources, with none coming from industrial seed oils.

- It involves a high overall intake of fats, including saturated fats.

- It is fairly high in protein, all of which from animal sources.

- It is a very low carbohydrate diet, with no sugar in it.

- It is a nutritious diet, rich in vitamins K2 and A, as well as in selenium and phosphorus.

This man ate 25 eggs per day apparently due to an obsession tied to mental problems. Repeated attempts at changing his behavior were unsuccessful. He said: “Eating these eggs ruins my life, but I can't help it.”

藝術為健康 - Extra, Extra, read all about it...

The week kicked off with a campaign to raise awareness of this growing movement we call arts and health, and with my colleagues on the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing we’ve been celebrating what’s happening nationally, regionally and locally. What - you didn’t read the press coverage, or see us on the TV? You must be blind! Of course, the media have been wrapped up in all things BBC and Savile, and with their natural preoccupation with the sordid and scandalous, its been something of a bun-fight for the most appalling headlines, only with the main player long dead. Hideous, the whole thing. Anyway, I thought that in the absence of any hard-hitting arts health stories to hit the nationals, I would do two things: one, link you to some of the case studies from around England, (but believe me, there are rich stories beyond the confines of England; of the UK, and that s t r e t c h much further afield, beyond this little island, and that I will share very soon) that you can find by clicking on the Chicken & Ham Pie; the other is to have had a look through two of our good old Rags for signs of life and with an eye for a relevant cultural story or two.

So here are some of the cultural highlights from The SUN 

and The Guardian on Thursday 25th October 2012. 

What are these papers styles?
Guardian = Left leaning ex-broadsheet, with smug feature writers in G2 section, who enjoy nothing better than seeing large photographs of themselves wasting valuable column inches.

The SUN = Right leaning tabloid gibberish. In-print shock-jock sensationalism. Impossible to buy in Liverpool. 

Cover Headlines
Guardian = Cameron ready to claim worst of the recession is over for UK. Trailer for feature on music in Mali.

The SUN = Why I dumped ‘crazy’ Katie. Trailer for Free Holland’s Pie   

Random Stories 1

Guardian page 3 feature - Very interesting full page story on the place of music in Malian culture, and the threat of extremism to musicians. “Culture is our petrol...music is our mineral wealth,” Click on the photo above to read this powerful and important report.

The SUN page 3 feature - Lacey, 19 and Wayne (Rooney) glued to U.S. TV election debates 

Random Stories 2

Guardian page 7 feature on Suffragettes responding to the Secretary of State for Health’s recent comments on abortion.

The SUN page 7 feature, double page spread entitled, “Savile Paedo Lair Is Raided”. Enough said.

Random Stories 3

Guardian page 19 article, That same Secretary of State for Health to announce an extra £50million to create calming environments for people with dementia. The article even quotes the Kings Fund! (who were the organisation behind this weeks awareness raising campaign) 

The SUN page 19 article headlines, Throbbie Williams and, Spy Who Loved Me With His Pants On.

OK, I give up. Enough’s enough. I’ll just end this news review, with “The World’s Most Repulsive Cake Shop” in the Guardian - great stuff, just click on the body part above. They have one more article on Barbara Hepworth’s delicate and beautiful studies of orthopaedic surgeons at work in NHS hospitals. A neat article to coincide with an exhibition at the Hepworth in Wakefield, and one in which the journalist Jonathan Jones conjoins her socialist ideals with the birth of the NHS. he comments; 

“In 2012, the NHS is threatened, its future uncertain. In Wakefield, like everywhere else, there are signs that austerity has returned. Where are the values that protected British people back then, creating the NHS just as Hepworth was glorifying such common labour? Near the station, a once-grand trade union hall stands empty. Hepworth was a Labour voter – of course she was. In these drawings, she reveals her egalitarian values. Work is goodness: she sees her own work as a sculptor reflected in the steady eye and hand of the surgeon. In one drawing, he even seems to wield a hammer and chisel. But this is not mere artistic self-consciousness. The work being done in these pictures saves lives; Hepworth believes her art, too, can heal souls.” 

Some of you eager eyed readers, might remember that great publicity stunt of the SUN, way back when, when they ‘exposed’ the scandal of arts spending, in their notorious, Taking The Picasso headline! Even then, they had some great offers for their readers in mind. Now it’s PIES - then it was chips: chips eh? You’ve got to love their commitment to Good Old British Wellbeing. I don’t know about you, but it makes me warm to the core. Bang it in the microwave. 

limbic from Institut Fuer Musik Und Medien on Vimeo.

STOP PRESS: even though the Guardian's replant vodafone advertising this week was appalling, (considering their own reporting of its zero payment of corporation tax in the UK) Deborah Orr wrote a superb short article on the potency of culture. Just click on this banner to read it. Great stuff...almost as good as a cold meat pie.

Thank you as ever for your emails and for reading the blog...please share, far and wide...C.P.

art + culture = pouvoir

CREATIVITY + DISTRESS = ARTISTIC GENIUS?
Here’s another piece of research equating mental ill-health and creativity. I’m sure there’s lot’s in it that’s relevant to our field and it is interesting, but there’s always going to be a danger that we exoticise the ‘tortured’ genius and in so doing, neglect the thousands of people who are simply distressed by their health, perhaps worse still, fail to address the social and economic determinants of mental distress. Click on the photo below for a BBC article on the research, of which the text below summarises the main points. 

A new piece of research from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research has found that in a study of more than a million people, creativity is often part of a mental illness, with writers particularly susceptible to a higher risk of anxiety and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and substance abuse. Lead researcher Dr Simon Kyaga said the findings suggested disorders should be viewed in a new light and that certain traits might be beneficial or desirable. Citing the restrictive and intense interests of someone with autism and the manic drive of a person with bipolar disorder might provide the necessary focus and determination for genius and creativity. Similarly, the disordered thoughts associated with schizophrenia might spark the all-important originality element of a masterpiece. 

Dr Kyaga said: "If one takes the view that certain phenomena associated with the patient's illness are beneficial, it opens the way for a new approach to treatment. "In that case, the doctor and patient must come to an agreement on what is to be treated, and at what cost. Beth Murphy, head of information at Mind, said bipolar disorder personality traits could be beneficial to those in creative professions, but it may also be that people with bipolar disorder are more attracted to professions where they can use their creative skills. "It is important that we do not romanticise people with mental health problems, who are too often portrayed as struggling creative geniuses. 

I AM: Art as an agent for change
I’ve spent the most intense few days on a residential, exploring the role of self-portraiture as part of the recovery pathway from substance addiction. With funding from Grundtvig I’ll be working with the Kütahya Green Crescent Branch in Turkey, Gruppo Incontro and FeDerSerD in Italy and Portraits of Recovery here in the UK and over the next two years, we'll be exploring our cultural differences and synergies in relation to recovery. As well as facilitating artists exchanges between the countries, I’ll be developing arts and health strategies with the partners and in 2014, we'll be holding an exhibition and public seminar here in Manchester.

Although the project is led by the UK, the demands of working in three languages and the subtleties of cultural and language differences, provide us with some unique challenges. For me this is a huge leap in the development of arts/health strategy, policy and practice. Not because old colonial Britain is out there sharing its ‘one nation’ nonsense, but because our dear old faded Albion, can learn a great deal from countries who don’t speak English as a first language. In general, I’ve found over the last decade or so, arts/health ‘events’ seem to be neatly divided between those speaking in English and the rest of the world! So part of this work, and other engagement I’m involved in, isn’t exporting the Empire of Arts and Health as some foreign policy, but absorbing other traditions and possibilities and sharing new realities. This might mean influencing policy change on one hand, but on the other it could be about reevaluating our own understanding of our sometimes hyper-inflated self belief.

BOOM 

The Strongest Weapon In The World
Radical DIY: artist-makers of extraordinary and poetic machines
30/10/2012 @ The Arts Catalyst, London 6pm doors open (bar). 6:30-9pm 

This event is free, but I'd advise getting in touch with Arts Catalyst about spaces. There'll be a number of artists there on the night, but I am particularly inspired by Korean artist Hojun Song who has built a fully functioning satellite. His tiny satellite is a DIY engineering masterpiece: he hacked together a solar cell, a lithium-ion battery, an Arduino board, and four powerful LED lights. The cube will transmit Morse code messages that can be seen from back on Earth. He has set up the Open Source Satellite Initiative to ensure others can follow. In 2010, he made the Strongest Weapon in the World - I Love You. If you hit it – with an extremely large mallet - it says “I love you”. It can withstand a nuclear attack. His Radioactive Jewelry meanwhile is not for those wishing for long life. 

For full details click on the moon.

For those of you interested in the Strongest Weapon, here is the artists description, and his handy hints on how to use it.

The strongest weapon in the world is an object that cannot be destroyed by any strong weapons in the world. When attacked, it responds with beautiful messages. And it lives forever to deliver those messages.
How it works: Wear the helmet - Grab the hammer - Hit the weapon really hard 

FUNDING

An Opportunity to Pitch for International Investment in Healthcare Businesses at Innoventure Europe.

This sounds like a really interesting and challenging opportunity. I can’t vouch for anything about this organisation or the process, but it sounds too interesting not to share.

The challenge of providing the most efficient care at the lowest cost possible in the healthcare industry is likely to amplify in the coming years and decades. While much of the answer lies in transforming the healthcare system from one focused on curing illnesses after they take place to one focused on preventing illness from happening in the first place, advances in the fields of bio-informatics, statistics-based targeted medicine, highly intelligent internet connected diagnostic devices, and wireless and mobile health apps that link patients to physicians, are all combining to usher in a radically different healthcare system focused on predictive care, personalized diagnostic and virtual treatment within bio-connected communities. INNOVENTURE EUROPE’s Best of Breed selection will uncover opportunities across these fields and many others.

This unique opportunity (within the two years of Innoventure Europe) is available to SMEs from across Western Europe to excite international business angel and venture capital investors with a 10 minute pitch. Innoventure Europe will be held in Central Paris on 13 December and is free for the 20 SMEs selected to pitch (normally €1,000). Personalised advice and coaching is also provided (including the day before in Paris) to maximize the impact of your pitch. To apply, click on the small urinating person above.

The first round of the 3-stage selection process takes approximately 25 minutes and closes on 12 November. Please note that participation in Innoventure Europe is dependent on a signed non-disclosure agreement to protect both you and others. Each event is also an important networking opportunity with close to 200 investors and start-ups in one technology area. For further information please contact Arthur Cornez at arthur.cornez@innoventure-europe.com

http://innoventure-europe.com/

Funding for IT Projects Supporting Disadvantaged Groups (UK)
Funding is available to organisations with innovative IT related project ideas that can make a positive difference to disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. The funding, which is available through the Nominet Trust, aims to fund innovative Internet projects that make a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. The Trust is particularly interested in funding projects that can be scaled up and replicated. There is no minimum grant application and applications for over £100,000 require an interview. Organisations wishing to apply, need initially to complete and online application form. Those organisations deemed successful will be invited to complete the Stage 2 application form.

The next closing date for submitting initial Advisory Eligibility Forms is the 12th December 2012. Stage 2 applications to be submitted by the 31st January 2013. Read more at: http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/

Hilton in the Community Foundation Grants (UK)
Organisations that work with young people have the opportunity to apply for grants through the Hilton Foundation. Organisations such as charities and other not for profits can apply for grants ranging from a few hundred pounds up to £30,000 per year for up to 2 years that meet one of the Foundation's chosen areas of focus. These are: Disabled children, Children in hospital, Homelessness, Life-limited children in hospices. 
The next closing date for applications is 5.30 pm on 12th February 2013. Read more at: http://www.hilton-foundation.org.uk/application.htm

...and another manifesto teaser

Thank you as ever for following this blog...C.P.

The steep obesity increase in the USA in the 1980s: In a sense, it reflects a major success story

Obesity rates have increased in the USA over the years, but the steep increase starting around the 1980s is unusual. Wang and Beydoun do a good job at discussing this puzzling phenomenon (), and a blog post by Discover Magazine provides a graph (see below) that clear illustrates it ().

What is the reason for this?

You may be tempted to point at increases in calorie intake and/or changes in macronutrient composition, but neither can explain this sharp increase in obesity in the 1980s. The differences in calorie intake and macronutrient composition are simply not large enough to fully account for such a steep increase. And the data is actually full of oddities.

For example, an article by Austin and colleagues (which ironically blames calorie consumption for the obesity epidemic) suggests that obese men in a NHANES (2005–2006) sample consumed only 2.2 percent more calories per day on average than normal weight men in a NHANES I (1971–1975) sample ().

So, what could be the main reason for the steep increase in obesity prevalence since the 1980s?

The first clue comes from an interesting observation. If you age-adjust obesity trends (by controlling for age), you end up with a much less steep increase. The steep increase in the graph above is based on raw, unadjusted numbers. There is a higher prevalence of obesity among older people (no surprise here). And older people are people that have survived longer than younger people. (Don’t be too quick to say “duh” just yet.)

This age-obesity connection also reflects an interesting difference between humans living “in the wild” and those who do not, which becomes more striking when we compare hunter-gatherers with modern urbanites. Adult hunter-gatherers, unlike modern urbanites, do not gain weight as they age; they actually lose weight (, ).

Modern urbanites gain a significant amount of weight, usually as body fat, particularly after age 40. The table below, from an article by Flegal and colleagues, illustrates this pattern quite clearly (). Obesity prevalence tends to be highest between ages 40-59 in men; and this has been happening since the 1960s, with the exception of the most recent period listed (1999-2000).

In the 1999-2000 period obesity prevalence in men peaked in the 60-74 age range. Why? With progress in medicine, it is likely that more obese people in that age range survived (however miserably) in the 1999-2000 period. Obesity prevalence overall tends to be highest between ages 40-74 in women, which is a wider range than in men. Keep in mind that women tend to also live longer than men.

Because age seems to be associated with obesity prevalence among urbanites, it would be reasonable to look for a factor that significantly increased survival rates as one of the main reasons for the steep increase in the prevalence of obesity in the USA in the 1980s. If significantly more people were surviving beyond age 40 in the 1980s and beyond, this would help explain the steep increase in obesity prevalence. People don’t die immediately after they become obese; obesity is a “disease” that first and foremost impairs quality of life for many years before it kills.

Now look at the graph below, from an article by Armstrong and colleagues (). It shows a significant decrease in mortality from infectious diseases in the USA since 1900, reaching a minimum point between 1950 and 1960 (possibly 1955), and remaining low afterwards. (The spike in 1918 is due to the influenza pandemic.) At the same time, mortality from non-infectious diseases remains relatively stable over the same period, leading to a similar decrease in overall mortality.

When proper treatment options are not available, infectious diseases kill disproportionately at ages 15 and under (). Someone who was 15 years old in the USA in 1955 would have been 40 years old in 1980, if he or she survived. Had this person been obese, this would have been just in time to contribute to the steep increase in obesity trends in the USA. This increase would be cumulative; if this person were to live to the age of 70, he or she would be contributing to the obesity statistics up to 2010.

Americans are clearly eating more, particularly highly palatable industrialized foods whose calorie-to-nutrient ratio is high. Americans are also less physically active. But one of the fundamental reasons for the sharp increase in obesity rates in the USA since the early 1980s is that Americans have been surviving beyond age 40 in significantly greater numbers.

This is due to the success of modern medicine and public health initiatives in dealing with infectious diseases.

PS: It is important to point out that this post is not about the increase in American obesity in general over the years, but rather about the sharp increase in obesity since the early 1980s. A few alternative hypotheses have been proposed in the comments section, of which one seems to have been favored by various readers: a significant increase in consumption of linoleic acid (not to be confused with linolenic acid) since the early 1980s.

Sztuka + kultura = potęga

I am excited to be traveling to Fremantle in Western Australia this November, for the fourth Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, International Arts and Health Conference. When I talk about the value of getting together with strangers and sharing ideas only happening at events like this, it sounds rather cliched, doesn’t it: but the fact is, its true. These events are one-off opportunities to mingle with incredibly diverse groups of people - people with experience and skills way beyond those of mine. I’m naturally quite reserved, and although I do the public speaking bit and thrive on sharing ideas, I sometimes feel that at events like this, I’m an ant in comparison to the doctors who have saved countless lives; the nurses with compassion beyond my capability and the artists - those artists who thrill and impress beyond words. People whose take on life is sometimes forensic, sometimes revolutionary. So yes, in the shadows of some of these amazing individuals, I often go to these events thinking, who am I, some kind of fraud? 

But that’s just it - like those sometimes large, (often small) networking events that I convene in the North West, these conferences offer us all the opportunity to experience the other, the unique and the profound. Rather than feeling like a fish out of water, I reckon those of us going should just embrace the fact that we’re all part of that mix - we all have a part to play in this arts/health field: a field that we’re forming each time we meet. At last years conference in Canberra, my paper exploring attitudes to wellbeing, and the potential of the arts at the end of life, was almost scuppered by my last minute exposure to the Pukamani burial poles that are part of the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. This new and provocative experience for me was in fact, a deep cultural tradition of Aboriginal communities and it was usefully tempered by meeting people involved in the contemporary care of people receiving arts based support as part of their palliative care. Talk about being in at the deep end!  

Preparing for this years conference and my speaking part, I’ve been rifling through all sorts of papers, exploring some ideas behind what drives us to get involved in this sort of work; and judging by the economic climate; what restrains us? The things you stumble upon asking questions, frequently alter the course of your thinking. Last year, working towards a manifesto for arts and health, reading Jonathan Swift exposed me to vicious satire, in the guise of economic solutions to inequalities - then there was the fortuitous stumbling upon the poetry of Julia Darling, reimagining her home town; and the blistering “It is What it Is” curated by Jeremy Deller, redefining my understanding of socially-engaged art. As I type, I’m reading the the most evocative story of early electricity, of small electrified children suspended from 18th Century exhibition hall ceilings; of electric kisses; of mavericks and luminaries (literally)! Science, Art, Culture, Politics and Human Wellbeing - our field of enquiry and practice is emergent and exciting. I’m thrilled to have a part to play in this conversation - around our contribution to 21st Century enlightenment.

I will want your contributions to this years paper too! Although I am preparing to give a presentation, I’ll be asking things of you. Not things to shout out as you throw your rotten fruit at me - I wouldn’t be so foolish - but over the conference I’d like you be thinking about:

• Where we diverge...where we converge 
• What are the obstacles tearing us apart 
• How can we overcome them 
• What are our untapped assets 

...think of this as a big fat global SWAT chart....our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats laid bare. So please come prepared to share your observations, your experience and your experiments! 

With some of these thoughts in mind, I’ll be working with esteemed colleagues after the event, to magically transform my scribble into something worthy of a journal article. 

So, to conclude these brief thoughts on why I think gatherings of this sort are important, I’d like to share in some small way, just how encountering those Burial Poles and meeting with people far more experienced in the field of end of life care than me, has impacted on me this last year. The first thing is, I’ve revisited the whole area of dementia care, with people in the later stages of the disease. I’ve done that alongside Darren Browett, the designer whose exquisite work I shared at last years conference. Together, we’ve been exploring both the legacy of the earlier work he developed and critically, how it moves forward and gets refined. Working within the NHS and with exemplary Occupational Therapists has enabled us to work closely and in a more embedded way. What we’ve experienced has been small scale and revelatory. I’ll publish a pamphlet on this early in 2013. Parallel to this, I’ve had the opportunity to develop some of those ideas that I set out in last years paper, Towards Sentience and whilst that paper is published as a book chapter early next year, I will be co-curating an exhibition which will be shown in Lithuania and Columbia as well as in Manchester during the period of the Manchester International Festival in July, and which will include some important and iconic contemporary art and will facilitate public debate around attitudes to death, ranging from art as a tool for mitigating difficult conversation - and inevitably the role of artists and designers in discussions around advanced directives and assisted dying. MORTALITY: death and the imagination will run from 8th July to 16th August 2013. Details of the works and speakers will be announced shortly.

So, if you’re coming along to the conference, it will be great to see you and know more about your work and find out how we all connect as part of this ‘small scale global phenomenon’, and perhaps I'll get the chance to share the story of these electrified children too! SHOCKING!


BLASTING AND BOMBARDIERING 

For those of you who have been part of our manifesto work over the last year, part two of this blasting and bombardiering will be wending its way onto the blog over the next few weeks. Here to whet your appetite and to sit alongside the Charter for Arts, Health and Wellbeing (see below), is one of the giant colour posters, courtesy of graphic designer Kamila Kasperowicz. And before you ask: yes it will be available in glorious black and white too - and in a variety of languages! This is just your blurry teaser! ENJOY.

The National Alliance for Arts, Health 

and Wellbeing
I’d also like to let you know about the launch of the new National Alliance for Arts Health and Wellbeing (England). This new body is designed to raise awareness of the impact the arts can have on health and wellbeing, to bring together the work that is happening across the country and to act as a resource for the whole sector.

The Alliance is made up of partners from across the country (a list of these is below), these partners will act as contacts for their region and will also liaise with national organisations working in this area along with government departments, the media and the public. 

The founding principles of the Alliance form a new Charter for Arts Health and Wellbeing. Over the past twelve months, more than 1000 organisations and individuals have collaborated to create this Charter, which has been influenced by the manifesto process, and which summarises why we think the arts have a role to play in health and how we hope the arts will come to be seen as an integral part of the health of individuals, communities and society as a whole. The Charter is available on the website www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk along with a range of links to research, a directory of organisations and resources for the media. This website will form the central resource for the Alliance and will be gradually developed over the year ahead. Do share the Charter and the website with friends and colleagues. 

The Alliance has been developed with funding from Arts Council England and the energy and input of a huge number of people from across the country. It will be Chaired in turn by different regional partners, rotating every six months. The current Chair is Alex Coulter, Director of Arts and Health South West. London Arts in Health Forum is acting as Secretariat to the National Alliance so if you have any queries about the work of the Alliance or about the website, do please contact info@lahf.org.uk

In the coming months, we will be running a media campaign to promote the role of the arts in health, supporting the development of Arts and Health South West’s international conference in June next year and working on a range of activity to support those working in this field. In the meantime, we’d like to thank everyone who has helped make the launch possible.

The National Alliance is made up of the following regional partners, each representing a region of England: 

North West, Clive Parkinson, Arts for Health at Manchester Metropolitan University
North East, Mike White, Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham
Yorkshire and the Humber, Deborah Munt, Open Art,Yorkshire
East Midlands, tbc
West Midlands, Kate Gant, Creative Health
East Anglia, Kirsten Heydinrych, Open Arts/Essex & Gavin Clayton, Arts & Minds, Cambridgeshire
South West, Alex Coulter, Arts and Health South West
South East Guy Eades, South East Arts and Health Partnership London Victoria Hume, London Arts in Health Forum 

READING FOR WELLBEING PARTNERSHIP E X P A N D S  ACROSS THE North West
The Reader Organisation is proud to announce that it has been commissioned to deliver its unique shared reading model, Get Into Reading, in every Mental Health Trust in the North West of England. A commission from the North West Strategic Health Authority will develop partnerships with Cheshire and Wirral NHS Trust, Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Cumbria Partnership Trust, Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, and Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust. The project will be led by The Reader Organisation, NHS Cheshire, and Warrington and Wigan PCT Cluster. Readers-in-Residence are already established in Mersey Care NHS Trust, Greater Manchester West NHS Trust, and 5 Boroughs Partnership Trust. 

24 sustainable new Get Into Reading groups will be established by 5 new Reader Organisation Project Workers, who will also provide in-house training to allow NHS staff, including psychologists and occupational therapists, to take over group facilitation. The groups take place in community, in-patient and secure settings. 

Poor mental health is especially prevalent in deprived areas, an estimated 40% of which are situated in North West England. According to the North West Equality and Diversity Strategy, 14 of the area’s PCTs are in the 50 worst nationally for health inequality. 1 in 4 people will experience mental health problems during their lifetime, and Get Into Reading provides an non-medical intervention accessible to all. The impacts of Get Into Reading groups include increased personal confidence and reduced social isolation, as well as a sense of stability and support, key factors in preventing mental health problems. Participants also record improved mental, emotional and psychological wellbeing. 

Dr David Fearnley, Medical Director, Mersey Care NHS Trust (RCPsych ‘Psychiatrist of the Year 2009’), says: 

“Get Into Reading is one of the most significant developments to have taken place in mental health practice in the last ten years.”

http://thereaderonline.co.uk/2012/10/10/get-into-reading-wellbeing-partnerships-expand-across-north-west/

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Sky Arts: Futures Fund 

Deadline: 14 December 2012
Sky Arts’ Futures Fund has now reopened for applications, offering five young artists £30,000 each to fund their work for a full year. The fund is designed to help bridge the gap between formal education and becoming a working artist. The Futures Fund is open to individual artists working in the fields of the performing arts, dance, music and the visual arts. To apply, applicants must be an IdeasTap member aged 18-30 and be based in either the UK or Ireland. It’s free to become an IdeasTap member and just takes a few minutes to sign up. For more information go to the http://www.ideastap.com/Opportunities/Brief/9fb819f2-65d7-405d-8bc0-a0b700eaa974#Overview

Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation (UK)

• The Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation has announced that its grants making programme is open for applications. The Foundation supports projects in children’s hospitals and hospices throughout the UK to enrich and enhance the lives of patients. Projects that could be considered by the Foundation include amongst others:
• Arts, music, play and leisure programmes 
• Facilities to support families of children treated in hospitals or hospices 
• Care and facilities in hospices 
• Supporting children with physical and emotional difficulties 
• Medical equipment (when it can be shown that funding is not available from statutory sources). 

The closing date for applications is the 7th December 2012. Read more at:
http://www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org/about/apply-for-grant/ 

Coalfields Regeneration Trust's Level 2 Grants (England) 
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust has announced that its Level 2 grant scheme is open to applications. Funding is available to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations for projects that address key funding themes that respond to the needs of coalfield communities. These are:

• Access to Employment 
• Education and Skills 
• Health and Well Being 

Access to Opportunities which aims to improve access to services in coalfield communities recognising that limited community infrastructure and geographical isolation can prevent people from taking up opportunities. Eligible projects must address one or more of these themes. Grants will be of between £10,000 and £100,000 and can be used towards capital and revenue costs. To access the Coalfields Community Grants Level 2 Application Form applicants will need to initially discuss their project in detail with one of the Trust’s Programme managers. Applications can be made at any time. Read more at: http://www.coalfields-regen.org.uk/englandgrantinformation/default.asp

FOOTNOTE....
We’ve had a bit of a week in politics. Our PM gave his rousing closing speech to a packed conference, full of aspiration, enterprise and possibility, and in which he stressed the importance of a rounded education, and his commitment to an emotionally intelligent society (not). I quote:

“...the genuine revolution is underway. The transformation has been astonishing – and the methods have been Conservative. Smart uniforms, teachers in suits. Children taught physics, chemistry and biology not soft options.” 

You can enjoy the full aspirational text by clicking on the homeless man above, who despite his best attempts, has not yet absorbed the privalages available to him. .

Big thanks to Nerissa for her support and John at www.ragingtrifle.com with advice on the blog.

...and a big thank you for coming here... C.P.