01229 825085
Art Gene, Bath Street, Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria, LA14 5TY England, UK
Looking sideways: creative health in the Barrow context
Art Gene invites you to a round table discussion on the role of arts and creativity in the health care system in Barrow: Friday, 27 February 2026, 1.00pm – 5.00pm.
Art Gene is an Arts Council England NPO; we have been leading socially engaged practice in Barrow for 25 years. Now seems the right time to bring our community together to consider the role of the arts in helping to tackle health inequalities in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board area.
Our provocation: how can the powerful and empowering process of making art be integrated into local health systems?
We pose this question against the backdrop of Art Gene’s current exhibition, Experts in Transient Living, co-created by artists Martin J Gent and Maddi Nicholson, and people with lived experience of homelessness in Barrow: Elisha, Liam, Jafar, Marie & Dawn.
Programme
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13.00
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Arrival; refreshments.
We will provide vegetarian and vegan cheese, humous, crackers, fruit and biscuits. You may want to bring additional lunch items.
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13.30
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Welcome: Maddi Nicholson, Art Gene Director
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Prof Helen Chaterjee (Online), Health Inequalities Programme Director, Arts and Humanities Research Board: The national context for creativity and health: the opportunities and challenges
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13.50
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Dr Barbara Mezes, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool: Tackling health inequalities in coastal communities
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Dr Maryam Ghorbankarimi, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice, Lancaster University: Site-seeing: making films with refugees
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Maddi Nicholson, freelance artist: 25 years in Barrow: Art Gene’s contribution to community wellbeing
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15.10
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Break
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15.20
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Martin J Gent, multi-disciplinary artist and creative consultant: Experts in Transient Living
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15.30
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Thinking forward and next steps, led by Martin
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16.30 – 17.00
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Departure
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