Our first ever artist residency to kick off with Afrobeat and Dub gig in South London

A key part of our work is to engage with our local community to promote wider awareness of mental wellbeing, and of the research we undertake to find new and better treatments. Connections with our local community also help us to shape our research goals and strategy.

As such, we are proud to announce that Soothsayers, a South London-based Afrobeat and Dub group, have started their year-long journey as the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre’s first artists in residence. This collaboration will use music to reach out to the South London community and explore aspects of life contributing to the mental health issues they face, particularly those related to living in an urban environment, such as health inequalities, loneliness and isolation.  This residency will use musical interaction to explore these issues, while creating opportunities for engaging communities and alleviating symptoms.

The partnership will kick off with a set of music-making workshops, where Soothsayers will create music with our BRC Youth Award winners. The workshops will be followed by a full live set from the band on 29 November at The Portico Gallery in West Norwood.

Soothsayers said: “There is pressing need to address mental health issues in our society, and many reasons why now is a crucial time to get involved in community activities that can alleviate many of the root causes of mental health issues.

We hope to engage as many people as possible in simple but effective musical contexts, and add to the evidence that already points to the fact that music can heal.”

At the first showcase of the partnership on Friday 29 November, the band will be joined by some of the young people from Youthsayers and some of the NIHR Maudsley BRC’s participating research groups.

Tickets for the gig are available here (FREE tickets are available for BRC staff and anyone involved in our advisory boards or community programmes using this promo code: soothpg)

Dr Sally Marlow, the BRC’s champion for research impact and engagement, said: “Working with local groups like Soothsayers is a great way to build connections with the community. We hope this partnership will help us find new ways of thinking about causes, diagnoses and treatments of mental illness, and to reach those under-served by the arts and by mental health services.

We are looking forward to this first celebratory event in November, and indeed to where this partnership takes us in the coming months.”

Stay tuned for further events throughout the year.


Tags: Public engagement -

By NIHR Maudsley BRC at 31 Oct 2019, 15:59 PM


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