Bristol Arts Therapy Studio Appeals For Help

Description:

Studio Upstairs is a unique therapeutic arts community in Bristol for people who have suffered from mental health problems or are in drug and alcohol recovery. It recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The SU model provides its members with a sense of belonging and acceptance, often preventing repeated and costly psychiatric treatment and hospitalization. It allows its members to develop socially and artistically, equipping them to move onto independent arts practices, further education, voluntary work and employment.

With a regular membership of sixty attending each week and fifteen public exhibitions in the last two years, this unique artists' community creates high calibre work that sits alongside other contemporary practices in the public gallery.

The Studio team has spent the last ten years consolidating the model in Bristol, gaining the respect and collaboration of many major arts, health, social care, and educational professionals and institutions. However, each year for the past four years, the Studio has suffered from cuts in Local Authority funding in Drug and Alcohol and Adult Mental Health respectively. This is in direct contrast to the increasing numbers who wished to use the facility.

In spite of continual fundraising efforts, the studio has not managed to acquire core funding. It is believed that the loss of the studio would not only be extremely destructive to the development of the project and its aims but also an enormous loss to the arts, health and education in the region. The studio has been forced to close one day a week to ensure survival for six months while mounting a major funding appeal.

If you can help with funding, or can volunteer as a fundraiser for the studio, please call Director Douglas Gill on 0117 9300314, or go to http://www.studioupstairs.org.uk/bristol/index.htm

Click here for details about Galvanise at Lab, a benefit gig for Studio Upstairs.