The Art Room is a national charity offering art as a therapeutic intervention to over 400 children each week. There are eight Art Rooms across the UK offering disengaged children with emotional and behavioural difficulties a safe and creative place to learn and achieve through art. The Art Room teams aim to apply their unique methodology to boost the student’s self-esteem and confidence through sessions complementing mainstream education and offer a safe and much needed refuge. Their ultimate aim is to help children and young people re-engage with education and avoid exclusion.
An independent evaluation of The Art Room practice recently published in The Arts in Psychotherapy finds that their work “significantly affects student’s emotions and behaviours, reducing the number who could be classified with ‘clinical’ levels of difficulties. Mood and feelings are significantly improved, with children reporting an 87.5% improvement following participation.”
In August 2014, they opened their first studio in Scotland with an Art Room at Wester Hailes Education Centre, Edinburgh. Its trained practitioners use art as a tool for change to unlock the inherent potential of the young people of Wester Hailes and the surrounding area. The area had previously been identified for its need as Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) is in the top 5% most deprived areas of Scotland in relation to all measured indicators, including health, unemployment, income and crime. The percentage of adults in the area with severe literacy and numeracy problems is more than double that in the rest of the city.
With the help of a number of supporters including the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People, The Art Room has been able to provide art materials and tangible objects for the children to work with. In total, £2,000 was received from the DM Thomas Foundation as a general donation towards their new Art Room studio at WHEC and a further £1,631 towards materials and the setup of the room. The Art Room team are delighted to report that their staff have been operating for 3 days a week to groups of 8 children, a provision which ultimately supports up to 72 children each week. The response to their work in Edinburgh has been overwhelming. The actual benefits of their newly opened and beautifully equipped room, and support of their highly trained Practitioners is best summarized by the words of the students themselves:
“It’s like someone has caught a rainbow and thrown it into the room”, WHEC student, Aged 13
“I feel like I can be myself in here”, WHEC student, Aged 14