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Urban-Vertical CIC is pleased to announce this collaborative exhibition, which celebrates the achievements of our ten Space to Grow courses conducted between 2023 and 2024. In partnership with The Arts for Health and Wellbeing Team at Cardiff & Vale Health Charity, we were able to deliver these courses thanks to funding from the Arts for Health and Wellbeing Lottery funding stream, provided by the Arts Council of Wales.
This exhibition showcases the unifying power of food, acknowledging its ability to bring people together. Here, the fusion of cultivation, culinary arts, nutrition, creativity, and mindful movement converges into a holistic approach dedicated to fostering wellbeing within our community.
This collection of work not only highlights the communal aspect of engaging with food but also illustrates the innovative Arts & Health strategy implemented by Urban-Vertical. This strategy effectively addresses diverse aspects of health and happiness by weaving a dynamic and interconnected community fabric.
The processes and journey were truly remarkable.
Displayed here are the creative outcomes and contextualises each of our ten courses.
These initiatives have had a positive impact on individuals within organisations including Ty Canna, Headway, People Living with Long Term Heart Conditions, Pedal Power Cardiff, Connect Women First, Ysgol Y Deri Special School, Moving through Menopause, Walk & Talk at Coffee #1, Penarth Outside on Sundays, and Grangetown Kitchen Garden.
The Art of Eating Well was an 8-week course which integrated cooking, nutrition, and creativity, to explore the profound connection between food and our lives.
In this program, participants attained Level One Nutrition Skills for Life through Agored Cymru while refining their culinary abilities in crafting delicious and budget-friendly dishes. Additionally, participants expressed their artistic flair by conceptualising and creating exquisite tableware inspired by nature, fostering a culture of experimentation and idea-sharing.
Songwriting for Wellbeing offered a transformative experience focused on personal growth, healing, and self-expression through music. Led by Mike Fulthorpe, MA Music Therapist, the course unfolded throughout June 2023 in the tranquil gardens of The Reach Centre, Cardiff. It provided a serene, supportive, and creative environment for participants to collaboratively craft a song, titled "Breakthrough".
Our January Urban Winter Walking initiative was designed to foster physical and mental well-being by encouraging walking and socialising during the winter season. To infuse our walks with creativity, we embraced a psychogeography approach, collectively reinterpreting three familiar routes in Penarth. This encouraged participants to approach each walk with renewed perspectives, uncovering traces of the past, present, and even glimpses into the future.
Our Belly Dancing for Menopause course was purposefully designed to support women in understanding and embracing the multifaceted impacts of menopause on their bodies and minds. Through dance movements and guided discussions focusing on diet and nutrition, participants not only aimed to regain lost confidence and fitness but also exchanged strategies for alleviating menopausal symptoms through dietary adjustments.
Cultivating Qi was a four-week introduction to Tai Chi Shibashi, a practice centered around breath and energy cultivation through gentle and graceful movements encompassing 18 distinct forms. This moving meditation serves as a supportive tool for both mental well-being and physical health.
Collaborating with the ADHC Tipi Time group, we progressively expanded our repertoire each week, tailoring the pace to ensure the group felt confident in practicing Shibashi independently at home, enhancing their personal wellness routines.
Following each session, we gathered in the café at Dinas Powys Library to enjoy tea and engage in discussions about our experiences during the practice and the anticipated health benefits. To aid in retention, we even incorporated games to help us memorise the order and names of the movements.
Our Life Cycles series of workshops focused on the creation of four distinct collaborative mandalas, each symbolising a season – Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. In collaboration with Pedal Power, our workshops blended the essence of each season, intertwining elements of creativity and food, and delving into their interconnected relationship.
Every session commenced with a cooking demonstration featuring a seasonally inspired soup for all participants to savour, as we introduced the creative techniques to be employed in crafting the mandala representing that particular season. We also sought inspiration from the natural environment of the gardens and trails around Pontcanna Fields, which we explored either on foot or bicycle.
Digital Dinners offered an engaging online cooking course tailored to preparing popular dishes in a healthier fashion. Working with Connect Women First, we gathered participants' preferences for favourite dishes and devised more nutritious renditions by incorporating healthier ingredients or drawing from recipes featured in the Nutrition Skills® for Life recipe book, a core resource in all our accredited Get Cooking Courses.
Each week, we met online to cook together, following our curated recipes. Participants captured photos of their culinary creations, presenting them alongside complementary side dishes and garnishes, allowing us to share and celebrate our collective accomplishments.
The Power of The Pen was a collaboration with spoken word poet Duke Al Durham, to inspire the dedicated volunteers of Grangetown Kitchen Garden through a unique method of reflecting on their accomplishments.
Through poetry writing, the group crafted a piece titled 'The Poet Tree' as a metaphor for the extensive work, care and kindness that the volunteers have been involved in over the last year. To compliment their work, a large canvas was created from repurposed dried foods and materials from the Grangetown site to illustrate the volunteers 'Waste Not Want Not' approach to community engagement.
In collaboration with Ysgol y Deri, a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school in Penarth, we launched a pioneering Pop Up! Indoor Vertical Farm project. Working closely with the students, we established and operated the indoor Microgreens farm, yielding weekly harvests of crops. Throughout the sessions, pupils delved into the intricacies of cultivation and discovered the nutritional benefits of these miniature greens. This initiative not only provided students with valuable hands-on experience but also showcased the potential for on-site farming to enrich the school's cafe menu with delicious and nutritious microgreens salads.
Decorate & Celebrate is our gallery series of workshops, open to all visitors during the exhibition. These weekly sessions revolve around the diverse processes and techniques featured in our Space to Grow Programme. Join us in commemorating the fruitful collaborations of the year through the Space to Grow Programme. Participate by crafting your own decorations to contribute to the exhibition or to take home with you.
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