Performing Medicine
For over two decades, Clod Ensemble’s Performing Medicine initiative has drawn on practices from theatre, dance and visual arts to provide professional development opportunities for healthcare professionals.
Founded by Suzy Willson, Performing Medicine is run by a small, dynamic team working with group of trailblazing Associate Artists including Carly Annable-Coop, Dr. Sylvan Baker, Maria Askew, Hazel Holder, Sheila Ghelani, Tim Spooner and Amy Shelton.
Performing Medicine’s arts-based courses enable participants to gain a deeper understanding of how they care for themselves, their patients and their colleagues. Our courses encourage people working in healthcare to appreciate the choreographic, non-verbal and spatial dimensions of care, as well as inviting the general public to consider themes at the heart of 21st century medicine. Introductory courses are often run from our North Greenwich studios.
Performing Medicine has been cited as an example of best practice in both the 2017 All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, the 2023 National Centre for Creative Health and the 2023 APPG Creative Health Review. The initiative has been awarded the Times Higher Award for Excellence and Innovation and has been written about in publications including in the Lancet, the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Royal Academy of Dance’s Dance Gazette.
Medical Education
Performing Medicine works extensively with students from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London (formerly Bart’s and The London). The programme is embedded within the faculty’s core curriculum and works with students across all five years of their undergraduate education.
Performing Medicine also offers consultancy on arts-based approaches within medical education. We have inspired and informed international medical schools such as The Three Counties Medical School, University of Worcester, and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. We collaborate in knowledge exchange projects with organisations such as the University College of Osteopathy.
Research Projects
Our groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research is supported by funding bodies such as UKRI AHRC, Wellcome and the British Academy.
Recent projects include ‘Communicating through Covid’ (supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council) which explored the impact of the pandemic on the non-verbal communication of healthcare professionals.
We also work collaboratively with academics and research teams such as The Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences (University of Oxford) and Institute of Applied Health Research (University of Birmingham), co-designing workshops and innovative conference presentations that use arts-based methods such as forum theatre to disseminate research findings.
NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Systems
Thousands of NHS staff have engaged directly with our events, courses and performances over the years. This list includes nurses, health visitors, ward managers, consultants, administrative staff, porters and clinical psychologists.
We have created bespoke programmes with and for NHS Trusts including Imperial College Healthcare Trust, Swansea Bay University Health Board, Yeovil District Hospital/Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, University College London Hospitals and Barts Health NHS Trust. These programmes have addressed specific staff needs including harassment and bullying, diversity, teamwork and feeling well at work. An early collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust resulted in the development and co-design of ‘Circle of Care’, a framework for compassionate care.
Our work extends to primary, secondary and community health settings across Integrated Care Systems.
Creative Health Workforce Development
Performing Medicine is committed to supporting people working at the intersection of arts and health. Our courses help artists, arts organisations, link workers, social prescribers and all those working in primary care to collaboratively address health challenges and inequities in our communities.
We have worked with the London Boroughs of Southwark and Merton, Croydon, Hackney, Enfield, Brent and Newham. Support for our creative health work has come from the Greater London Authority and Arts Council England.
To find out more or get involved visit www.performingmedicine.com or contact Executive Producer Catherine Peters on catherine@clodensemble.com
Header image credit: Benedict Johnson
